Cooking your food while on a hike is important but do you know what options are out there for camping stoves? I am going to be looking at the Pros and Cons of the camping stove and ask the question is it worth the money you will spend and will you get your money’s worth out of it?
So what is a gas hiking stove? Well hiking and camping stoves are usually are standalone mini stoves used to cook food while camping, they are small and light making them perfect for camping and hiking and can usually fold up and fit into a smaller container for easy storage while on the trail. This small compact tool offers you the hiker tons of opportunities especially because of its size so let’s take a little deeper of a look at what are the benefits and the negatives of using it.
When deciding on whether to buy a camping stove it's first good to look at why you should get it, the camping/hiking stove has many benefits, one positive is size. Being so small it can fit into just about any pack because of its folding feature that allows it to fold up into a box no bigger than a stick of butter, this case also protects it from any damage and comes with an instruction manual on how to use it safely. Weighing just over 150g it is also a very good light weight solution for hikes and should not add too much weight to your pack along with providing you with a great way to cook your camp meals for the duration of your hike.
The hiking stove is not all good though as it does have some shortcomings, one of these shortcomings is how it requires gas, unlike a Trangia the fuel you buy does not last a lifetime and if you are not careful you will run out of Gas midway through a hike leaving you with nothing to cook with. Along with the longevity issue there is also the issue of space when it comes to fuel as the Gas is often very large and bulky making it at times impractical or all hikes. It's final weakness is in extreme cold, when the Gas is exposed to extremely cold temperatures it tends to freeze and become unusable, when in extreme cold it is recommended that you use a Trangia instead as it's fuel has a lower freezing point.
Overall I would say that it is worth getting one of these as in most cases it will be a very handy tool while on a hike, if you are in different conditions or aiming for a very space efficient pack then a Trangia might be the go, but they also tend to take up lots of room than other solutions so it's worth looking around.
Camping Stoves can come in many different designs and are made by tons of different brands, for this review I used the 360 Degrees Furno Stove Silver, it is quite affordable compared to other brands at just $45 AUD, some other competitors can be more expensive but it is important to take into account that this does not include the fuel which ranges in price from 14$ – 19$ and will need to be replenished at the end of every major hike you undertake as it will most likely be completely depleted.
Written by Joshua Welch
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