Ultralight Backpacking Canister Stove Review

Putting together estimates/proposals for websites is melting my brain, so I’m going to a time-out to do a product review.

A few months ago, a buddy and I were looking at a suspiciously cheap hiking/camping canister stove on Amazon.  Since they made the same claims as the $60 SnowPeak I’d bought (and worn to a nub) several years ago, but was 1/5 the price, I was, well, less than kind in my predictions.
So, $8.40 and two weeks later (free shipping from FSM knows where. I think that was Pinyin on the package?) it arrives and I put it through its paces.  The results are remarkably good.

• The pot supports have a peculiar locking mechanism that took a few minutes to figure out, but is nearly on par with the comparable models at premium prices.
• Threads onto the standard canister size perfectly with no roughness or leaking.
• Boils a liter of water in under 5 minutes using under .4 oz of canister fuel, which is within 90{a31f233dcfb9a68fbfb0fafc3ce96f3dbf18fa49e3f406b8ddf4c360aa321eb6} of the performance of my more expensive SnowPeak stove.
• Piezo-electric igniter catches the first time 10 out of 10 tries.
• This cheaper stove  is .15 oz heavier, but I can’t register that difference in my hand.
• At maximum flame, the manufacturer claims 10,000 BTU (same as SnowPeak) but I have no way to measure that.
• Maximum flame is not as “tight” as that of the SnowPeak, but frankly, using maximum flame is just wasting fuel unless you’re fighting evil, animated snowmen or something. 😉

Verdict:  This would make an excellent, low-cost canister stove for most hikers and campers!  If you are engaging in super-endurance hiking under brutal condition, the SnowPeak might prove to be more durable, but I’m not testing mine to the point of destruction to find out which breaks first.

Available via Amazon.