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Post by reptocarl on Jun 25, 2016 14:47:47 GMT -8
I'm wanting to buy the new Optimus Hiker + or Svea. What are your thoughts and do or have any of you carried one?
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jun 25, 2016 15:03:15 GMT -8
I keep my 2 SVEAs for sentimental reasons. I carry them every now and then, but I mostly use them for backyard cooking just for the pure joy of doing it.
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Post by paula53 on Jun 25, 2016 15:30:24 GMT -8
I have had one that was over 30 years old and still worked. It's a very reliable gas stove. Newer stoves are lighter, but my Svea was bullet proof. It sounded like a blowtorch when it was in use. I use cannister stoves now. You can still buy them new online. The last one I saw was going for almost 90 dollars.
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Post by johntpenca on Jun 25, 2016 16:08:28 GMT -8
Where and when do you intend to use the stove? I used a SVEA 123 for years, good all around performer for melting snow and boiling a pot of water for rehydrating. I just got tired of dealing with white gas and pretty much only use a canister stove for 3 season hiking.
Stove choice also depends on what you are cooking.
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Post by reptocarl on Jun 25, 2016 17:21:02 GMT -8
I'm in Oklahoma and only backpack in mid winter. I will only use white gas stoves because of a bad experience with a gas stove. It'll mostly be used just to boil water
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Jun 25, 2016 19:47:39 GMT -8
I don't know what your bad experience was, but you can have an equally bad experience with a Svea.
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Post by reptocarl on Jun 25, 2016 20:22:35 GMT -8
I don't know what your bad experience was, but you can have an equally bad experience with a Svea. It was an unexpected drop in temps that rendered my jet boil useless. I tried all the known tricks to know avail. For the time of year that I backpack I'm sticking with liquid fuel. If a svea doesn't work in the winter I know it isn't because of fuel
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Post by bradmacmt on Jun 26, 2016 6:07:49 GMT -8
I bought my Svea 123 from REI in 1975 for $11.25. Best purchase I ever made. Used it for years from over 100*F+ to -20*F. It's always just roared to life and done its job, including with unleaded gasoline. It's a phenomenal design. Undoubtedly it could be "updated" by being made in titanium! I've always liked the Svea 123 better than the Optimus Hiker/8r/99.
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Post by hikerjer on Jun 26, 2016 9:57:04 GMT -8
I bought my Optimus 8R from REI in 1974. I can't remember how much but it wasn't much. It's never failed me and I still have it though I can't remember the last time I used it. I have no doubt, though, that if I went down to the basement today and dug it out, it would fire right up and work flawlessly. Along with the Svea 123, it is truely a backpacking classic.
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Post by johntpenca on Jun 26, 2016 14:44:15 GMT -8
If you intend to stay with liquid fuel, both stoves are solid. You might also want to look at what MSR offers (XGK, whisperlight).
For canister stoves there are several that have remote, inverted canisters which are reported to work much better in winter than base mounted canister stoves. I've never used one so can't say much else.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jun 26, 2016 15:10:43 GMT -8
Undoubtedly it could be "updated" by being made in titanium! Somehow, I think titanium might not be the best material for a 4 oz tank on a gas stove that you essentially set on fire in order to get the "vapors flowing"... But, I'm absolutely NOT a metallurgist. It's never failed me and I still have it though I can't remember the last time I used it. I use my SVEA 123 or other white gas stoves (even my 2 Bushbuddies occasionally) when I get a hankering to cook breakfast or dinner outside in the "winter" (there really is no real "winter" in Texas, thus the quotes to qualify the term as used locally here in central Tejas) - last time I did this was to make scrambled eggs with green onions, cheese and ham back in April, when it was "spring" here: it was early, early (8ish) in the morning, I'd come back from my run in the park, and everyone was still asleep in the house on a Sunday morning. I don't do "church" in the usual sense, so this is how I worship, you see...
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Post by ecocentric on Jun 26, 2016 15:24:11 GMT -8
The only drawback is that they are hard to turn down to a simmer. I have seen fuel spills turn into a picnic table conflagration. Light the stove prior to cocktail hour.
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Post by johntpenca on Jun 26, 2016 15:36:54 GMT -8
Never had a problem with conflagrations, but the SVEA 123 does have a tendency to flare up before if settles down. Not a stove to start while in a tent. For priming, I always preferred to use a primer paste rather than white gas. The paste burns more slowly. Dumping white gas into the priming divit at the top of the stove can cause issues if you are not careful but never gave me a problem.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Jun 26, 2016 15:38:37 GMT -8
The only drawback is that they are hard to turn down to a simmer. I have seen fuel spills turn into a picnic table conflagration. The ONLY stove I've ever experienced "conflagration" with was the aptly named Coleman Fyrestorm. Though termed "multifuel" during its short lifetime on the market, it's a great little canister stove (though too heavy), but entirely unmanageable and unpredictable on white gas. Just FYI: The new Primus OmniLite I bought in the spring this year, though called "too heavy for me" by most here (12 oz, titanium legs - we BPers prefer "light" over just about anything) simmers like a stovetop. I love the thing. I've cooked a few dozen meals on it and never had a problem with heat. OTOH, on those stoves where "too much heat" or "too little distribution of heat" is a problem, I carry a bunsen burner lab fire blocker thingamajig like this in my cook kit: You can get them at lab supply places online. I forget where I got the ones I use. They're cheap, fairly light (come in many sizes), and you can simmer forever with one, though I suspect it's not the most efficient way to get the job done. It's what I do, however. Addendum to Add: I have a half dozen MSR stoves, but I rarely use them anymore, since I got used to the "European style" "flip the bottle" way of turning off the heat. I haven't been spit on by a fuel bottle in so long I can't remember the last time. There's no comparable way to relieve the pressure inside a fuel bottle with an MSR pump that I know of. No sputtering flame when you turn off the valve (you don't turn off the valve) and no need to release the pressure for travel. I'm spoiled by Primus/Optimus! I see now that you can get them on Amazon (set of 7 for $30) and eBay under the unrememberable name "wire Gauze Square Bunsen Burner Ceramic Net Mesh Support". I got mine for less at some (now forgotten) lab supply place. I bought 3 each of small (for alcohol stoves), medium & large. They weren't expensive.
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Post by reptocarl on Jun 26, 2016 15:48:15 GMT -8
The only drawback is that they are hard to turn down to a simmer. I have seen fuel spills turn into a picnic table conflagration. The ONLY stove I've ever experienced "conflagration" with was the aptly named Coleman Fyrestorm. Though termed "multifuel" during its short lifetime on the market, it's a great little canister stove (though too heavy), but entirely unmanageable and unpredictable on white gas. Just FYI: The new Primus OmniLite I bought in the spring this year, though called "too heavy for me" by most here (12 oz, titanium legs - we BPers prefer "light" over just about anything) simmers like a stovetop. I love the thing. I've cooked a few dozen meals on it and never had a problem with heat. OTOH, on those stoves where "too much heat" or "too little distribution of heat" is a problem, I carry a bunsen burner lab fire blocker thingamajig like this in my cook kit: You can get them at lab supply places online. I forget where I got the ones I use. They're cheap, fairly light (come in many sizes), and you can simmer forever with one, though I suspect it's not the most efficient way to get the job done. It's what I do, however. Addendum to Add: I have a half dozen MSR stoves, but I rarely use them anymore, since I got used to the "European style" "flip the bottle" way of turning off the heat. I haven't been spit on by a fuel bottle in so long I can't remember the last time. There's no comparable way to relieve the pressure inside a fuel bottle with an MSR pump that I know of. No sputtering flame when you turn off the valve (you don't turn off the valve) and no need to release the pressure for travel. I'm spoiled by Primus/Optimus! I would never bring fire in my tent ever again. I had a really bad but stupid and preventable accident that burned me, my Marmot Swallow and just about everything else. I had burns over 20% of my body and was hospitalized a month. I don't want a remote burner stove because I just don't want to have to assemble anything.
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