Vargo Triad
Erin and I continue to find ways to lighten our load for our trip on the PCT, and we are now working on the stove problem. Here are the options we’re considering:
AntiGravity Gear Pepsi Can Stove (.4 oz) 12$
Two of my favorite thru-hikers use this one, which is to say, I’m pretty impressionable and will do what all the cool kids are doing. But this stove is super light and, as I lack the fine motor skills necessary to make my own, buying this one for 12$ doesn’t seem so bad.
Making our own
This has not proved entirely successful for me in the past. I can create a stove that works successfully over weekend trips, but I wouldn’t trust it over the long haul. You might think that I could make my own pepsi can stove for cheaper than the Antigrav one, but then you have no idea how many root beers I burned through trying to fit my stove together.
If I do try it again, I will use one of the tutorials from Mungo Says Bah or Jurey Studios. Third time’s a charm, right?
Vargo Triad Titanium Stove (1 oz) 32$
I really like this one. It has built in top and bottom legs, and there is a video on the Vargo site that shows how you can make the stove pretty steady. And Section Hiker gives a pretty positive review of it (again with the following the cool kids).
This stove got mixed reviews on rei.com, but it seemed like those people were judging the Vargo Titanium against traditional backpacking stoves. They are two very different categories, and you have to have different expectations.
I’ve batted around the idea of getting the Evernew Titanium Stove (1.2 oz), but it costs 46$, which is a little too rich for my blood. (And I can get the Vargo at a discount because I work at an outdoor store now.Hooray!)
We still haven’t ruled out Erin’s Snow Peak Giga Stove, but it weighs in at 3.75 oz, and the canisters seem to add to much weight relative to the amount of fuel. Not to mention that finding canisters isn’t as convenient as finding alcohol. This is going to be a tough call.
As always, I’d love feedback on these decisions. 
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I had a Vargo Triad years ago but I replaced it with a homemade Guinness/Pepsi can stove. The Triad was a pain to prime but that was not the reason I replaced it. The stove started to leak fuel, so much so that on one trip the whole stove was engulfed in flames. I tried fixing it multiple times with the liquid metal epoxy used on automobiles (first JB Weld but that melted off and then finally with a product made for engine blocks) but eventually the stove started leaking again. I think they have redesigned the Triad now to overcome the leaking issue but I love the can stove so much I have stuck with it.
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. It’s nice to hear from someone who has used the Vargo Triad. (And I love that your homemade stove is from Guinness cans. Put a new meaning to the alcohol stove.
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Where was it leaking? I’m moving away from the Triad after hearing from several people, but I am curious to know more about it.
The Triad stove I have is made with two shallow “dishes”, the bottom one that holds the alcohol and the top one with the holes where the flames escape to cook the food. On mine the bottom dish has a smaller diameter than the top one. This creates a tiny gap between the two of them on the bottom of the stove where apparently the alcohol can leak when the stove is lit. The picture of the Triad you included in your post appears to have a wider bottom dish and a narrower top one and thus the gap between them is facing up to the sky. This probably prevents the problem I had with the stove.
I liked this stove but given the leaking problem, the issue with priming it and the difficulty filling it (it was easy to spill fuel since the opening in the top for the fuel was so tiny), I decided to switch to the can alcohol stove.
You should consider the Jetboil. It probably isn’t “ultralight” but it includes the fuel and cooking pot in it’s design and there is not only a saving in space and wieght as a result but also an increase in efficiency.
I have thought about the jetboil and the people I know seem pretty happy with it. It just feels a little too bulky for what we are looking for, but I did see a lot of AT hikers using them. I’m kind of sold on the alcohol stove at the moment.
I have a Vargo Triad XE. It’s a nice little stove. The problem with it is that because the part that holds the fuel is enclosed, with just the little jet holes, it can be difficult to light. You basically have to prime it every time, which I think is kinda a waste of fuel. But other than that, it’s a good one!
My favorite stove is the Trail Designs Ti-Tri Caldera Cone.
These Caldera stoves are getting such high marks! Thanks for the info on both stoves.
you may want to check out this article to help. Jason Klass is a wealth of information!
http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-choose-an-alcohol-stove-for-backpacking
http://www.geartalkwithjasonklass.com/
Thanks for the links. I’ll check them out.
Just watched several of his videos! Awesome resource.
I’m guessing then, because you’re looking at stoves, you’re not allowed to set up a small fire for cooking/keeping warm if needed? There are very few places in the UK that you can light a fire without someone getting apopleptic and reporting you for arson, even if you know what you’re doing. I dislike the idea of carrying any kind of stove, because you have to take the fuel too, or fill up at a gas station. The best I’ve found as a compromise is a Kelly Kettle but they are huge and cumbersome.
Um, I feel apoplectic just thinking about it. Not really, I had to look that word up in the dictionary, so I figured I’d use it in a sentence.
A lot of places in Oregon prohibit or recommend against having a fire. On top of that, if I backpack near Portland (the land of endless rain), most of the wood is too wet for my limited fire making skills.
That Kelly Kettle does look pretty huge, but at least you can boil water and cook at the same time. I don’t even do that at home, so I would be very impressed with myself in the woods.
Thanks for all of the detailed input! This gives me a lot more options to explore, many that I had never heard of before. There are so many decisions that my head may explode before my stove does (long story).
Thanks again!
I still like the Vargo Triad a lot, but I am thinking about trying the Caldera Tri-Tri which is a combination alcohol and wood stove. You might consider it for the PCT because it would let you burn wood, instead of carrying all of your fuel as alcohol. As for alcohol vs. gas, I’d go with the alcohol. You can always find somebody who sells denatured alcohol in a paint or hardware store.
I am a recent convert to alcohol stoves and am thrilled with my stoves from Minibulldesign. The squirrel cage stove is my goto stove most of the time. My favorite from MBD is the ultra small choke hazzard. (It fits anywhere as a backup.) Both of those use a carbon felt wick and fuel line feed so that when you are through bringing your water to a boil and cooking, you can blow it out and rebottle unused fuel, unlike other alcohol stoves where you must measure carefully and use up remaining fuel by letting it burn itself out. I chose these designs because I use a narrower dutch beer can pot/cup. Some of the other alcohol stove designs have a wider flame design that is best suited for larger cook kits. I would consider an MBD Bios 4 for a wider flame pattern. All of these designs are amazing. I used a snow peak giga with canister last summer during a short trip and had problems with it staying lit sometimes. Some people swear by the white gas stoves at altitude and will never convert, but the fuel bottle seems too heavy for me. Also, I’m just accident prone enough to have it explode in my face.
We need an accident prone support group, because I just had an explosion of my own.
Trail Design’s Caldera Keg. Even though I’ve been cooking with it in the kitchen for weeks, I was reluctant to recommend something I hadn’t taken into the wild. That’s over as of last night. This thing is the absolute best ultralight backpacking cook system. The design is so advanced, there’s no 2nd place.
I’ve been all over Vermont planting my food caches on The Long Trail. It was dark when I got to the Stratton trailhead last night, so I waltzed into the woods with my little LED and dumped at the 1st flat spot. Settled into the tent, and stuck my head out to make supper. I brushed the top layer of leaves off the ground, squirted a half ounce of ethanol into the stove from my calibrated bottled, lit it with a match, and had a pint of boiling water in 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I put the dry mix (potato, corn, peas, gravy, beefish TVP) into a 1 qt. TakeAlongs. This nifty cup fits into the bubblewrap cozy that came with the set. The hot water goes into the TakeAlong with a mighty stir, and I sealed it with the screw cap to cook.
In a matter of moments, the entire Caldera rig is cool enough to handle and there’s no forest fire. So I could fold it up and stow it back in the bag—GONE—before the food was even done cooking. I’m laying on my side in the tent in the dark doing this. When I unsealed the cup, the food was still too hot to eat. It stayed warm down to the final delicious swipe off the bottom. Why is this factor ignored in backpacking—it cooks better.
I’m enthralled with this cook set. The pot, stove, stand/windscreen, and cozy weight the same as just my Ti pot. (Which is now looking for a good home with a dog who needs a bowl.) I made a 2 fl. oz. ‘tea ceremony’ style ladle that nests inside the kit. It lets me draw hot water for soup and drinks while the pot stays on the flame heating. On an extended outing, that feature alone will save enough fuel weight to make the Caldera go anti-gravity.
Bonus: You can’t tip it over. I’ve tried. Won’t go. Adding more water to the pot makes it even more stable. That’s a big deal for me. I would explode if I tipped a hot meal.
Although I have now played around with some of the alcohol stoves, if I am hiking in the high sierras, or anywhere it might be cold and I’d like a hot drink or meal quickly, I’d still go for my MSR multi-fuel stove. I’m on my second (my first was before the whisperlite’s came out and it was noisy, but could boil water in no time. It last for 20 years of tough use including the AT). My new one is a quieter. The multi-fuel variety allows you to buy gas at a gas station–much easier to refuel! Good luck with your hike.