STOVES BUYING GUIDE

Whether it’s a warming brew at the start of the day or a hearty meal at the end, you’ll need a compact and practical backpacking stove to serve you well.

1

WHAT TYPE OF STOVE DO YOU NEED? ■ INTEGRATED, all-in-one, tower-style cooking systems are simple to use, compact, lightweight, fast, and perfect for solo walkers and short trips. The burner screws directly on top of the gas canister, and the whole things packs into its own pot. Many feature a corrugated heat exchanger and a wind shield, both of which help to increase speed and efficiency. ■ INDIVIDUAL CANISTER-TOP BURNERS are the simplest and smallest iteration of a camp stove, screwing directly on top of a gas canister. You’ll need to buy your own cookware, though, so the overall weight depends on the choice you make here. Some stoves also connect to the canister remotely via an insulated hose.

2

FUEL CHOICES

Most camping/hiking stoves run on canister gas, usually a mix of isopropane and butane. Integrated cooking systems and canister stoves are designed to house a gas canister when packed. Upsides to this include light weight, low maintenance and simplicity of transport. Liquid fuel stoves tend to burn more readily at higher altitudes and lower temperatures, but often require priming and some maintenance.

3

BURNER AND IGNITION

Standalone stoves tend to be more powerful, but susceptible to wind. Integrated burners tend to be less powerful but have better wind resistance. Piezo igniters are common but can be fault-prone, so always bring another source of ignition with you, such as matches.

4

DOES IT COME WITH A REGULATOR?

This compensates for the loss of pressure in a gas canister caused at altitude or as it empties. Stoves with this feature give you a steadily similar boil time throughout the lifetime of the canister while the performance of those without tends to drop as the canister empties, or in high or cold conditions.