Kovea booster

[rsriddle_76]

Hi guys, i am on the market for a stove and have been looking at the Kovea Booster+1 duel fuel stove, and from the look of it it looks like a great stove to me(being that i'm new to hiking). as the price is really good compared to others, and it looks to me as the only one to use duel fuel??. has anyone got one of these or had experience with these? i probably wont be doing snow hiking but i like how cheap you can run these little units. sorry dont know how to attach pics.
The other one i like is the kovea moon walker, what do you thing.
Cheers Rod

[Ent]

From what i have seen they are a very heavy and expensive stove. The Moonwalker is not a bad stove but again heavy compared to others. Finally got a chance to try on of the bolt straight on the cylinder stoves in cold weather and even with Kovea gas mixture 70/30 or 65/35 it struggled while a preheating design like the Primus ETA sailed through. When I say struggled I do not mean stopped working just got a lot slower. However, for all but very cold walking a sit on top Kovea Ti or Optmius folding stove should be ok and not too dear.

Cheers Brett

[rsriddle_76]

Thanks Brett, well i'll do a little more researching. The booster is only about $200 which i thought was good! when you tried the screw on kovea stove, what temperture did you use it in?

[corvus]

G'day rsriddle_76,
I was with Brett on this trip and used my Optimus Crux the temp dropped to minus 3 when we were cooking and it did take longer to get a boil however strange as it may seem I only used 15 gm of gas for two boils (evening and breakfast) and would suspect my Kovea Ti would have only used a squidgen more
Hope this helps.
corvus

[Ent]

Hi

As per Corvus' comments re temperature and performance. A sit on top is cheaper and lighter but not as stable as say a Moonwalker. They are a good place to start unless you camp in cold and very high places. The pre-heat tube on the Primus means it appears largely unaffected by cold plus you can turn the cylinder upside down but the weight and the cost means it is more a specialised piece of kit.

I tend to cook more elaborate dishes so use more gas thus make the cylinder colder hence lower performance. The trick is to make sure you get the winter mixture. For car camping I used to use one of the flat stoves with the tall gas cylinders until could only source 100 butane mixture. Now at below 5 degrees the performance was pitiful so hunt out at least 70/30 mixture and you should be ok.

Cheers Brett

[rsriddle_76]

i got myself some jetboil jetpower fuel which says its four season mix-isobutane/propane mix, that should be good to use in winter i take it. Can you please expand on the type of elaborate meals you cook in the bush?? as interested to know what you cook instead of living on those freeze dried stuff all the time. And what pot/pans do you recomend to use? Thanks Brett

[corvus]

i got myself some jetboil jetpower fuel which says its four season mix-isobutane/propane mix, that should be good to use in winter i take it. Can you please expand on the type of elaborate meals you cook in the bush?? as interested to know what you cook instead of living on those freeze dried stuff all the time. And what pot/pans do you recomend to use? Thanks Brett

G'day rsriddle,
Your "jet boil " gas will perform as well /poor just like all Iso/Pro mixes in the really cold weather so please do not be mislead with hype
corvus

[Ent]

Hi

Dreaded four season ratings Could mean a 80/20 rating or something else. Much prefer the percentage of the mixture be stated. Never got to the bottom of gas mixture issue re what actually happens. Some things I have read indicates that the low temperature gas burns off first and the cheaper gas then does not burn well afterwards so performance drops once a cylinder is say half full. Experience suggests that above -5 a sensible mixture should work ok, just use more gas and take longer. For extreme conditions the liquid fuel stoves are the go. I use a Primus Eta that can run on all petroleum based fuels and gas. On liquid fuel it does not simmer well but cold has no effect. The only liquid fuel stove that I found that can simmer is a Optimus Nova. The preheat design of the Primus means even in snow I did not get a performance hit that I noticed with a sit on top last weekend. A Moonwalker Ti would be tempting but not cheap if I was a snow bunny. I have the Primus ETA for extreme conditions but frankly I am unlikely to be out in them so more overkill than practical need for me. Actually I got it because it is a stable cooking platform. The Trangi I once used made a rock solid platform and with the sit on top more than one meal has hit the dust.

Depending on the circumstances I tend to use the Primus Eta with 2.1 litre pot and have a GSI frypan with folding lid. This means I can steam vegetables in the Primus pot and put them in the heat retaining bag and pan fry steak, Salmon, etc in the frypan much as at home. The GSI frypan is around 500 grams but beats hands down any system that uses the lid of a pot set. Also means omelettes are safely made. Bacon and eggs will keep well in Tassie's cooler weather for a slap up breakfast.

For lighter trips I use a Optimus Crux or Kove Ti and a Snowpeak titanium cookset. Favourite meal is frying off the salami in the lid to brain off the fat and then adding it to a packaged tomato pasta dried meal with dried peas going in first with the cold water and then brought to the boil with the packaged pasta added then when nearing finished by adding the salami.

Generally I go for a deluxe meal on day one and good breakfasts of omelettes or bacon and eggs which works well for overnight or even three nigh twalks. After that weight would decided a more traditional style approach. Sadly the package tuna steaks disappeared off local supermarket shelves as they were great for a decent meal late into a trip.

Cheers Brett

[nickL]

hi

i use a snow peak gst100 ti - light, efficient, very low co emissions with a GSI soloist pot

i dehydrate all dinners that we cook with love (and nutrition) at home- rehydrate them in a nalgene from lunch time in my pack which gets lots of shaking around - at dinner they are ready to cook but need to be cooked slowly so you need a stove that can simmer

last 7 day walk had:
1/ spag bog (twice)
2/ chicken laksa
3/ spinach and lentil dahl with rice (madhur jaffrey cookbook)
4/ moong dahl with onions and rice
5/ fried rice
6/ pea and ham soup

for lunch i rehydrate humous in a nalgene (start with warm water from brekky) and have it with crackers, cheese and salami or tuna - my favorite lunch which i never get sick of

i do have a MSR dragonfly (mulit fuel stove) and i love how it functions / the design and i can get stuff to simmer with it but you would be crazy to cook in a tent with it due to the large flame it sets off on priming - is spectacular in a hut though especially if you get in late and its dark - if you mess up the priming tho you may look like a real nob

so once you have the perfect stove you need to then get the perfect dehydrator IMHO

cheers
nick