A friend recently asked what I thought was the best multi fuel stove for expeditions and camping, and when I thought about it I figured that actually I couldn’t give him one simple answer because in my opinion there are at least two that are great and they are the MSR DragonFly and the second is the Primus OmniFuel.
And when it comes to serious expeditions the MSR XGK is still hard to beat
But before we get into the details of what I like about them, I think it is worth going over a couple of basic points. The first of which is:
Why Get a Multi Fuel Stove in the first place?
For most people, most of the time, a simple gas stove is more than adequate. I really like the MSR Pocket Rocket, but there are many other similar ones out there. In fact I spent years in my Boy Scout days using a dirt cheap Camping Gaz set (remember those?). Gas is easy and not at all fiddly. It does the job without any mess and your start-up costs are pretty low. A simple camping gas stove will not set you back too much money at all and there is not much that can go wrong.
What are the advantages of liquid-fuel camping stoves?
So why go multifuel? The reason that I got my first MultiFuel cooker was because I was doing longer trips up in the mountains as well as quite a bit of travelling. I started out using a really simple SVEA stove, which was meant to burn only white gas, and found that it was compact and useful if a bit top-heavy. A liquid-fuelled stove works better at altitude. And because you can see exactly how much fuel you have in the bottle you know how much you’ve got left. Try that with an open gas canister and you won’t know if you have three-quarters of a tank or just a few minutes worth of cooking left.
When it comes to expeditions, however, you want two things that the SVEA doesn’t have. The first is the ability to change the jets so that you can burn different sorts of fuel. The three multifuel stove that I talk about here can burn almost anything from white gas to jet fuel. That can be really useful if you are going on expeditions in remote places where you will have to rely on whatever liquid fuel the locals are using.
Cheaper in the long run
They are also cheaper in the long run as a bottle of local liquid fuel will usually cost pennies whereas a canister of propane or butane will usually set you back a couple of bucks. This becomes especially true in remote places where only tourists use canisters so the prices will go way up.
The other advantage is when you are climbing at altitude and in extreme cold as both affect the performance of gas stoves. Sure there are ones with fancy mixes of propane and butane that do better in the cold, but if you are spending days high on a mountain I still think you need a real expedition stove.
The downside to liquid fuel is that it is fiddly. You have more little parts that can get clogged, you have to pump and prime and heat things up to get them going instead of just turning a knob and getting a flame. Recently after many years of faithfully using my DragonFly stove all the time I finally relented and bought a new little Pocket Rocket for weekend trips and taking my kids camping. It just seemed that sometimes you don’t need the bother of using a grown up mountaineering stove.
The verdict: So which is the best?
Now why do I say I’m such a fan of the two MSR stoves and the Primus Omnifuel. In short, and I won’t go into too much detail because I do write a bit more about them elsewhere on this blog,they are just well made stoves that work.
- If you need something really rugged the XGK is the stove for you.
- If you want to do fine cooking and like the idea of being able to simmer (and you really can simmer with one of these) then look at the DragonFly. Both sound like rockets taking off but are dependable, easy to use and pump out a lot of heat.
- The Primus is not quite in another league but it really is a high quality piece of equipment that is loved in Europe. Another great thing about this stove is that it also uses gas canisters so it can be used for big expeditions as well as thrown into a backpack for some no-fuss weekend camping. If I was buying my first stove again, this would be it because it would replace both my MSR Pocket Rocket and my MSR DragonFly.
One more thing. I came across some great research on how efficient various backpacking stoves are at burning fuel. I’ve summarised the study but if you want to read the whole thing I’ve also included a link in the article.
James says
What about the Optimus Nova?
I found it to be much quieter than the MSR stoves (not tried the Primus) and the clever nozzle technology is a winner for me. Self-cleaning and does not require adjustment for different fuels. I read one review where a guy claims to have run his on vegetable oil in a pinch!
I tend to use white gas in mine, but gasoline has worked fine as well. Definitely one to consider. 🙂
Phill Wheel says
I'll have to look at the primus also. I just picture in my head the old fashoned parrafin one where you have to pump like mad to get a good flame.
Jon says
Phil, it couldn’t be further from the truth. These things have come a long way, although I know what you mean about the old ones as I also grew up seeing those in action.
Crazy says
MSR Dragonfly has served me well for over 10yrs now, but still not sure which fuel is the ‘cleanest’, i.e. minimal soot on pan and best for keeping burner valve clear.
Any advice on fuel please? Cheers.