You’ve just spent all day hiking. You’re exhausted. All you want to is that giant burger to stuff in your face. But you don’t have a giant burger in your pack, backpacking food is all you’ve got. Chances are you need to heat water or food before you can eat it. And you probably want to heat things up anyways. A hot meal after a long day hiking, especially in cold, miserable weather, could be the best part about backpacking. The wait while you’re cooking can be excruciating but that warm satisfied feeling laying around camp after a good meal can’t be beat.

With so many stoves on the market right now, how do you choose one? We’ll walk you some of the basics of stoves and which one to go with for your situation.

First a few questions. 

Questions to Ask Yourself

The first thing we need to do is look at how you’re going to use your stove. There are some questions you should answer before even looking at any stoves. The answers to these will direct you to the type of stove you’ll be happy with. Stoves are just like tents, there are many options but many not be only 1 best choice. Most of the time you can narrow it down to a small number of choices that will suit you best and then you can decide from there. So grab a piece of paper (or computer or tablet or phone) and write out your answers to these questions. These are also nice to remind yourself what exactly you are buying your stove for when you go looking at new shiny gear.

What are you going to cook?

How many people are you cooking for?

Where are you going to use it?

Where will you get fuel from?

How much weight do you want to carry?

How much space do you have?

Now that we’ve got those questions out of the way, we can move on to the features of the stoves and how they relate to your questions. Keep your answers from the questions above handy as you go through the features and examples at the end. 

Major Features of Stoves

Now we’re into the major features of all the stoves. These specifications or features are different on every stove so watch for these when you are buying.

Type of fuel and canister

There are a few different types of fuel on the market for stoves these days. Most stoves only have the required parts for one type of fuel. It may be important to be able to use different kinds of fuel because you travel or like different types for different applications.

Iso-butane Canisters

These are the small metal canisters you can get from outdoor gear stores. They are very convenient to use and light weight. These stoves are fast and easy to light. You cannot refill the containers though and it can be tough to see know how much you have left. Many backpackers have a pile of half-used canisters because they don’t know how much are in them. Some canister manufacturers are starting to put measurements on the canisters so you can float them in water and see where the fuel level is.

Liquid White Gas

White gas has been used in camping stoves for a long time. The benefit to white gas stoves is that you can see how much you have left and refill the fuel bottles. These are heavier to carry though. Bigger, more powerful stoves are often white gas. White Gas stoves are great for big groups or melting snow.

Alcohol

If you’re looking to go ultra lightweight, a small alcohol stove may be your best option. You can make one out of a pop can. These can be finicky to light but are nice and light.

Others

Some stoves are able to use fuels like diesel or other liquids that burn so it’s easier to find something you can cook with. Others, like the BioLite stove, are turning to wood you’d find on the trail to keep your fire going.

Weight of stove

Always in the mind of every backpacker, the weight of the stove can be important. Do you want to carry a big stove around with you or a tiny little pocket-sized cooker. There are perks to each size. It just depends on what you want to do with it. If you’re going to be cooking gourmet meals for large groups then you’ll be getting a bigger stove with more space on top. If you need to be fast and light and are just boiling water with the occasional soup, then something tiny and fast might be the way to go.

Boiling speed

Every stove has a different speed at which it can boil water. It all depends on the size of the flame under the pot, the intensity of that flame and amount of wind protection you can give it. If all the heat is going out the side with the wind, you’ll be waiting a long time for your food! Boiling speeds range from 3 minutes up to 5 or 6 minutes. The boil times will range with a given stove depending on the temperature, wind speed and fuel canister pressure. IsoButane canister pressure drops as you use the so your boil time will increase as you use the canister. White Gas fuel bottles can be pressurized whenever you use them so the boil times will stay more constant.

Operation at Altitude and in Weather

These factors will affect how much pressure is in your canister and how much heat is getting to your pot. Some stoves like the MSR Reactor have a bunch of special parts and a special pot to conserve all that heat and direct as much of it as possible straight into the pot. Wind and bad conditions will slow that process down.

Size of Pot

If you’re pot is going to be for 1 or 2 people then you can get a smaller stove but if you are going to be cooking giant meals for a group of 10 you’ll want something bigger. A small stove with a lot of people will work in a pinch but it’s much more convenient to get something bigger. Some stoves require special pots so keep that in mind. The MSR Reactor pot doesn’t fit on any other stove and you can’t use any other pot on the Reactor so keep that in mind if you get a specialized setup like this. Aside from a few specialized options, most pots and stoves work very well together.

Type of controls

Some stoves have multiple adjustments on them to make it easier to simmer. If that’s important to you add it to your list.

Location of Canister

The location of iso-butane canisters can be different on the stoves. Some are attached directly to the stove with the stove sitting on top of the canisters. Some canisters are attached remotely and connect through a gas tube.

Specialized attachments

Some stoves have special features on them and other attachments that only fit with that stove. That can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Some have special pots, battery chargers, or wind screens. The MSR Reactor, for example, has special pots that fit onto it’s burner. It’s very fast at boiling but you can’t use other pots with it.It would be a good idea to order these in priority for yourself when you are picking one. Is the type of fuel more important to you than the size of the stove? Is the weight of the stove more important than the size of the pots it can hold. Think about your questions above and then prioritize the features to fit what you want to do.

Stove Examples

IsoButane Stoves

MSR Pocket Rocket

MSR Windpro II

MSR Reactor

Snowpeak Gigapower

Primus PrimeTech

Primus Express Spider

Liquid White Gas

MSR Dragonfly

MSR Whisperlite Universal

Alcohol

Alcohol Stove

Wood

Biolite

Updated August 29, 2022. Originally published November 23, 2013.

The post How to choose a camping stove first appeared on Pack & Trail.

On the other hand there are the liquid fuel stoves that use refillable fuel bottles and a liquid fuel of some sort, usually white gas (aka naptha or coleman fuel). These stoves burn hot and loud and are good for cold conditions or melting a lot of snow. They tend to be larger and heavier than their little canister cousins.

There are always trade-offs.

What if you could get the advantages of both without buying 2 stoves? You could get the simplicity of a canister stove (screw the stove on and light) when you want it and the cold weather performance and refillable fuel bottle of a liquid fuel stove. Now you can.

Some new stoves allow you to connect a liquid fuel bottle to the stove, then swap a couple parts and connect an iso-butane canister. You probably wouldn’t be taking both on one trip unless it was it was long enough but it still gives you the option to choose for each trip, without having to go buy another stove. One stove, 2 fuel options.

What stoves do this?

MSR Whisperlite Universal

MSR Whisperlite Universal

A modification on the old classic WhisperLite, the Universal has been updated to connect to iso-butane canisters as well. A quick change of the jets for each fuel and the fuel bottle attachment and then you’re using a different fuel. Uses MSR Shaker-Jet jet cleaning technology (shake it to clean it).

Weighs 329 grams. 

Primus OmniFuel

Uses any type of fuel. Just change the bottle connection and jets. You can use diesel, kerosene or gas canisters in liquid feed mode for cold temperatures. Comes with a maintenance tool with a cleaning needle for cleaning the jet.

Weighs 350 grams. 

Primus OmniLite TI

Same as the OmniFuel but smaller and lighter. Burns the same things.

Weighs 239 grams. 

Optimus Polaris Optifuel

The problem with most of the multi-fuel stoves is that you have to change the jet. Each fuel requires a different part in the stove to work properly. The Polaris Optifuel has changed all that. No more changing jets and possibly losing or breaking parts. Just hook up a different fuel and away you go. Use the gas canister upright for efficiency mode. Turn it upside down for liquid feed mode in cold temperatures.

Weighs 475 grams. 

Kovea Booster+1

Burn white gas or butane gas canister without changing canister.

Weighs 530 grams. 

Kovea Booster Dual Max

Burns white gas and butane canisters, but not any of the other liquid fuels. Less expensive than some of the other brands.

Weighs 340 grams. 

Kovea Hydra

With the Hydra you can burn white gas and butane canisters. Save time and fiddling without needing to switch nozzles.

Weighs 422 grams.

Know of another stove that can do iso-butane canisters as well as liquid gas? Let us know!

Last updated August 27, 2022. Original article published August 13, 2015.

The post 7 Stoves that can burn liquid fuel and iso-butane gas first appeared on Pack & Trail.