I'll put in a plug for the white gas (Coleman fuel) stoves. If you learn how to light one, they work just fine. But I have seen really smart people get into trouble with them.
The right way:
1. Connect everything.
2. Pump the tank to pressurize.
3. Open the valve, allow a spoon full of fuel to fill the stove's little warming reservoir.
4.
Turn the valve off! (
This is where people screw up.)
5. Light the stove, watch it burn almost out, 30-60 seconds. This heats the metal parts so when you re-open the valve, what comes out is vaporized fuel.
6. Open the valve. If you wait until the flame is out, light it right away.
For big groups on a long trip, the white gas stove is overall lighter than the canister ones, because the weight of those pressurized canisters adds up. I've also gone snow camping with snowmobiles, and the Coleman fuel stove is best for carrying and burning enough fuel to melt snow for water. In frozen environments, you don't have to worry about keeping the Coleman fuel warm enough.
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But... I don't carry a canister stove anymore. They are all too heavy. The titanium wing / Esbit tablet stove is what I use.
Here's the stove folded, 0.4 oz (11 g):
Here's a view as I use it. I add a homemade wind screen: 2" high aluminum foil cylinder. Stove, fuel tablets, lighter and windscreen all fit loosely in a quart zip-slider bag.
$20
on Backpacking Light
