Possibly 30 year old primus micron stove just failed, what to replace with?

[Paul_B]

OK I'm upset, a long time friend that's possibly 30 years old has failed. A day ago the pz ignition failed then today I tried to close the pot supports and they were jammed so much I snapped one of then the other two. I need a replacement can top stove.

Now I don't know if many of you know about the micron. They seemed to change it several years ago. Mine was the original I believe with the gauze like centre circle. It seemed to make it better able to cope with wind. It glowed red when hot. At the time I bought it I believe reviewers rated it as the best. It certainly had he highest BTU, efficiency and fastest boil times. It's been an old reliable.

Our trangia gas conversion kit failed on our holiday so we brought this out as back up for bringing water to boil, with meths for the trangia as longer simmer.

So what is a good can top, compact stove? Soto, msr, primus, optimum? I would prefer pz ignition too. I know many think they only fail but mine lasted possibly 30 years with at most 4 or 5 clicks to light.

Any recommendations from any of the stove experts I believe BCUK has?

 

[JB101]

Soto & MSR are very popular and have good reviews & plenty are avaialable preowned if cost is an issue.You can always use a seperate lighter (less to go wrong on a stove)

Camping Cooking Stoves

Stoves Cooking priced from £6.95 in our Camping department.

www.outdoorgear.co.uk

 

[Pattree]

If you’d like to repair your old stove get itself over to Classic Camp Stoves.
Legs can be Silbrazed.
Parts can be found
A lot of helpful people will show you where to find instructions.

If you are ready to move on to a new stove then I am pretty sure there’s a UK “stovie” that might enjoy fettling your old stove. They might even be members here too.

 

[z_bumbi]

Primus Trail Essential
It doesn't pack as small but no legs that flap around or get bent.
Cheap -ish
Can stand pretty hard winds.
Have a wide burnerhead so one can cook and not only boil water.
I compare It to an Optimus Crux (the folding type,) that I fund was flimsey and not up to more that boil water.

 

[Tengu]

I like my MSR pocket rocket.

But Vango do a similar thing.

 

[Paul_B]

We've got a vango remote stove but it's wind affected significantly and even a windshield doesn't help, no idea why but wind blowing around the shield seems to make it splutter.

This van trip we're using that vango to boil water then simmer on meths burner in trangia 27. For a quick brew I'm playing with my old caldera cone and vargo pot/mug. Also brought my whitebox duo stove for a play but not got around to use that one. I seem to think I had a burner ring from an old antigravity cookset that you set light to meths in it with a can burner to get it jetting quicker. I thought I used it with the WBS but not sure. Not got it so might take awhile to heat up. They're more solid than drinks can stoves with more mass to heat. Will work well with the trangia kettle I think due to wide jets.

I have a few toys with me which has been useful with main burner failures. We can probably get by without a purchase but, you know... that's not much fun right?

Soto amicus I think I'm the local shop cheap enough with pz ignition. Msr pr 2 there possibly deluxe. Optimum crux can top burner with green details. Vango with remote with pz might have that tiny burner surround windshield feature can't remember. If not it's an older model I think and not much better than mine.

No snowpeak burners around. Might only get from UOG online. No good for this trip.

Did soto or msr do the concave burner first? They both sell it as wind resistant feature.

Does soto have burner regulator like msr pr 2 / deluxe? Is that a thing? As in effective feature? Make a difference? How?

 

[JB101]

Regulators helpin that they minimise fuel consumption so are an advantage.
with regards burners the larger are supposedly better as can offer more wind resistance if designed properly and are better for cooking rather than boiling water as they don't created a small hot spot so to speak.
This review explains in more detail;

Soto Amicus ‘gassie’ (with Soto Windmaster comparison)

Mentions of this stove on CCS and elsewhere have been favourable and justly so. It’s lightweight, compact and well made. I already own a Soto...

classiccampstoves.com

 

[Paul_B]

Jet size is relevant to how you use it, pot shape / size and compact size. If you're a ul backpacker needing a water boiler for dehydrated foods using a mug pot then wide head isn't needed

Personally I haven't had any issue with my now broken narrow head burner even with wide pot when water boiling. That's really all its used for.

Meths stoves I reckon benefit more from matching burner jet spread to pot size I think because it's a lower energy fuel / burn. A gas jet seems to hit the pot "harder" and spreads but it looks to me that meths flames aren't as strongly impacting. If that makes sense.