Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Svea 123 stove

Anyone else have one? I've had mine for 40+ years. They were originally made in Sweden but they were bought by Optimus and are now made in Taiwan. I think Optimus is owned by Katadyn.
They're great stoves for high altitudes and cold weather but they can be a pain to light. Lighting them is the main reason that canister stoves have largely replaced them. I've read that many mountain climbers use them because they're so reliable at high altitudes and in extreme cold.
It's real pain sometimes getting the fuel warm to prime it. I've found that squirting a bit of lighter fluid on the stem is much easier although it requires carrying the lighter fluid. Once it's going, though, it puts out some serious heat.
I haven't used mine hardly at all in the last 10 years since I got into llamas. I carry a heavier propane stove which is much easier to light. The llamas carry the heavy bottles.
They're expensive, somewhat over $100. I've read that they've become sort of a cult stove with the purists.

YES! My "new" 15 year old MSR Whisperlite was giving me fits, and rummaging around in the garage, I found my old SVEA 123 from the 1970's.

I dusted it off, filled it with white gas... It lit with the first match and burned hot. I used it on a couple of camping trips last year. Was a great stove in the 1970's, and doggone, it's a great stove now.

Guy

For heating it a bit...

I do one of two things - either use a small eye-dropper to take a little fuel from the tank, and put it in that little depression. Light that and the stove heats up just fine.

Or use some of that fire-starter that squeezes out of the tube like toothpaste. It's a bit easier to deal with than the eye-dropper full of white gas. Works great!

Guy

a little chunk of trioxane works good to preheat....

I use an Optimus 99 every year. Like it better than the 123...

Dang Don, you change rifles like underwear, but you won't spring for a new stove? What's that thing burn anyway, coal??

I have a Svea 123 from the '70s - used it a lot back in the day. I dug it out a few years back after over 30 years of collecting dust and used it on a backpack elk hunt. It fired right up and still works great...

I got mine in 1975 for $11.25 from REI. I've never had an issue with it, including well below zero. Put enough white gas in the "spirit cup" to prime and you'll never have a problem lighting it. Mine is the original model, not the "R" model with the self-cleaning apparatus that was introduced some time around the late 70's, early 80's. Those reputedly can be a bit more problematic. Regardless, if you keep the burner clean they'll give a life of service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svea_123

I always have a baggie of vasolined cotton balls in my pack. I wonder if one would burn long enough to get it going. I'll have to try it...but I'm out of white gas. I haven't needed any in years.

I had an original Svea 123 back in the 70's. At some point I sold it off and bought the "latest and greatest" Coleman backpacking stove. What a mistake that was....I still kick myself for getting rid of the Svea. I have a JetBoil now that works pretty good though.

And see? I never made the shift away from white gas. My two-burner Coleman stove for general camping, my old Svea 123, and even the MSR Whisperlite - all white gas. Great performance in cold, or high altitudes.

I remember one backpacking trip when none of the canister stoves would bring water to boil, but my little MSR Whisperlite was like a rocket! Heated that water right quickly.

Why they call it the "Whisperlite" is beyond me. Anyone in the valley can hear it roaring.

Regards, Guy

I’ve always thought they looked neat. Colin Fletcher spent quite a bit of ink on them. My MSR Whisperlight International from the late 80’s/1990 ish era still works fine. Nothing but a few o-rings on the pump. I think they are easier to prime because of the positive tank pressure.

For most people, you learn really fast to not leave the key on the valve. It gets nice and toasty.

My SVEA 123 is the most elegant stove that I own. It's a work of art. I keep it polished up, dusted off, and on display on the shelf of my game room. But that's about all it's good for now.

It was a comparatively good stove in the '70s, when I bought it. But newer innovations in lightweight stove technologies have rendered it obsolete. It's not as lightweight or convenient as the best canister stoves. So I don't use it in the summer. It doesn't work as well as a Whisperlite in the snow and cold. So I don't use it in the winter. I use much more convenient propane stoves for base camp. So now, there's no situation that I can think of where it's the best option.

Except as a work of art, for which it is excellent.

I had two of them. Some guy bought them both as antiques As KC said they were high tech when they came out,but little stoves like Pocket Rockets over shadow them now.

When lighting the Svea in a small tent when it is cold and little too much gas in the heat cup things got western real fast Using them in real hot weather when they got too hot caused some problems too.

Then there was the little orifice cleaner that you had to make sure you didn't bend or break it, carrying the wrap around aluminum for when it was cold and windy,and small syringe for putting the gas in the heat cup

It's kind of like driving a vintage Mustang when there are many cars that are faster, better handling, have many more conveniences, and are more comfortable. Or how about hunting with your daddy's Win 94 30-30 when there are countless calibers that are faster, more accurate, and carry a lot more energy. It's just the idea of doing it the old way.

Took mine to the month-long winter-warfare course at Mountain Warfare Training Center in the 1980's.

The sergeant said I was doing voodoo with that little stove's lighting ritual, but we had hot coffee & hot meals anytime we had time to set up the little stove. Good memories. Glad I didn't get rid of it.

Yes, the MSR blows it away for heat output, fast boiling times and actually ease of lighting. I think I'm just fond of the little Svea 123 because of so many good memories of backpacking & mountaineering trips.

Regards, Guy

Can't find any fault in this.

My go to stoves Canister= Reactor, multi-fuel= Whisperlite or Dragonfly.

Maybe if you are close to the road or car camping. But not in the backcountry where my life and well being depends on it.

Yet, my Svea 123 has never let me down... Winter backpacking. Mountaineering. Up at 12,000+ feet.

I replaced it with the MSR Whisperlite 20 years ago, looking for more heat, faster boil etc. The MSR did everything as advertised and is arguably better than the Svea, but... The Svea never failed to produce hot water, never failed to cook a meal, never failed to start, never failed in seriously adverse conditions. I re-discovered it a few years ago in a box in the garage, and have been quite pleased to be using the old stove again.

Admittedly a lot of nostalgia for it, but, it also works. Even after sitting in a box for 20 years. I kinda admire that. The same way I appreciate an older rifle, shotgun, bow, or handgun that works just fine.

Regards, Guy

I can't disagree with either of these statements. They are cool little stoves.

Agreed, a lot of nostalgia connected with this old gear. At my age, I have about 60 years of accumulate camping/hunting gear. Kerosene lanterns to Colemans to LED's. Old army pup tents to modern back pack tents.Big tents,little tents. Several dozen knives,firearms I have not shot in 20 years, old aluminum trails chefs,dutch ovens, cast iron skillets and grills, wood stoves, reflector ovens,sterno stoves. I have about as much nostalgia as I can stand. I have started to dispose of some of it before I kick off and my wife brings in a 30 yard dumpster and sends it all to the dump.

What's to go wrong during a 20 year nap? The only possible thing that could go wrong with it is dust or bugs in the nozzle.

I kind of doubt I'll ever use it again anyway. When I'm packing with the llamas I carry a propane stove which is the easiest of all to light and use. I'm too old to backpack. I can't carry a load heavier than my daypack and rifle any more.

Got to admit the MSR pocket rocket sure is super convienent. It takes some of the mystique out of the whole deal.

Have had one of these little stoves since the early 70's, been sitting on a shelf in the garage for close to 30 years. It's kind of like the old 2 burner Coleman gas stoves of the same vintage they worked no matter what the conditions. I carried that old svea as part of my survival gear when flying around the state working in the bush.

The old Coleman 2 burner stoves were very reliable but not being able to have both burners at the same temp was a real pain when using a griddle. My current 2 burner stove is propane and is a lot less trouble.

The Svea was the best until the MSRs came along. I have used canister stoves since the '80s except when melting large quantities of snow. I can boil a qt. of water w/ my canister stove in the time it takes to light a Whisperlight.

I hate fiddling w/ stuff when I am tired and cold, freeze dried food and a canister stove works best for me most of the time. Lighting a Whisperlight w/ near frozen fingers can be a bit of a challenge for us non-mechanical guys


mike r

Svea 123 stoves, Kelty frame packs (with the metal zippers that never failed!), Sierra Designs tents, ensolite foam sleeping pads, and the list could go on. I can almost hear John Denver singin' in the background.
Those were the 1970's I remember.

I’ve heard of them before.



I’ve used the eye dropper. The Coghlans fire paste is the cats ass for preheat, as well as that little pump in the pic.

It is not that hard. You could learn fast.

I cooked for two on a marathon 14-day AK sheep/goat/bear hunt, using a MSR simmerlite and one 22oz bottle of fuel. This was a cooked/simmered dinner each night (no freeze dried), and boiled water for coffee and oatmeal about half of the mornings. I was astounded, frankly. I kept waiting to refill the bottle, but it kept hanging on.

I can and have done it for years. I just prefer canister stoves for most of my applications


mike r

Saddlesore, let us know if you have a garage sale.

The only good use for an ensolite pad is to put it on top of an air mattress for more insulation. I've spent a lot of nights on ensolite. Good riddance.

I've got a 50 year old Optimus. It saw some use back in the day.

Also good to cut a butt-sized piece to carry in a pack for insulation and waterproofiness when sitting and glassing.

Just make sure the O ring on the filler cap is in good shape...they can spout a good flame from it if they are not.

Ha ha, I know exactly what you’re saying. I started about 20 years ago with a Sigg Firejet, which was a good stove, but one year I had some trouble with it and couldn’t get parts anymore. Then on to an MSR Whisperlite for a bunch of years with no complaints. Both of those stoves worked great but had to shield them well from the wind. Now I’m a couple years into using an MSR Windburner and love it. I can have a liter or water boiled regardless of wind conditions in less time than it would take to get the Whisperlite setup and burning. It just keeps getting better.
If MSR could add an igniter to the Windburner, it would be pretty close to perfection for boiling water.

How does the Windburner work with pots other than theirs? How about setting a can of soup on it without a pan?

I haven’t tried any other pots with it so far. I bought it strictly as a water boiler.

Last year I took a group of scouts on a llama pack trip. For the fun of it, I took a bunch of Jiffy Pops along to have a camp stove cookoff. I had my big propane single burner stove (the llamas carry the heavy propane bottles). The boys had several types of stoves. My propane stove has a wide burner and the corn popped beautifully. Several of the stoves, like the Pocket Rocket and it's clones, have very concentrated flames with high heat in a very small area. Those burned holes through the bottom of the Jiffy Pops in seconds, burning the popcorn in the process.
I didn't have the Svea with me so I don't know what it would have done. It's flame spread is sort of between the Pocket Rocket and my propane stove. It did prove 1 thing: some stoves are great for boiling water but for cooking anything else, they're too hot in the middle.

The Windburner has a wide radiant burner and able to dial the heat up or down. It looks like it wouldn’t be a problem setting a pot on top of the wide burner so it might be a little more versatile.

This thread reminded me I had one of these. I just dug it out and listed it in the classifieds for $80. Cool stove, but I don't see me using it anymore. Unfortunately, it's pretty tarnished. Pics in the ad.

Let me know if it sells for that so I'll know if I can get 100 for mine. 😃

Try some Brasso and elbow grease to get rid of the tarnish. It will shine up nicely.

Looking on eBay, 100 may be cheap for one in mint condition.

Maybe I'll spruce it up with a little Brasso and see what happens.