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 They were originally made in Sweden but they were bought by Optimus and are now made in Taiwan.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