Best Remote Canister Stove for Scout Troop

This is not what you were asking about, but maybe one of these

It uses these butane cartridges that cost $1.25 per 8 ounces at a local Korean grocer, presuming you have one of those locally

The cartridges are only good above freezing

much more stable and easy to use for special needs people

that one is a little low power so it would take longer to boil a big pot of water, there are other models a little higher power

For $20 you could buy one and evaluate

This is only for car camping though

That is an interesting stove, but we’re looking for ones that could be used on a potential Philmont trip in the future as well as our local hikes.

Light and packable are considerations. I might not have been clear when I said lightweight isn’t the number 1 priority. By that, I mean I would rather have a stable, reliable, simple to operate stove that’s a few ounces heavier than one that is a few ounces lighter, still a good stove, but not quite as stable as the somewhat heavier one.

Philmont carries canister replacements on hikes, but not those butane ones.

Thanks!

yeah, I know, that’s what you said : )  Just throwing it out there.  You could afford to also have those just for car camping, you’ll save enough money on the butane to pay for the stoves

there are users of those stoves here that will probably chime in, like the Kovea Spider

We’re well set for car camping stoves. We just bought each patrol a Camp Chef Everest to replace our old Coleman 2 burners.

Safety is always important when working with kids. With the makeup of our troop, we need to be even more concerned.

I appreciate the input and hope my reply wasn’t interpreted in any harsh way. Thanks!!

I would recommend the MSR Windpro II remote canister stove. It is stable with larger pots, easy to operate, and dependable.

Thank you, Gary. I should have said in my original posting that the Windpro II and Whisperlite Universal were 2 under consideration. I failed to mention the Windpro II.

Another one to consider.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fire-Maple-Blade-2-Upgrade-Split-Gas-Stove-Ultra-Light-Titanium-Alloy-Outdoor-Cooker-Gas-Burner/32793644574.html?trace=msiteDetail2pcDetail

I don’t personally own, so I make no claims as to build quality.

You probably already saw me sing praises of my Kovea Spider on that other thread.

I wouldn’t get the stove w/the white gas option. You don’t ever want to do that again. This responsible, neuro-typical adult who carefully reads directions still only manages to operate white gas stoves safely about half her attempts.

Like maybe if I were doing a group, winter trip in the arctic I might reconsider white gas. Otherwise, no.

You may or may not have already seen the reviews by Hikin’ Jim of both the spider and the WIndpro, but if not I would suggest reading them. He prefers the windpro for larger groups.

https://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-kovea-spider-kb-1109-remote.html

https://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.com/2011/02/stove-of-week-msr-windpro.html

Thanks, Paul.  The Windpro is what I’ve started leaning toward.  I’ll discuss it with the other scoutmasters.

Our Troop has used the Windpro stoves on multiple Philmont treks with good success.

When you say large pots how big is large? Both in capacity and in diametre?

A base will add stability to any stove so I assume you already have or will me making LW bases to use with these stoves

When you say large pots how big is large? Both in capacity and in diametre?

Philmont requires an 8 quart pot. The diameter will be approximately 9 inches.

As a troop, we would only use something that big if we were planning a Philmont trip. We’d never take something that huge on one of our backpacking trips. However, the troop would want the ability to do so.

I wouldn’t get the stove w/the white gas option. You don’t ever want to do that again. This responsible, neuro-typical adult who carefully reads directions still only manages to operate white gas stoves safely about half her attempts.

Exactly! I watched a couple of our 13 year old scouts under close guidance from our scoutmaster and there were still a couple of close calls. It’s too easy to spill white gas or have things go wrong.

We have a lot of younger scouts and few 14-18 year olds in the troop. We also have some with autism, so we’ve had to provide more guidance as adults than is ideal. We try to make it as boy led as possible, but you need more older boys to do that. As the ones my son’s age (13) gain skills, we’ve been having them do more leading.

I just see little benefit to the white gas stoves worth the safety disadvantage. The benefits to white gas are that you know exactly how much fuel you have, slightly lighter total package and less waste. Inverted canisters deal with the cold weather issue, and we haven’t backpacked in the cold yet.

I really appreciate all the help!

8  qts is about 7.5 litres, that isn’t so big, some of the local high school groups use much bigger pots for communal snow melting, 12 to 15 lires being the common sizes, but they also only use alcohol stoves for OH&S / Insurance reasons. So Large Trangias and home made stove supports/windscreens using tripled trangia burners for snow melting.

Our schools and government departments are so cautious it’s scary,

I have the Olicamp Xcelerator remote canister stove. It’s worked well for me for years and is very similar to the Fire Maple above. I let my scouts use it on outings with no issues.

I also have a WhisperLite. It’s heavy and not something I would let younger scouts use. There are many better choices.

That Xcelerator is very interesting. Thank you!

I just ordered an Xcelerator for the troop to evaluate. I appreciate all the help.

I’ve also used the Fire-Maple-type cheap titanium remote canister stove and have never had an issue with it.  They also make a 4-season model now, the 118 (stainless steel) and 117H (titanium) that will burn in liquid feed mode with a pre-heat tube.  But if you’re looking for a stove with wider pot supports, besides the WindPro II, you might also look at the Optimus Vega stove.  It seems to have a much wider base, but is about 2 ounces heaver than the Fire Maple stoves.  On the Chinese-made stoves, I also don’t verify for quality.  At least with the WindPro II, it’s made in the USA.  If you get onto MSR’s “Pro” program, you can get significant discounts over retail prices.  My troop is now trying out the Fire Maple 117H stove (available through eBay or AliExpress.

Thanks to insane Amazon same day delivery, I have the Xcelerator in my hands after ordering it this morning.  We’ll try it out at our next campout later this month.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALOCS-Split-Wing-Camping-Stove-Gas-Cooking-Stove-Outdoor-Burner-Outdoor-DD-L2I5-/132189522783

Will not claim the best, but it does compare well with the MSR WindPro. Not ultimately as hot due to smaller burner head, similar weight, longer fuel line, can be used with inverted canisters.

Nice price also! KM

If you need a spare, Monoprice rebrands the same stove for 1/3 the price. You can get the stove and heat exchanger pot for about 30 bucks.

Hopefully we’ll have a chance next weekend to play with the Xcelerator on our last scout campout (other than summer camp) until next fall.

If we like it, we’ll order more for each patrol.

If all your cooking spots have stable picnic tables, ignore the following.

In addition to having a low, wide remote canister stove to increase stability (and decrease infrared feedback to the canister), levelness of the cooking surface is a major safety issue.  A very stable and level stove helps safety.  Trying to perch everything on a somewhat flat rock is a negative.

So bring a piece of 3-ply, 1/8″ plywood (“door skin”), 5″ x 5″ or 6″ x 6″.  That does a lot to level out a bit of ground and forces you to take a step you should always take – to consider and remedy the levelness of the stove.  And in soft soil or sand, it stays firm whereas stove legs will settle different amounts and get less level with use.  A free (behind any grocery stove) and multipurpose (doubles as a fire starter) option that I use is a 5″ x 5″ square of waxed cardboard.

I’ve used a Windpro II since 2014. Great stove and the support from MSR is second to none.