Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Hiking stoves for day trips?

I'm looking for a stove/burner to pack along on day-hikes; nothing serious, just a hike that starts maybe 5-6am and lasts (if all goes according to plan) until 7-8pm. I'd like to be able to make coffee and heat water so I can have a hot meal for lunch or dinner. What brands and models should I be looking at?

jetboil is hard to beat
K

No, it's REALLY easy to beat. An alcohol stove for a short hike of any type is a no-brainer, and the Caldera Cone is the best alcohol stove out there.

I like my Snopeak Ti Litemax and a small canister of fuel. This is very light, highly efficient and simple to use. I have several Ti pots to choose from and usually carry a Snopeak 700 Ti.plus a light Lexan cup for making tea.

What TAK said.

Trangia alcohol burner and a caldera cone.

Other choices would be the Caldera Ti-Tri, Emberlit Ti and Vargo Ti stove's,all can be use with the Trangia alcohol burner and if you run out of fuel can burn wood.

Someone put this on another thread a week or so back. My thought was to get one for day hikes when traveling light, maybe even in a fannypack.
http://emberlit.com/
This seems to be a slick little stove.

I really like my Soto for the short trips.

Pocket Rocket and small canister for me.

I like my Esbit stove for dayhikes or any time you really don't plan on "needing" a stove. There is no liquid to spill in you pack, and it is incredibly light and easy to use (fits inside my snowpeak mug).

I have a couple MSR Whisperlites (International and Universal) that are great for motorcycle camping, long backpacking trips, etc., and a Snowpeak Gigapower stove for short trips. But for day hikes, the Esbit is perfect.

So true. Most lightweight canister stoves will beat a Jetboil in weight for up to 3-5 days (depending on how you do the math). The Soto with a Snowpeak Ti cup is my current favorite setup. I went the alcohol route last year and didn't like the fuss.

Alcohol, unless you drink 6 or more cups then step it up.

Esbit stove with either heat tabs or Sterno.

I carry mine in a plastic pencil box from Wal-Mart. When WM is closing out their back-2-school supplies, you can often buy these for under $1. They are also useful as a small survival kit when filled with the supplies that you think are "must haves" and then vacuum sealed with a dated content label, so that you know when anything might need to be replaced.

Jeff

+1 for the emberlit ti

Lately I have a hard time leaving my SOTO/MSR Ti Kettle behind, for any length of trip. WB stove is nice for day hikes tho, when the urge hits for quiet, slow and simple.

I disagree. Of course, everyone's priorities are different but after using about every type of stove out there, I've been using the Jetboil Sol Ti for the past year and love it. It's much simpler, and much quicker than the Caldera Cone. Of course it's not as light, but I can have water boiled WAY quicker and with no fuss at all. And for what it's worth, for general use the Caldera Ti-Tri is my second favorite and the stove I was using primarily before switching to the JetBoil. Love the versatility of the Tri-ti...especially being able to use wood if I run out of fuel.

heat tabs?? what are "heat tabs"?

I used to pack a Svea 123. Still do, occasionally. Switched to a Borde Bomb a few years ago. My last hike on the AT, I carried a "penny" alcohol stove and was quite satisfied with it. Lately, I have become interested in....of all things......a Kelly Kettle. Not a small item and not particularly light......for a day hike, where all you want to do is boil water, it is just the thing. It will boil two or three cups of water faster than any other stove that I have used (and....please trust me here....that is a lot of stoves......gas,propane, butane, alcohol, kerosene......) an added plus is that you don't need to carry fuel; the Kelly burns wood.
A lot of folk will be turned off by its size.....can't get around that. I nest it in a day pack and do not find it a chore.
Fast. Easy to light. Windproof. Rain proof to a great degree.
Pete

If you don't mind wood the Backcountry boiler would be tough to beat, a lighter kelly kettle if you will. For that same scenario i often run a ti cup, cat can stove, and small bottle with alcohol, nest imside. Light, cheap, quite.

Army Surplus Trioxane. Esbit beats it on all counts except price. Be advised that if the foil wrapper on trioxane bars has a pinhole the stuff may be hard to ignite.

I like the esbit for heating up a mid-day cup of water for coffee or instant soup, very compact and light.