Caldera Cone Review

[Hooch]

I saw a Caldera Cone for the first time in Hot Springs last April and was impressed. Pretty slick idea, I thought and made my mind up to get one. First I tried my hand at making my own alcohol stove setup, which was, at best, met with very limited success. I put off buying one for months and finally decided to break down and get it. I called AntiGravity Gear to check that the Cone to fit my pot (MSR Titan Kettle) was in stock and ordered up. I ordered late Thursday and got my Cone today. Of course, the first thing I wanted to do after I got my grubby little hands on this thing, especially on a nice cold day like today, was fire it up for a test burn. So I did and here's how. I put 2 cups (16 oz) of cold water in the Titan Kettle with the lid on. I then put it on the back porch where the outside temperature is about 27* fahrenheit and left it there for a couple hours. After picking my son up from school and getting him settled in, I went out back and put 30 ml of denatured alcohol in the stove, lit it and let it warm. I then added the Cone and Titan Kettle with the aformentioned water in it. I had really cold water at a full boil in about 7 minutes. I was thoroughly impressed. I don't have a scale or fancy thermometer, but this has dropped the weight of my stove/cooking setup significantly and boils water like nobody's business. Definitely a big thumbs up piece of gear! I have to thank Marta for introducing me to the Cone and Matthew at AntiGravity Gear for getting it to me in short order with plenty of great communication. The guys at AGG take their customer service very seriously and are doggone good at it. I would definitely recommend the Caldera Cone to anyone looking for a great alcohol stove setup!

[Marta]

Glad to hear the first test was a success!

[Wilson]

Whats the basic design/principle that makes this CONE more effective than a regular windscreen?....I've never seen one or a pic of one. I'm not doubting you, just curious.

[Hooch]

I think what makes it more effective is that the top of the windscreen also doubles as the pot stand, so it holds in heat from the top better that might normally be lost, and therefore wasted. Whatever it is, it works and is definitely worth the money I paid for it. Kick a$$ piece of gear!

[Cannibal]

Whats the basic design/principle that makes this CONE more effective than a regular windscreen?....I've never seen one or a pic of one. I'm not doubting you, just curious.

Here are a couple of reviews with pics

[Marta]

Wilson--Click on the "1" next to "Images" in the heading of my posts. That will take you to a picture of two Cones standing next to their stoves. The Cone with heat discoloration is their older model; the other one is a new model.

[Marta]

Cannibal beat me to it.

[Hooch]

And here is more info from Trail Designs, the nice folks who make the Cone and AntiGravity Gear, the nice folks who sold it to me.

[Wilson]

Thanks a lot... I'm wanting to build a combo windscreen-pot stand.
I like this better than what I've seen so far.

[BR360]

Thanks for the report. That much heat transfer is impressive. Seems like a lot of heat is wasted up the sides of a pot/pan in a regular configuration. The Caldera seems like a great way to "save" that otherwise wasted heat.
I'll have to consider this further to replace my homemade SuperCat can stove.

[Hooch]

Thanks for the report. That much heat transfer is impressive. Seems like a lot of heat is wasted up the sides of a pot/pan in a regular configuration. The Caldera seems like a great way to "save" that otherwise wasted heat.
I'll have to consider this further to replace my homemade SuperCat can stove.

Glad I could help. I think the Cone is awesome! It's definitely worth the $35 I paid for it. For anyone who is coming to SoRuck and wants to check it out, I'll have it with me. Doc wants to check it out, so I'll bring it along.

[take-a-knee]

That thing rocks if you can figure out how to pack it. It is an inch too long to fit behind the framesheet on my Vapor Trail. The best I've found so far is a 24oz gatorade bottle (the tall twist top) cut off a little longer than the cone.

[Marta]

On my most recent trips with it, I curled it up in the styrofoam cup it came in, then jammed the open end of that into the Titan kettle. It's a tight fit, but it will go. Inside the cup/Cone/kettle go the stove, matches, and various other little items.

[generoll]

As an alcohol stove it's great. Packing the cone can be a PITA and it has to be sized to a specific pot. I use the little kit I bought at Trail Days which came with the WalMart grease pot. Zelph has some instructions on making your own cone if you can understand them.

[Marta]

As an alcohol stove it's great. Packing the cone can be a PITA and it has to be sized to a specific pot. I use the little kit I bought at Trail Days which came with the WalMart grease pot. Zelph has some instructions on making your own cone if you can understand them.

OT--My cute new toy stove, the Svea, is broken. The valve stopped working. The stove couldn't be shut off. I had to let the stove run out of fuel.

I'm mailing it back for repair/replacement.

Gotta love the simplicity of alcohol stoves!

[generoll]

New toy? The Svea 123? there's a site that has rebuild kits. http://www.packstoves.com/

[thecaptain]

I have one of these and I love it...for all the previous stated reasons and another important one (at least to me) Stability with the caldera cone the balancing act of pot and stove is over.....

[Hooch]

On my most recent trips with it, I curled it up in the styrofoam cup it came in, then jammed the open end of that into the Titan kettle. It's a tight fit, but it will go. Inside the cup/Cone/kettle go the stove, matches, and various other little items.

That's about how I packed mine when I put it away after the test burn. I just rolled up the cone, put one end down in the plastic cup, added the fuel measuring cup, fuel bottle, alcohol stove and my potholder (an old piece of PackTowl), the put my Titan Kettle on it and put it all in a silnylon bag, including a lighter and the Titan Kettle lid. It all went in easily and seems to stay together well thus far.

[Roots]

Hey Hooch, didn't you say you were going to bring your new toy to the ruck. You and Marta got Gungho and I to thinking about it.

[Hooch]

Hey Hooch, didn't you say you were going to bring your new toy to the ruck. You and Marta got Gungho and I to thinking about it.

Yup, I sho' am. My hiking partner, gldwings1 (Doc) wants to check it out to see if he likes it. We'll both be there around 11 or so Friday morn if all goes according to plan, making a side trip in to Sylva and Cullohee before registration starts.