solid fuel vs gel? Which has the best performance?

[lub0]

Which fuel type has the better weight/performance ration? I hear the US army green gel is alot better than the british hexamine tablets? Is this true?

 

[rik_uk3]

Solid fuel is the better of two evils

 

[monkey boy]

good question, I find that solid fuel is better than the gel.
here are my reasons...

solid fuel
pros
.packs away better in a little box
.easier to add more fuel while its burning, that way you only use what you need.
.easier to clean up

cons
.smells
.not easy to light with just a spark


gel fuel
pro
.they take a spark better than solid fuel (but still very tricky)
.they dont smell as bad as hexi

cons
. messy to clean up
. I hate having to carry empty packet arround with me til I find a bin.
.45p to boil 1 cup of water, sometimes you need 2 packets.

to be honnest both fuel are very good when it comes to performing and im sure each to there own for what works best for them.

maybe have a look at my little monkey boy stove, I made it to replace solid and gel fuel altogether. here kepis wrote a review on it
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83703&p=1011769#post1011769

pro
.takes a spark easy
.easy to pack away
.only needs a little bit of fuel to burn longer than solid and hexi.
.no smell
.its cheaper
. boils water quicker

cons
there is none

 

[andybysea]

Hexi's work better for me,ive tried green gel but it just does'nt work as well as hexi's when ive tried it.

 

[Shewie]

Why pick the two heaviest and crappest heat outputers? Plenty of better options out there.

 

[mountainm]

Why pick the two heaviest and crappest heat outputers? Plenty of better options out there.

do you mean better fuels, or better solid/gel fuels?

 

[ged]

do you mean better fuels, or better solid/gel fuels?

Better fuels. I'd only ever consider hexi under very specific circumstances, and I'd never consider gel -- unless I'd run out of everything else and I was going to use some of the wife's hand gel in desperation. I even use meths rather than the hand gel for cleaning my hands.

Of course if you're going to be pedantic wood is a solid fuel. For the tiny amounts needed for cooking you don't usually have to pay for it and you don't usually have to carry it very far.

 

[lub0]

Thanks for the advice, I have now ordered 5 boxes of esbit solid fuel after finding out they are a little better than the standard MOD heximane blocks.
@monkeyboy your link does not work!

 

[greenwood]

I have tryed both, hex fuel is harder to light, i always put some cotton wool soaked in Vaselin in just to get things going it lasts long, Green Gel lights better and will boil a cup of water in approx 6/8 mins just as the gel burns out, this is good for a quick brew and you dont have to wory about cleaning out tin/cup from black ash, also you dont have to start any fires.
Both have their places
I will be trying gell with hex block over weekend for boil time for water and see if it works,how well or not?

 

[Shewie]

What do you call a cup greenwood, is that around 250-300ml? For boiling up water for dehydrated meals I'm just a bit surprised at choice of stove for lub0, if it's around 400-500ml of water per meal then that's going to be a lot of tablets isn't it?

 

[greenwood]

What do you call a cup greenwood, is that around 250-300ml? For boiling up water for dehydrated meals I'm just a bit surprised at choice of stove for lub0, if it's around 400-500ml of water per meal then that's going to be a lot of tablets isn't it?

Using my crusader cooker the "cup" in the cook system is approx 1 pint(560ml approx) so half that 1s 1/2 pint (280ml approx).
1/2 pint or half a cup takes approx 6/8 mins depending on temperature/wind and thats 1 Green Gel to get water boiling.

 

[monkey boy]

Thanks for the advice, I have now ordered 5 boxes of esbit solid fuel after finding out they are a little better than the standard MOD heximane blocks.
@monkeyboy your link does not work!

I dont know where is gone mate, anyway it was a vasiline tin with loft insulationin it covered with a mesh from a stainer here is a pic, it works better than solid fuel and gel, and a lot of other alcohol stoves to be honest

 

[spiritwalker]

im a great fan of both in fact i tend to use both normally hexiblock or pine resin block(much cheaper) but i tend to squirt a bit of gel on it to take a spark then it all gets going works for me and well im one of those sick people who actually likes the smell of hexi in the morning. Im off out tomorrow for the day and night at a localish campsite (fires permitted) to test my bedroll in cold conditions. When the fires on ill use that to cook and brew up but in the morning ill brew up on hexi pine blocks / gel with my crusader kit. Looks like its going to be a cold one too so excited...

 

[copper_head]

im a great fan of both in fact i tend to use both normally hexiblock or pine resin block(much cheaper) but i tend to squirt a bit of gel on it to take a spark then it all gets going works for me and well im one of those sick people who actually likes the smell of hexi in the morning. Im off out tomorrow for the day and night at a localish campsite (fires permitted) to test my bedroll in cold conditions. When the fires on ill use that to cook and brew up but in the morning ill brew up on hexi pine blocks / gel with my crusader kit. Looks like its going to be a cold one too so excited...

Yeah I've always used hexi, quite keen to try out esbit at some point. Hexi does take a spark quite nicely if you scrape it up a bit...

Anyway is your bed roll one of the Czech army ones?

 

[spiritwalker]

nope its a belgian army bivvy bag with a stitched wool blanket in it (like a giant sock) with a cotton liner inside too as well as a closed cell foam mat. Ill be taking a multimat and 4 season sleeping bag etc too just in case lol pics of it are on post seven on this thread

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78196&highlight=bedroll