User Review: Optimus Nova

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May 23, 2012

Rotman (Guest)

Rating:
Source: bought it new
Price Paid: $125 USD

Summary

The stove that will rip you off and let you down — if it doesn't kill you or leave you in the burn unit first.

Pros

Creates a fire.

Cons

Stove leaks fuel, creating a death zone around itself.
Most of the fire stove creates is at site of fuel line leak.

Bought this item online from Amazon. From Optimus, I expected quality; what I got instead was cheap Chinese-made junk at an expensive, European-level price. The older (silver-bodied, un-numbered) model of this stove was near legendary for bulletproof reliability and build quality. The current model, with its black legs and nasty green adjustment knobs, which I had, is a poorly made and assembled facsimile which only superficially resembles the older model.

The fuel line connector immediately started leaking fuel during our first camping trip with it, and disaster was only averted by literally kicking the flaming stove away onto a nearby lakeshore, where the lapping water put out the flames before the bottle blew. Fortunately, we were able to retrieve the overheated and quenched remains to return it.

Stay away from Optimus/Primus/Katadyn, as they now only sell junk made in the far east, no longer stoves made in Sweden. This includes the Svea 123R.

In addition, they do not provide good customer service, but aggressively will try to get you to accept their defective products instead of replacing them when you call looking for help. It seems they simply don't care about alienating customers from ever dealing with them again, or the ill will that they have created for a once great line of products.

Comments

unfortunate, stoves shouldn't do this.it is worth checking the fuel line connector to ensure that the small o-rings are in the right place and have not been gouged or otherwise damaged. what appears to be a 'leak' could be the rings were omitted during the manufacturing process. i'm familiar with this stove (it happens i have one of the older ones that has been problem-free). in my opinion, it is also worth replacing the original small o-ring seals with viton rings that i have found are more durable. make sure you use o-rings that are resistant to breakdown from the fuel you are using.