Optimus Turns Up The Heat

We were over seeing the nice people who distribute Optimus stoves in the UK yesterday and got a sneak look at two great-looking new stoves that will be in the shops next week.

We've already told you about the new Optimus Stella + which won a Scandinavian Outdoor Group award, but it's the first time we've seen one in the flesh and it's very, very neat.

To recap, it's a remote burner gas stove that folds down into a really small, flat package around the size of a CD case and weighs just 250 grammes. Even the burner unit folds flat for easy storage - below.

Yes, there are lighter stoves around, but the Stella +'s remote tripod arrangement means it should be considerably more stable than a canister-top burner.

You can also buy it as part of a cook-set for £90, which includes two decent quality pans and a case complete with neat slot specifically to accommodate the folded stove. The stove on its own is £70, so not cheap, but very neat.

Super Nova...

Also new is the Optimus Nova + a comprehensive update of the classic, award-winning Nova multi-fuel stove, which will burn pretty much anything, including diesel.

The Nova + differs from the original Nova in several important respects. The fuel control is now sited on the bottle end of the fuel hose, which means that not only is it slightly safer being further away from the stove, but you can also pop a the windshield up around the stove while cooking and adjust the fuel metering without disturbing the windshield. The original Nova has a stove-mounted control.

The stance of the pan supports is slightly wider making for more stability and like the Nova it has a magnetic self-cleaning needle - it's a cunning feature that uses a repellant magnetic field to push a pricker up through the fuel jet to clear blockages, even when the stove is in use, a real boon when burning dirty fuel.

Looks like an excellent upgrade to an already impressive expedition stove and is even 10 grammes lighter than its predecessor at a claimed 425 grammes including pump. Price will be £130.

More Optimus information at www.optimus.se