User Review: Optimus Crux Lite

Summary

Lightweight powerhouse that's small enough to forget it's there.

Picked one of these up as an alternative to my alcohol stove for the occasions when I want to do more than just boil water. It is TINY! Even though it's not a folder (a la original Crux) it takes almost no space in my cook kit. The build quality seems to be quite nice overall with nice castings and clean threads. The flip out pot supports are stiff but sturdy.

This is a powerful little guy! Boils water in my Snow Peak 900 in about 6min. The burner head is quite beautiful and puts out a very broad, evenly distributed flame. I use Ti pans which are scorch and hotspot prone but it seems that the broad, even flame helps with this a tiny bit. Similar in design to the Soto unit. On my unit there are 2-3 ports that never seem to get fuel. Not sure if this is a manufacturing issue or the got clogged at some point but as I remember they were that way since day 1. Has zero effect on the stove's capability.

This stove does really well in the wind. I've yet to have it blow out on me however, it does have an annoying tendency to turn itself down. This makes cooking anything at a simmer a big pain in the bum as you will have to babysit it or it will turn itself off. Doing some reading, it appears that mine is not an isolated case. It's not really an issue when running it wide open. This stove has 3 pot supports as opposed to 4 on a stove such as a Giga-Power which may make it a hair easier to tip your pot but I have not had any problems to date.

I've used this stove for approx 1 year and I have to say I like it!. It has a few shortcomings but nothing that has really bothered me. It is a great stove at a great price.