My husband and I have used the Esbit stove for 6 years and half the AT. I would never consider anything else. Lighter, more compact, easier, more efficient, safer, dependable...it is all good. You always know how much fuel you have. Perfect for bounce boxes. One tablet for dinner cooks most meals if you have a pot cozy, windscreen and lid.
I grew up on 123 Svea stoves, graduated to whisperlite, looked at cannister & alcohol stoves....none have all the esbit benefits.
That would be ammonia and formaldehyde. Yum!
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01487a001
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...nalCode=aiha20
If you must varry a stove, the MSR Pocket Rocket is awesome. I sent my stove home about a month into my thru-hike once the cold weather left and haven't regretted it at all. NoStove is the best stove.
I recently created a stove to use both esbit and alcohol. It has carbon felt on the bottom to absorb alcohol so it won't spill out and a Brian Green Esbit Tray that sits in the center for use with esbit. The best of both worlds
Esbit Alcohol Stove.JPG
"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon."
By Doug Larson
MSR whisperlite
I use a super cat on my own and a pocket rocket when I'm hiking with a partner.
If you want a canister stove, save yourself lots of money and buy the 3.25 ounce (3.9 with case) generic canister stove (with Piezo igniter) off Ebay for $5.58. THEY WORK. If you're worried about a good canister stove wind screen, buy the Optimus Clip-on. It is around $10 and weighs 4 ounces or less and it should nest around your pot while in your pack.
Having used and maintained both, and having seen Whisperlites fail at the pump handle, the pump body, and the fuel connection, I dispute that one "graduates" to a Whisperlite from a Svea. The only failure modes I know about on a Svea are two that I've read about (gasket failure and overpressure causing relief valve to release), but have never experienced in years of use.
love my msr pocket rocket stove only thing I will ever use