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Posted by Bill S on October 23, 2006 at 12:02:42 am EDT
In reply to Re: ultralight stoves posted by Jonathan on October 22, 2006 at 6:51:35 pm EDT

Jonathan thought he read "I had thought that I read on REI.com that the Pocketrocket only takes Isobutane. And other brands like Snow Peak take Isobutane or butane/propane. Colemen only takes butane/propane."

If you read that on REI.com, then someone made a serious mistake in posting it (not the first time REI has given out erroneous information, but rarely on their website).

To repeat, The Pocket Rocket and all stove tops that have the industry standard threaded fitting (called a Lindal valve) will burn any of the mixtures in the canisters that are primarily butane or isobutane, mixtures of both, and with a certain amount of propane (isobutane is sometimes called isopropane). There used to be canisters of pure isobutane and pure butane available, but currently the available canisters are mixes of butane/propane, isobutane/propane, or all 3 of the gases. It doesn't matter what brand is on the canister label, as long as the threaded fitting matches.

The manufacturers all say in their brochures "use only OUR brand", but it does not matter for most purposes. The place where it makes a difference is at colder temperatures. The MSR and Markill canisters that have no butane, just isobutane and propane, will perform to lower temperatures than the butane/propane or butane/isobutane/propane mixes without resorting to the special procedures.

As previously stated, the big difference among brands is the cost per gram of fuel, with Snowpeak being by far the most expensive (especially in their smallest canister) and the Slovenian-produced ones being the least expensive.

I would not advise getting the kits, mostly because the pot size does not necessarily match the way you will be cooking. Get the stove and pot separately. As others have suggested, the Pocket Rocket is the better performer of the stoves you mention. Based on experience, I would also advise against getting a titanium pot, primarily because of titanium's poor heat conduction and spreading, and second because of the exorbitant price. If you do more than boil water, sooner or later you will scorch a spot in the titanium pot bottom the size and shape of the flame of your stove's burner. And it will flavor the food for a long time after (really foul taste). I suggest a 1-liter pot as a minimal cook kit (that's more like 32 ounces than the 24 or 28 of the two titanium ones you mention), and anodized aluminum. Anodized aluminum is a better non-stick than teflon (which is suspected of leaching into the food, though that's arguable, as Chumango will probably note). And the difference in weight between the 28 ounce Ti and a 1-liter anodized aluminum is in the couple of ounce range, not enough to worry about.

Yeah, titanium is the IN thing to have, but it really is not as good in field use. Save yourself some money, and mix and match.

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