Coleman stove bargain

[Lochan_load]

Thanks for all the comments folks, this is my first stove and was really attracted by the price, i usually have an open fire but thought this might be good for tea and porridge in the morning or when a fire isn't possible, if I get the use out of it this season I'll upgrade up to a Lower profile one for next year.
On the canister as far as I can ascertain it's only the Coleman ones that will suit due to the size and fitting on the canister, if anyone has other info I'd be grateful

[Yardbent]

MSR

did a lot of high-altitude wilderness camping in BC Canada
this stove never let us down - very safe - and 2 bottle sizes for long trips

http://www.cascadedesigns.com/msr/stoves/rapid-cooking/xgk-ex/product

http://www.cascadedesigns.com/images/product/large/msr_xgkex.jpg

john

[Midgie Hater]

How does you friend find it Sandy? As stated i'm very happy with it, and that's despite having owned more high-spec. stoves in the past. Tbh, given the price point, I was amazed. Seems quite efficient too.

John: yes, there's no question MSR stoves (among a few others) are the dog's, er, well y'know

I'm thinking though that although I like the Webtex, i'll be looking again to get a multi-fuel stove for some of my wanderings in the Cascades to come, especially since one of the first trips i'm thinking of is an ascent of Mt. Adams (12,276ft). I reckon that the combination of cold (despite the greater efficiency of the propane/butane mix at lower temperatures compared with pure butane) and, more importantly in this case, a high (ish) altitude camp (around 9000ft if I remember rightly) will likely require a different approach. When I did a few minor (again "ish") Alps many years ago I used a Primus - Optimus I think - but the MSR multi's seem more versatile overall. Hmm, a bit off-topic now I guess, but then that's the beauty of WFF threads: they tend to evolve

Oh, Element, your post appeared as I was typing: yep, had a Trangia myself for a long time and loved it, despite some of the limitations mentioned. I got rid of it purely on space grounds really as the stove and the fuel bottle took up a fair amount of pack space. Depending on what the end-use is, i'd say there's little to compare with it. I nearly bought one of those Norwegian army billy-can-type Trangias a couple of years back, but eventually fell back on the Webtex.

[Midgie Hater]

No sane wild fisher would light a stove of any type in their tent; even near the tent is questionable..

I'm not advocating in-tent use of naked flames but I certainly use my stove in the porch section at times if I have to. I think it all comes down to common-sense, careful management and monitoring. Besides, if camping in Winter, or even when the weather is so awful that there is absolutely no chance of getting a stove going in the open air, there is often no choice if you want to be able to eat.

[Wildfisher]

takes a while but as Fred says - what's the hurry!

This is something I can't get my head round. My wee Trangia may take four minutes to heat up water for a cuppa soup - the gas takes 2.  What's the f*****g rush? Is it a race? Got plane to catch or something?  :lol:   Let's leave the rushing about  for work and "civilization"!

I always take the Mini  Trangia to places like Beanie. There is something so nice about lighting the meths, sticking the pot on it and sitting there chilling  out and watching the wildlife as my water silently heats up.  Next season I'm taking some salt,  a small bottle of olive oil and will cook a nice 1/2 pound fresh trout, straight from the loch,  for lunch. I will of course als be taking sandwiches just in case.  :lol:

It was River Chatter who got me onto the Trangia. Thanks John you were so right!   :

[River Chatter]

For my purposes the Trangia is perfect.  Like Fred, I like the fact that it's silent and despite some criticism about its boiling speed I reckon the difference is negligible, at about an extra minute or two.  I have three sizes, the mini, the 27 (one/two person meals) and the 25 (2 person).  Apart from grilling it does it all and I've cooked some pretty decent meals over the years.  The bulk isn't much greater than the size of the pot (which you'd have with you regardless of cook system) so that doesn't bother me and the added weight is for the stand/windshield.   It's not much extra though and for me the rock solid reliability and stability more than compensates.  No gas bottles to bin (or worry about how much fuel is left) and cheaper to run too.  I love my Trangias and I expect to be using them 'til I drop or can't get out anymore when my son will inherit them.  The only reason I'd use another stove would be if climbing to higher ground than we have here in Scotland or camping in winter - unlikely!

[Wildfisher]

Bloody hell Tony, I know you're a big fellah, but that's some lunch  :lol:

[Wildfisher]

The bulk isn't much greater than the size of the pot (which you'd have with you regardless of cook system)

This is the true elegance of the mini Trangia I have. The pot and non-stick frying pan are part of package and the package is very compact.

[Suki1312]

Nevermind in 40-50 days we will all be putting our various stoves to the test once again , and i for one cant wait . The last 3-4 weeks have dragged in .

[corsican dave]

Thanks for all the comments folks, this is my first stove and was really attracted by the price, i usually have an open fire but thought this might be good for tea and porridge in the morning or when a fire isn't possible, if I get the use out of it this season I'll upgrade up to a Lower profile one for next year.
On the canister as far as I can ascertain it's only the Coleman ones that will suit due to the size and fitting on the canister, if anyone has other info I'd be grateful

nope, you're stuffed. and they're really difficult to get hold of too. camping gaz did the same thing with their cv cartridges, presumably in an attempt to ensure everyone only bought the camping gaz cartridge. bottom line was that nobody stocked the cartridges or the stoves eventually!

ordinarily i'd say this is a perfect example of "buy cheap:buy twice", but in the circumstances i'd have to say that you can't go far wrong for a fiver and coleman gear is normally very well made. so use it, enjoy it and let it be your stepping stone to some adventures.

btw, midgie hater; have a look at the primus omni-fuel models. msr used to have a metal barreled fuel pump which was virtually indestructible. about 30 years ago they changed it to plastic to make it lighter and i found them to be much more fragile. i've had them split, the pump pull out of the barrel and the threads chewed up by fuel bottles.and i was a devout fan of msr for years.the pimus pump unit is metal and the fuel system is genius: the valve will even accept std screw-in gas cylinders, so you've got three fuel types. plus they don't clog as much and they're more efficient. still solid swedish engineering but brought into the 21st century. not cheap, but no more expensive than a dragonfly or xgk.

suki: i'm not waiting another two months to go out!