Soto OD-1R Canister Stove Product Review

> a) Soto reports 1 L boil times for regulated vs un regulated (needle valve)
> stoves for 3 temperatures (regulated first):
> 20C = 4:02/3:54
> 5C = 4:01/7:42
> -5C = 4:16/8:16 (min:sec)

OK, I am going to give this my full unexpurgated blast.
This is totally meaningless marketing spin. When companies come up with stuff like this my reaction is to assume that they are fudging everything.

Why? several reasons:

First, no test conditions are given. I can make any stove look the best by fiddling the test conditions. Dead easy.

Second, if the claim is to be taken at face value, it still has nothing to do with the regulator. Rather, it has to do with the gas flow settings and the burner face.

If you don't believe me, then I have some unique quantum crystals which will enhance your life and reduce your pack weights for private sale at really special prices …

> Soto also claims a 25% decrease in gas flow for an unregulated stove over 8 minutes.
Again, this is meaningless marketing spin. No test conditions are given. I can reproduce this under suitable conditions (like a nearly empty insulated canister) – but so what? Anyone who sets his stove and walks away for 8 minutes is a raving loony. Anyone with an ounce of sense monitors his stove while it is running, and adjusts it as needed. Straw man!

> with a nearly empty can, the fuel cooling effect may put you in the low canister
> pressure situation where the bigger Soto jet is significant.
I understand the theory, but experience says the effect is insignificant. I have emptied so many canisters in the field with my Snow Peak GST-100 (and many other stoves) without any problem at all. Let's look at this one in more detail.

First, there is the phase where the canister is nearly empty – just a little cold liquid left. OK, it's getting colder – so I put my hand on the canister for a minute to warm it up, or I pour a few teaspoons of luke-warm water over it. No problem. There are many ways to keep the pressure inside the canister fairly high.
Second, there is the brief phase when the liquid is all gone and all that remains is gas at pressure. This phase is very brief in practice. Just open the needle valve up. You are going to have to replace the canister very soon anyhow.

SOTO have produced a stove which has a different control valve. Obviously they want to sell lots of their product. So the marketing guys are set to work to come up with every great advertising story they can think of. But just because they have lots of stories does not mean any of them have real meaning, nor that we should blindly accept them. Crystal healing anyone?

In practice, in the field, there is no perceptible difference between the SOTO control valve (implemented with a micro-regulator) and any other control valve (implemented with a needle valve). They are all control valves. Read the technical section in the article on the Regulator valve to see why.

Cheers
PS: sorry James – by now I'm a professional cynic. :-)

Hi Phil

Yeah, my understanding is that the REI order was what got them launched in the USA.

BUT, make no mistake about what I am saying. The OD-1R is a nicely-made stove, albeit with a slighty higher CO emission than I like. It's the marketing spin from the retailers which is total crap.

Cheers

Okay, almost empty cartridge, runs smoothly, simmers.

For ordinary use, for backpacking, does it's job.

Don't use this stove in your tent.

I don't use any backpacking stove in an enclosed area.

Soto has or is about to introduce a new version of their Microregulator stove, the OD-1RX. Supposedly, from what I've read, they've reduced pot clearance in the new version in order to improve heat transfer in wind (indeed, the new version is referred to as "The Wind Master"). Reduced clearnance could be a bit of a problem in terms of CO production.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving

what about when those others shove their stoves in the snow?

Disclaimer: I work at a shop that sells the awesome things you use.

Jerry, In my experience, non-regulated canister stoves have a significant drop in heat output when the canister is subjected to freezing temperatures. Keeping the canister warm can mitigate this. Conductive heat loss from the snow is relatively easy to avoid. A homemade foil/foam koozie is lightweight and inexpensive, but it is most effective when you are starting with a warm canister to begin with, as it will not warm up a cold canister. Another method can be using a hand warmer in the concave depression on the bottom of the canister. You would still need some sort of insulator between the canister and the snow. You can also put the canister into a pan of liquid water. This will keep the canister above 32 degrees for a while until it freezes. I speak from experience because I have used all these methods for other stoves until I got the Micro Regulator. Since I don't have to worry about cold weather performance, all I have to do is shove my canister into the snow, and I have a perfectly stable stove to melt snow.

for those interested in a pretty extensive review of the new SOTO Windmaster stove:

http://www.trailgroove.com/issue8.html?autoflip=59

there is a section in there where they connect it to a canister chilled to 0F…

Bill D

Jerry, if the snow temperature is +5 F, then you would be well served to insulate the canister from the snow. Think about it.

–B.G.–

"Upright canister gets colder from evaporation."

Agreed.

"You need to get heat from somewhere."

Agreed.

"Insulator won't work."

Jerry, that is not correct. An insulator like a piece of plywood is part of the solution. If you insulate the canister away from the colder snow… and then if you can introduce some extra heat, you have a solution.

The extra heat can come through a thick copper wire into the flame, or from the canister being extra warm to begin with, or holding a candle flame to it, or good reflection off the pot bottom. However, if cold snow is directly sucking the warmth out of the canister, it is a problem.

–B.G.–

It's hard to evaluate a test where the air temperature was 68 F and the canister was chilled to 0 F.

I chilled a canister to 0 F for some reason once and there was no pressure. But there was pressure pretty quickly when I took it out of the freezer.

They tested at 32 F, but it's routine to operate at that temperature

It would be nice to see a test within a few degrees of 25 F where a regular stove works, but very slowly

Roger? No? :)

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
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