Backpacking Stove Battle: Primus vs. Soto

[crock239]

I'm prepping for a backcountry hunt that's planned for 10 days, and have several partial fuel cannisters laying around with a month to kill...why not do a little testing of stoves to see which setup gets to go along for the ride?


Setup 1(L): Primus stove kit w/ 1L titanium Primus pot, windscreen, and msr fuel cannister stand

Setup 2 (R): Soto Windmaster w/ Olicamp XTS 1L anodized aluminum pot, titanium pot lid from Four Dog Stove, msr fuel cannister stand



Both pots will accommodate storage of the stove, 3.5oz fuel cannister, and cannister stand.

Primus kit is a little more compact and lighter at 11.3 oz. The Soto+Oli combo is a bit larger due to the heat exchanger on bottom of the Olicamp XTS pot, and weighs 13.1 oz.

Advantage: Primus

 

[crock239]

Really wanted to see which setup is most fuel efficient...performance testing next.

Bonus points bc it's a fun little science experiment for my kids and helps keep them entertained for a bit.

Test 1: how long does it take each setup to boil 10oz of water?



The Primus kit reached full boil in 1 min 35 seconds,

Soto + Olicamp was ripping a boil at 1 min 1 second.

Advantage: Soto + Olicamp

 

[crock239]

Curious to see how much difference the heat exchanger on the bottom of the Olicamp XTS pot makes, we decided to repeat the same test but switch the pots.



Primus stove with Olicamp pot reached boil in 1min 18 seconds.

Soto stove with Primus pot achieved boil in 1min 38 seconds.

Olicamp XTS pot cut the time to reach boil by 17s (18%) for the Primus stove, and on the Soto stove it reduced time to reach boil by 37s (38%).

Impressive!

 

[crock239]

Decided to take efficiency test a step further and measure the weight of fuel consumed by each setup to reach boil.

This time we started with 20oz of water in order to (hopefully) have measurable change in fuel cannister weight.



In the first test run, the Primus stove kit consumed 0.3oz of fuel to achieve boil, compared to only 0.2oz of fuel for the Soto+Oli setup, which again achieved boil much faster.

When we repeated the test run, however, each setup used 0.3oz of fuel to achieve boil, even though Soto+Oli was again much faster to boil.

Advantage: ??

It appears my postal scale doesn't quite have the accuracy required for good test results.

 

[crock239]

Qualitatively, the Soto Windmaster burner appeared to be less affected by wind, holding a steady flame. The Soto pot stand has a low profile on the stove, but probably more importantly the stove has a pressure regulator.

Real experts talk about why a stove with pressure regulator could be preferable here.



The Soto also has a piezo igniter which is a nice convenience and made for easy lighting in breezy conditions.

The pot supports on the Primus stove allow a larger gap between the burner and pot, and with what I assume is a standard needle valve it appeared to be more affected by the breeze.




For this particular hunt, I don't anticipate huge hikes with lots of elevation change, but inclement weather is likely so wind resiliency and fuel efficiency trump overall size and weight.

I'll throw the Soto Windmaster and Olicamp XTS pot in my backpack and call it good.

 

[Brad]

Stoves and pots are fun!

I had a Soto WM, but ended up selling it and going with the MSR PR Deluxe (my main stove is a Jetboil Sol Ti). I disliked the finicky-ness of the Soto compared to the MSR, and I could easily make a Ti windscreen for the PR DLX, but couldn't sort one out for the Soto. However, the Soto is a good stove, and you can buy a windscreen for it here:

Ocelot Windscreens | Flat Cat Gear

For the MSR PRDLX, I modified a Snowpeak Ti bowl as a 1oz windscreen, and modified a Sterno Inferno Heat Exchange pot to sit as closely to the burner head as the Jetboils pot/burner. I replaced the heavy, plastic Sterno Inferno lid with an Al lid from Dutchware. In my test, it's almost as miserly fuel-wise as the Jetboil Sol Ti, nearly as fast boiling, and is the same weight. Of course, sourcing the discontinued Sterno Inferno is problimatic, but they do appear occasionally on ebay. In my tests, for longer trips, the windscreen's 1oz weight will be offset in fuel savings. For trips less than 3 days, I can't see the need for it, and will use an even lighter Evernew Ti pot.

 

[crock239]

Stoves and pots are fun!

I had a Soto WM, but ended up selling it and going with the MSR PR Deluxe (my main stove is a Jetboil Sol Ti). I disliked the finicky-ness of the Soto compared to the MSR, and I could easily make a Ti windscreen for the PR DLX, but couldn't sort one out for the Soto. However, the Soto is a good stove, and you can buy a windscreen for it here:

Ocelot Windscreens | Flat Cat Gear

For the MSR PRDLX, I modified a Snowpeak Ti bowl as a 1oz windscreen, and modified a Sterno Inferno Heat Exchange pot to sit as closely to the burner head as the Jetboils pot/burner. I replaced the heavy, plastic Sterno Inferno lid with an Al lid from Dutchware. In my test, it's almost as miserly fuel-wise as the Jetboil Sol Ti, nearly as fast boiling, and is the same weight. Of course, sourcing the discontinued Sterno Inferno is problimatic, but they do appear occasionally on ebay. In my tests, for longer trips, the windscreen's 1oz weight will be offset in fuel savings. For trips less than 3 days, I can't see the need for it, and will use an even lighter Evernew Ti pot.

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Cool. I'd like to get my hands on a pocketrocket deluxe to mess around with.

That's a lightweight system for sure.

Is the sterno inferno large enough to nest 3.5oz fuel cannister and stove? Or do u just carry separately?

I like the Olicamp XTS but do wish it were a little less volume...can't see myself needing to boil 1L of water and seems to be a little unnecessary weight and volume.

 

[Brad]

It nests "sort of." You put the lid inside the windscreen, then the 110g cartridge and stove in the pot. Works good enough.