Wonder what James Bond would use? That's what I want ! ;0)
Thom
James wouldn't have been caught outside a five star hotel! Modesty Blaise, now.......
After much research and consideration, I've decided that an alcohol stove 'fits' my personality - especially since the majority of my cooking on-trail consists of heating a bit of water and letting it 'cook' in a cozy.
Seeing that using an alky stove is really a system (stove, windscreen, potentially a pot stand), I'm choosing to try (after much research and trepidation) the Caldera Cone system with a 900mL titanium cook pot and pot cozy.
I made a SuperCat and a windscreen with some aluminium foil and a binder clip, and it worked great as a means to get my feet wet into the world of alcohol stoves. I just figured that with my extremely limited DIY skills and tools that a tried and true tested system like the Caldera made more sense to me in the end.
Last edited by bemental; 12-21-2015 at 19:19.
Reasons I chose against the JetBoil (my second-place runner up) include noise, weight, and pot size. The tall, narrow pot is really only good for one thing (heating water), and then I'd have to figure out another setup for something to eat out of (freezer bags and tupperware I would assume).
The JetBoil works fabulously for heating up water, but short of another pot or cozy setup it falls short (I've actually hiked with a separate pot in addition to my JetBoil just to have something bowl-like to eat out of).
Reasons for choosing the Caldera are the integrated (stable) stand, quiet, lighter, and I LOVE to tinker.
With the alcohol stove setup I'm able to use the pot that water is boiled in as an eating vessel, with only an additional ounce or two in weight from the cozy for when I need to rehydrate foods.
Last edited by bemental; 12-21-2015 at 19:42.
The Supercat is a fine stove; I've used mine on three thru-hikes (not of the AT). The stove is light, it can't really fail unless you flatten it by stepping on it, and fuel is available pretty much everywhere. I only stopped using my Supercat after hiking the Arizona Trail where I had a devil of a time finding fuel (apparently they don't need heat in Arizona...who knew??!) and the Supercat is a forest/brush fire risk in places that are arid. I've switched to a Pocket-Rocket for western United States, but I would not hesitate for a second to bust out my 'cat for the AT (but the AT is low on my list anyway).
The supercat is good, the Jetboil is good, it's just a matter of choice and comfort.