Hi
Need some advice from you experts. Just spent a night wild camping with a bivy between Kinder Scout and Crowden. Found a suitable spot about 9:30 pm and got out the Camping stove to get a cup of tea and prepare some dyhadrated shepherd's pie.
The only trouble was the stove (Camping Gaz) was completely ineffective...couldn't get anywhere near boiling the water for our cup of tea. When I'd tried the stove at home it would boil the water within a few minutes. It was a very cold night up on Kinder. What cooking equipment do other campers use or do you eat at the pub whenever you can.

You should certainly ditch the camping gaz. The Butane/Propane mixes that you find in screw-in cartridges from Primus and Coleman (and others) is more efficient and effective. I have a variety of stoves.

On this year's TGO Challenge I used a Peak Ignition, titanium stove, that I bought from backpackinglight.co.uk. This was a superb piece of kit. It is lightweight (95 grams), has self ignition (which worked throughout the trip) and has foldable pan supports which are actually quite wide. THe whole thing fits into a Tri-Lite titanium mug which I used for cooking, eating and drinking.

The Tri-Lite is a good match to the stove. Titanium is a bad conductor of heat but is so strong that it can be made incredibly thin. I found that (by rehydrating food as I was walking) I could easily spend two weeks on less than two 250 cannisters. Being a poor conductor of heat, titanium also keeps you food/drink hot for a very long time. If I'm not walking alone I take an MSR titanium pot and one of Bob's folding plates.

For static camps - and treks where cannisters are not so easy to find - I use an MSR Dragonfly. A bit heavy, but this can run on (literally) anything. This is a great stove cook with (as opposed to just heating food through with).

Finally, I have a Camping Gaz backpacking stove which is far too tall and not very effective. But there are times, on the continent, when you can only get hold of Camping Gaz. This year I may invest in an MSR Superfly which has a lower (abd safer) profile and which can run on both screw cannister and Camping Gaz.

But for everyday use - like the one you described - you'll find that you can't go wrong with the Peak Ignition.

I always carry a Coleman F1 lite stove and two 100size gas canisters. It boils a litre in about 3 minutes, I use it winter or summer, even on day walks because it's so light.
Have a look at the reviews section on the site and you will see I tell no lies :o)

I also use a Coleman F1 lite, i got it for £17 at ultimate outdoors, It replaced my old bluey. Its much better in cold weather and the flame still even roars like a miniature rocket when its on high. It's also more stable than the bluey was with a Coleman 250 canister. The pan supports also work better, even though there smaller, as they aren't smooth and rounded like the bluey one's.

Well worth the money, and it also only weighs 76g.

i second the peak ignition, (kovea camp3) stove, i like the piezo its so convenient when your tired. its great quality and can be picked up for about £22 if you look hard enough, which is great for a titanium stove.

i weighed mine at 92g, or 88g with piezo ignition removed. its very powerful with good flame control. itll get your water boiling no problem, even in strong wind.

if you want greater stability than offered by the 'screw in canister top' id take a look at the optimus stella, looks fantastic and probably worth the cost and weight if cooking for more than 1.

Hi,
I have something like the Peak Ignition, titanium stove, but mine comes in this green plastic box thing and mine has 4 retractable legs. What I also have is this set of pastic legs, they clip under the gas canister to give the whole thig more stability... when we were in the shop my wife picked them up and I thought.. nah.. gimic.. don't need them... Hint, always listen to the wife!
Used mine in anger for the first time a few weeks ago at 2000ft in a real gale, did me fine.

I personally use the MSR Pocket Rocket. Great stove, heats water fast and does really sound like a rocket when turned up!!

Some good offers at The Outdoor Shop at the moment:

£24 for the Pocket Rocket,
http://www.theoutdoorshop.com/Outdoor/ProductDetails.aspx?language=en-GB&product=1464901

or £44 complete with the Titan Kettle.
http://www.theoutdoorshop.com/Outdoor/ProductDetails.aspx?language=en-GB&product=2151601

Hi there,

I use Coleman/Primus/similar gas for camping too, and find it works very well.

Because I mainly backpack (as opposed to car camp) I want a light, small stove, and so I use the Primus Micron. It's been totally reliable (ok, the self-ignitor has given up, but I didn't plan to rely on that anyway), and it seems economical. (Chris Townsend conducted some tests and found it to be very economical: I bought it on his recommendation.)

It only takes me a couple of minutes (general impression - I haven't timed it) to boil a kettly thing full of water for a drink or food. It's very small (would pack easily into my mug) and weighs only 110g in its little pouch.

For best results, though, you'll need a wind shield. I confess that I've not used one yet, but I know that my gas would last longer/cooking would be even quicker if I did.

If I was mainly car camping, though, I'd take something slightly larger which would be more stable. I've never had a pot tip over, but I have to watch it closely because the top of the Micron is small.

For car camping I'd probably go for a Primus Gravity (about £45) (awarded joint Best Buy by Chris Townsend in last October's TGO, and I see that Steve Perry in this month's TGO was delighted with his during his winter round of Munros a few months ago) - it works with the gas I mentioned above - or a Primus Omnifuel (about £115), which was the other joint Best Buy. That one takes a range of different fuels, and would be very useful if you were planning to take it abroad.

Good luck :)

p.s. and yes, I do like to eat in the pub whenever I can! :)

Thanks to you all for such detailed and quick responses. I was thinking of not bothering taking a stove at all next time and using a thermos flask.....but after a quick look through your replies I will follow some of the tips given. Thanks a lot

Old man walker,
While the list of different stoves and how good they are was interesting, only two of the replies were to the point : Andy H. recommended Butane/propane mixes and Peewiglet mentioned using a windshield.

The third point would be to warm the gas cylinder (body heat rather than direct flames) before use and then keep it from losing too much heat by insulating the cylinder from the cold ground . If these three points are followed any one of the stoves mentioned in this thread would give satisfactory results. Choosing between them comes down to the relative importance to you of price, weight and boil speed.

The only thing wrong with your stove is that (I think) there are no Butane/propane mix canisters available for it. Even so, wind-shielding and warming would make it perform much better in cold conditions and it should be satisfactory for summer use.

Frum

Thanks Ancient Forum
I certainly learnt something there.

"Faster than the speed of Mike"
I've taken a look at the rocket and need more help.
The specs for it says
"Runs off re-sealable gas cartridges (EN417)"
Tried to find these on the theoutdoorshop.com website but couldn't. How easy are these re-sealable gas cartridges to get hold off.

you won't be able to find gas online because it's not allowed to be posted, but you can get them in any camping shop...

> only two of the replies were to the point

A bit harsh, I think, since the original question was "What cooking equipment do other campers use?", and not "why didn't my CampingGaz stove work on a very cold night?"

Your points address the latter question very well, though...

CampingGaz cyclinders are available with a butane/propane mix:

C206 cartridge

CP,

Yes, you're right. I expressed myself badly and I apologise.

Frum

In don't think it so much the Gas mixture, but more the nozel/burner which the gas comes out of that makes them sluggish in the winter. There more like a cooker, if you get what i mean.

The valved CampingGaz cylinders only go to 80/20 butane/propane mixes.

Coleman, probably the most common EN417 cylinder supplier do 70/30 butane/propane mix.
MSR IsoPro is 80/20 isopropane/propane mix.

Both of these should offer better low temperature performance than the CampingGaz mix.

gas in summer, at present I am using a snow peak. For a windshield I use cooking foil folded two or three times for strength.

Thanks brenda
Just taken a look at the Snow Peak. I'm new at all this but do you need to use Snow peak canisters or can you simply buy any gas canisters. If you have to use Snow Peak how easy are they to obtain?

Sorry for my ignorance.......

Snow peak, MSR, coleman and primus micron stoves are all interchangeable in terms of cylinders - i.e. they'll all use each other's cylinders. They will also all use a standard handheld blowtorch cylinder which can be cheaper albeit a bit unstable!

The non-compatible blue camping gaz types are (unsurprisingly!) made by our continental neighbours. These come either in a screw on & blow up in your face type (ie sealed, puncturable, non-removable till its dead) cartridge, or a screw on resealable CV206 blue cartridge. These gaz stoves & cartridges are not interchangeable with each other or with any other stove apart from the MSR superfly.

The biggest impact on performance in most UK conditions is undoubtedly wind, and it was probably this that caused your problems rather than the temperature. Even running my coleman F1 lite on minimum power it will happily boil water in most conditions as long as I use a good windshield and a lid on the pot. If you do use a windshield, make sure the stove doesn't get too hot (if the cylinder is too hot to touch, that's too hot!).

My suggestion would be to stick with what you've got, but fold some kitchen foil into a windscreen and try that.

for a wind shield im using the aluminium from two carslberg cans with the ends cut off. i then punch holes around the top and bottom with a hole punch. join the two together with some fine wire,or paper clip. then when in the field use 3 tent pegs to secure it around the stove. the shield packs neatly around the inside of my pan, along with the gas and stove for transport.