Which stove

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Johnnyboy1971

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Dec 24, 2010
4,157
33
53
Yorkshire
I'm looking for a new winter/cold weather stove. My old Omni is great but it makes an horrible amount of noise and never had much love of petrol.
Can anyone recomend me a new one and why?
It will be used from making brews to full meals for two.
 
Use paraffin in the Omni and put up with the noise! (Or use winter gas canister in it?) Seems a shame to downgrade to a lesser stove:)
 
Use paraffin in the Omni and put up with the noise! (Or use winter gas canister in it?) Seems a shame to downgrade to a lesser stove:)

The noise I could about live with and I'm looking into the silent burner caps. Will the jet need changing to run paraffin in it? If so I no longer have the spares supplied.
 
John look at picking up an Optimus 111T, it burns paraffin and Coleman fuel and even meths with minor mods. Silent, 10,000BTUs output, boils fast and simmers well.

Or buy a silent damper for the Omnifuel and run it on paraffin.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/QUIETSTOV...032?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac9f324f8 Will do the job, just drops on top of the burner and you can listen to the birds :)


Looked at the 111s before but never been able to work out which one is fueled by what.
TBH I was looking at something a little smaller for packing and carrying.
Was looking at things like the Optimus 96 or the little Svea123 but not sure how they cope with cold weather.
 
My Whisperlite has more of a hiss than a roar, runs on most things but I'm using mainly Aspen, Coleman or Primus fuel lately
 
I wish. Mine sounds like a tornado on full chatt ready for takeoff. Oh and god help if I turn it up to boil something.
 
Not a rocket science I'm afraid.
Alcohol (trangia) - slow
Multifuel - noisy, complicated
Butane - not winter proof
wood stove - messy, fuel sometimes scarce

There is no perfect stove. Just sit down and think what you can live with. On a day hike when you need a brew fast and you can keep the canister warmish, butane is best.
High in the mountains (summer) alcohol stove system shines due to the weight, no small parts to loose/break, not affected by altitude.
For winter cooking multifuel is a good option because you need a lot of power quick (melting snow, cold pans, cold food, short tempers).

Pick your poison and learn to live with it's disadwantages. After all it is only one of the tools to sustain you in the woods.
 
Looked at the 111s before but never been able to work out which one is fueled by what.
TBH I was looking at something a little smaller for packing and carrying.
Was looking at things like the Optimus 96 or the little Svea123 but not sure how they cope with cold weather.

I've got a 111T which is, as Rik said, brilliant but not light. I run it on paraffin.

I also have a quiet stove cap for my DragonFly and it makes that quiet. If it can keep a DragonFly quiet then there should be no problem for your Omni, correct version required obviously.
 
There's no reason to discount gas for winter use, a remote feed gas stove with the can placed upside down will burn liquid gas down to lower temps than we ever get over here.

I'd stick with the fuel flexibilty of the Omnifuel and buy a Berniedawg silent burner cap for it if I didn't like the noise.

Burning a heavier fuel like paraffin in the Omni will be using the smallest of the jets and so isn't as loud or powerful as the thinner fractions.
 
Trangia, life in the slow lane but nice and quiet, reliable and good in bad weather. For just brewing up ghillie kettle.
 
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Berniedawg caps are very nice, but have you seen the price of them recently?!

I'm very partial to my Optimus 111 cookers, but despite having the multifuel one, the basic, paraffin-only 111 is brilliant as it is.
 
Looked at the 111s before but never been able to work out which one is fueled by what.
TBH I was looking at something a little smaller for packing and carrying.
Was looking at things like the Optimus 96 or the little Svea123 but not sure how they cope with cold weather.


123 and 8 are fine in cold weather.
 
Not a rocket science I'm afraid.
Alcohol (trangia) - slow
Multifuel - noisy, complicated
Butane - not winter proof
wood stove - messy, fuel sometimes scarce

There is no perfect stove. Just sit down and think what you can live with. On a day hike when you need a brew fast and you can keep the canister warmish, butane is best.
High in the mountains (summer) alcohol stove system shines due to the weight, no small parts to loose/break, not affected by altitude.
For winter cooking multifuel is a good option because you need a lot of power quick (melting snow, cold pans, cold food, short tempers).

Pick your poison and learn to live with it's disadwantages. After all it is only one of the tools to sustain you in the woods.

Is a Trangia that slow (real Trangia not the army POS)?

I like all my stoves (that I've kept) but overall, so long as you have alcohol for fuel the Trangia is without doubt the best stove known to us mortals...they just keep on working.
 
Only two problems with the 123 , 8 and 96 - they use petrol, which you say you want to get away from, and they're relatively small. (I also find the 123 a bit wobbly, being narrow and tall) Combine the 123 with a purpose-designed cookset however, and it's much better! Now all I have to do is remember the name of the cooksets - I'm sure Rik will remind me!
 

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