[pct-l] Stove: Primus Titanium butane stove

[reynolds@ilan.com]

All,

Moving on from bears, how do you cook all that stuff that the bears are
trying to get?

I use a titanium stove from Primus. It weighs 3 ounces. It used to be
insanely expensive but now it, and a competitor, are reasonable if not
cheap. This stove simmers very well and is incedibly efficient at using
fuel. Generallly any screw top butane, isobutatane or butane/propane
canister works. These are usually available where camping gear is sold but
not necessarly at the hardware store. Also, they apparantly can't be
shipped by mail.

Based on data posted on this list, these stoves are weigh eficient compared
to the esbit stove and are more efficient than alcohol stoves over a 7 day
or more period. They are WAY more efficient that a Wisperlight or any other
gasoline stove so they may be of interest to section hikers who don't have
fuel resupply problems. I have found that a MSR Wisperlight windscreen
saves considerable fuel.

It is not clear to me that having a stove that simmers isn't weight
effective and probably would increase the miles walked a day. Obviously, it
would increase enjoyment on the trip. I suspect that many are carrying food
weight that could be eliminated if they had a stove that simmered. I bake
chocolate cake on the trail. Just imagine CHOCOLATE CAKE a la alpinglow!!
All I use is my stove and a 4 ounce BakePacker. I don't carry any heavy
Snickers or powerbars because I simply bake a cake and I always carry
lightweight powder and standard pasta because I can reconstitute and cook
the stuff -- something that is really hard with a stove that doesn't
simmer.

It is not the weight BEFORE FOOD that counts. It's the weight AFTER food
and fuel that you start out with that beats your back. Particulary in the
Sierra where there is lots of water, you can save a ton of pack weight by
simply not carrying a bunch of water as food.

Regards

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