The Kovea Spider (KB-1109) Remote Canister Stove
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Inverted canister stoves are a lightweight alternative to liquid fueled (gasoline or kerosene) stoves in cold weather. Not only are they lighter, but they're more mechanically reliable. In my latest blog post, I review a good one, the Kovea Spider.
I've found it to be a really nice, compact stove.
For the future, I'd like to see Kovea do more to lighten the 5.9oz/168g Spider stove. I'd like to see a good remote canister stove down in the four ounce range, but this is such a nice little stove that it's hard to complain.
There is a lighter, by about 3/4 ounce, stove on the market, the FMS-118 Volcano, but there have been some complaints about the Volcano when in inverted canister mode, and I don't think the Volcano packs down anywhere near as small. I can get the Kovea Spider and a 110g canister of gas into either my 780ml Snow Peak pot or my MSR Titan kettle.
The Kovea Spider (KB-1109) Remote Canister Stove. Have a look if you like.
That stove looks great, I've recently considered replacing my aging but bombproof Primus Himalaya. It is made to handle any fuel I throw at it from canister to Coleman fuel to automotive gasoline. It's never let me down, but even in canister mode it isn't light.
The only place I can find that lists the Kovea is ebay, is that where you purchased yours?
Just curious if anyone has purchased one of the new Optimus Vega stoves. Weight on the site is listed as 6.28 oz though it includes a windscreen so I'm not sure if that's included in the weight listing.
Also, unlike some of the other remote canister stoves, tho Optimus has little legs to make a stand for the inverted canister.
it also appears to get quite small when folded.
Of course the Optimus is about twice the price of the ebay listing for the Kovea.
The only place I know of that you can get a Kovea Spider in the US is through eBay. Look for seller "Chovin."
I've seen the Optimus Vega. It seems like a decent stove, but it's nowhere near as compact as the Kovea Spider. I tried it in my Titan kettle, and while the Vega itself would fit in the kettle, there was no way I could fit in a canister of gas.
The little swing out "wings" for inverted use are a nice idea although a little piece of a stick or a rock is usually sufficient to invert a small canister.
Neil Johnstone wrote: > The weight of the Vega (without windshield) is 180g/6.3oz, so the website is correct.
The support legs for the cannister are useful and I prefer the larger burner head (do not get me started on the "short and wide" vs "tall and thin" pot debate!).
The little legs on the Vega seem like a good idea, and the Vega seems like a well built stove just based on handling one in a store.
The thing I like about the Spider is that it is so packable. When I tried to fit a gas canister and the Vega into a Titan kettle, I couldn't do it, but I could with the Spider.
Would I buy a Spider if I already had a Vega? Probably not. Looks like it should work well for you.
I'm generally very pleased that so many new stoves of this type (remote canister) are coming out.
With respect to the burner head on the Spider, the flames are angled out, something along the lines of how a Snow Peak GigaPower burner head is. There really isn't the "hot spotting" that you might expect given the small burner head on the Spider.
I added one more photo to my blog post, a comparison of the MSR Windpro II with the Kovea Spider.
On the left is a 780ml Snow Peak pot. On the right is an 850ml MSR pot (Titan kettle). If I put the MSR Windpro II into either, that's all that will fit. But because of the clever compact design of the Kovea Spider, not only will the Spider fit but I can also fit in a 110g canister of gas — now, that is compact.It's the compact design more than anything else that has me excited about this particular stove.
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