A Backpacking Stove Without Liquid Fuel?? | Esbit Solid Fuel Cookset Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ค. 2021
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Do you hate carrying liquid fuel canisters in your backpack? You're not the only one! That's why Esbit developed the Solid Fuel Cookset - a backpacking stove that uses small, lightweight fuel tablets instead of the typical liquid fuel. In this video, I'm putting the stove to the test to see if it solves a backpacking problem, or simply creates new ones!
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This may have already been said, but you can blow out the tabs when you’re done heating/cooking. Then just let it cool down and put it in a bag. I use a dedicated double ziplock for partial ones.
THAT was my question. Thanks. Double ziplock. Got it...
@@FerndaleMichiganUSA Double bagged because they stink lol that's the only reason..
I used the little pocket sized folding Esbit stove for over 10 years for 2-4 day trips with the local scout troop. Love it. It's the only stove I own. The tabs can be snuffed out if you don't use the whole thing up, and a little piece makes a great fire starter if you are in an area that is safe for campfires. Thanks for the review.
I don't know why I didn't think of snuffing out the tabs so I don't have to waste them! Glad you dig the stove!
I always take an esbit tablet or two as a backup for my gas canister system. They weight almost nothing. In case you need them you can use 3 tent stakes to make a base for the pot, or even some rocks
Wow, that is an excellent idea.
Yes, I love that idea!
The first stove I purchased was a small ezbit stove in 2014 for backpacking since it was cheaper. I got familiar with the fuel tabs and made coffee and dehydrated meals on the trail easily but very slowly.
I eventually purchased a Jetboil flash to use at my job and for backpacking (since all my coworkers had them so figured might as well jump on the bandwagon)
And my gosh the difference. The ezbit has not left the bottom of the gear box since and the Jetboil has been so much faster, easier and convenient.
I am really curious about your job which requires using a jetboil! Btw completely agree - the flash is amazing for 1 person :)
Great to hear! Jetboils are super easy and I love them for that. I'm also curious what job you had!
I made a small twig stove out of a fruit tin and can boil a cup of cocoa in 5 minutes. Have cooked porridge, steak on a frying pan all on twigs .the cooking cup is also another fruit tin and to pack away the whole lot fits into a alice pack pocket with a tobacco tin full of matches and it weights stuff all I love it I use every day when I go for my local fitness hikes for a brew
That's an ultralight solution! I dig that. great work!
I have that same stove and I love it. It does a great job at boiling water for coffee or foods on the trail. I give it a 5 stars all day long. I love Esbit stoves. I have a couple different ones.
Thank you for your honest feedback.
You're welcome!
I use the solid tabs and they have always worked great for me. Initially picked this because I do a lot of high altitude hiking and wanted something that would work at any elevation. Perfect for me because I cook one pot meal at night and coffee in the morning so two tabs per day. Also primarily a solo hiker so math was easy for me. I have no complaints.
Good review; I picked this stove up about a month ago and have only used it for coffee. I use a low profile Trail Designs Kojin alcohol stove and it works great. Not so much with taller ETOH stoves. I was also pleasantly surprised at its efficiency. Thanks for the review.
It did bring water to a boil faster than I thought it would. Glad you enjoy yours!
I own the tinier round cookset of esbit for solid fuel. It works pretty well if you succeed holding wind away. With its 400 ml you can heat enough water for a bag like travellunch. It weighs about 200 g - that's very light.
I've used Esbit stove for heating up water for tea during hunting trips. It does smell like cat food (to me at least) so if I can smell it, the deer can too. Ditto on the residue on the pot. Its been relegated to my survival kit. I have the Esbit stove base model, I can store 4 fuel tabs, 4 emergency matches, a trick birthday candle and a bit of tin foil for a windscreen and it still closes up to the size of a deck of cards.
I use Utility Flame Gel - no residue at all.
I use the esbit folding pocket stove solo or medium with their solid fuel tabs and a titanium cup or pot. Awesome on winter hikes or any time for a cup of coffee or soup/bouillon or some instant grits and blare-cooked sausages. But for more real cooking I go with the trangia when I also want it quiet. But for simple and light and quiet, solid fuel and folding stove stove rules. I also like the Dragon and solid alcohol fuel blocks. Oh and Expedition Research makes better packaged fuel tabs if you can’t get hold of esbit fuel.
you can blow or snuff those out and reuse them
That would definitely save fuel! Although I noticed they did tend to melt as they burned. How do you salvage and store partially used cubes?
@@BackpackingTV you can put them in a ziplock
I use a Kelley kettle exclusively. Even though it’s bulky its 100% reliable. No fuel canisters to worry about.
I've used just about everything lol. When I'm hiking and in the mood for building fires every meal, I love my Kelly Kettle.
The Kelly Kettle is on my “get” list. How is it packing/carrying?
Interesting! I gotta try that out!
It's boils water quickly.
The Trekker model is still I bit bully, but it's weight is ok.
Everything is a trade off of some kind. Definitely worth owning one, that's for sure.
@@BackpackingTV see comments above
@@Lv4_o2 see comments above
I own and used with much success the Coughlans emergency stove which is based on the same principle of the dry fuel cubes. It has it's purpose and works flawlessly in all conditions (and it's a hometown company to boot), it's not a Jetboil or a Pocket Rocket but it heats well and the fuel cubes last about 15 minutes, more than long enough to cook a small meal.
We always keep it in the SUV for whatever pops up.
yeah the more I think about it this is a great backup/emergency stove. Go Coughlans!
You can take a little bottle of gelified alcohol, in case you couldn't find the Esbit cubes. The little plate in the center should do the job nicely, and gelified alcohol is less prone to "leak" than alcool.
Alcohol: a good bottle is the one you use for elder vehicles, it contains an additive to protect velve seats (after the disapearance of leaded gasoline). They are bombproof and feature a little measuring part on top of the bottle. Very useful for alcohol :-)
I use alternatively both of these ideas. Work great.
Luke on The Outdoor Gear Review uses an esbit stove frequently. Seems to work well for boiling a single serving .
I use a much smaller multi-fuel stove (tablets, wood, alcohol)... Typically always carry a few Esbit style tablets as a backup. In my smaller stove, I can break the tablets into halves or quarters according to my needs. I also often will "blow out" a burning tablet when I don't need it any longer... And reuse it later.
The tablets themselves are great for firestarter. I'm learning that you can blow them out after they are lit, which makes so much more sense! But how do you store the tabs once they start to melt?
@@BackpackingTV after they cool I slipped them in a tiny baggie like you might put pills in. Works fine. I found that as I gained experience, I was better able to estimate how much of the original was required for the task and simply broke off what was needed.
Also, I found other hexamine tablets... Here's just one from Amazon...Expedition Solid Fuel - 40 XL Hexamine 1300-Degree Tablets.. and there are others if you do a Google search.
I made some plates out of Aluminum Flashing material that make a windscreen (like the Fire Dragon) or convert the stove to a twig stove. They fit flat in the bottom and take up almost no space or added weight.
I have a small Esbit stove to use as backup. I've never had to use it. I know there are issues with it leaving a residue on your pot that is difficult to clean and then gets on your gear when it's in your pack. The odor is AWFUL on the cubes! That is a tough one for me to handle. I have heard that you can extinguish a partially used cube and save it for later use.
The particular stove system you used is cool but it is bulky. I'd have a hard time finding a good place for it in my pack.
In terms of size it was a little less bulky then a jetboil. It definitely gets a lot of residue that builds up and so packing that in your pack becomes suspect. I could see it being a great backup in general camping or as a home power outage safety backup.
@@BackpackingTV just put a very small piece of tin foil on the burner plate where the esbit cube goes and your residue problem is solved. Just throw away, or pack out, the tin foil. You can also just leave it in there for the entire trip and toss it when you get home. For the rectangular pot just rub liquid dish detergent on the outside of the pot or pan, let it dry and you get no residue on your pots and pans. I thought everybody knew these things. C'Mon people try to experiment with these things.
I own the Esbit Pocket stove and I use it mainly for boiling water for beverages. It works OKish. I like that the fuel can be stored in the stove and the stove is about the size of a deck of cards. For me it´s more of a backup than a real cooking system.
I prefer alcohol stoves or canister stoves.The fuel for these is easier to aquire. In my neck of the woods even outdoors stores do not carry Esbit fuel reliably. Alcohol stoves also are way cheaper to operate.
You never mentioned the hooks/latches on the underside of the lid that enables you to hang the lid vertically on the outer edge/lip of the cook-pot.
I have a good deal of experience with esbit stoves and have stopped using them because of ONE issue. They leave an awful sticky black gooey residue on the bottom of the container or cup you heat water with. This goo then gets all over your gear when packed, it is very difficult to get off and clean in the field. Switched to iso butane stove and haven 't looked back.
You've got that right.
Yeah the residue seems to be the main " sticking point" for many (heyo!).
I have been using esbit for about 10 years as my main cooking system. As far as the residue on the bottom of the pot I just rub it across the dirt, sand, grass or leaves and it comes right off. Clean for the next cooking.
I typically use a canister stove system or I go stoveless. Some areas have fire bans. I’ve heard that wood burning stoves are frowned upon or not allowed in high risk fire areas. Where does this stove fall into the category of use of open fire? Could you cut the fuel cube in half if you needed a little extra? It’s a neat idea. I’m on the fence with alcohol stoves to cut down on fuel weight. Not sure this would work for me but it’s an interesting product that would be ideal fir many
I believe this would be okay to use when the is a fire ban but I guess it might be a bit of a gray area. I see the stoves uses but it's also more limited than I like.
Looks bulky and long boil time I’m guessing hard to find pellets on a through hike. Do like the benefit of not having canisters so that considered maybe not so bulky. I like reviews on equipment.
It's a little less bulky then a jetboil. And the boil time was faster than expected as so much surface area is hot. But yes, you'd be hard pressed to find the fuel tablets at stores along a through hike, you'd have to really plan ahead and send yourself all you need ahead of time!
@@BackpackingTV have you heard the story about soda streamers also making uncarbonated water? it works with regular fire
I wonder how well it would work over a dakota fire hole -- very little fuel needed and not much smoke at all.
I use the Toaks esbit stove and wind screen. Love it for 1 person. Downfall: the tablets are not readily available. Went on a back packing trip outside silverton Colorado, and wasnt able to find esbit tabs anywhere😳 i had just enough for my trip.
This seems to be a common them around here. Resupply is an issue! Bad for people like me who are poor planners!
REI does have the tabs in stock usually.
Silly question, but may I ask which shoes you’re wearing in this video? I wear that style and my go-tos have been discontinued. I’d love to have something else to try. TIA.
Hey! There from Aku, the rapida air model I believe. I've been digging Aku lately!
Great video, can I use two Sterno cans or small twigs, thanks.
Glad to hear it
The big cubes you can break in half and use as needed
Esbit stoves are used by militaries around the world to heat their rations. Handy for a backup, but to cook from raw will be tough with those.
Heating food and light cooking is this stoves best trait! I did not know it was used by militaries. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for informing me!
Thanks for your video and example. I know it’s a couple years old, but it’s still relevant. I’m not a fan of the esbit fuel tablets because they stink like shrimp and will permeate everything from your hiking pack to your car; That being said, if I were on a weekend or week long hike / camp trip and weight was a concern, I’d bag a bunch of those tightly to contain the smell and use them. They do light well and last if you use the 4 to cook a canteen meal. Probably need to add depending on how much you’re cooking. Gotta use a lighter though, the ferro rods don’t work.
Carry disposable gloves and paper towel to keep your hands clean from the residue and the pots you’re using.
First off, you're boiling way more water than you need so that's why it's not enough with a single tab. There's also a 585 ML version of the same thing and then the 12 minute tabs will easily be enough for two boils. The 585 weights half as much as the one you're using. And you say it's for through-hikers but I would say it's more for day hikers and single overnight trips. One of the major benefits of this system is that you can bring exactly as much fuel as you need. So if you know you're heading out in the morning and you want to make dinner the first day, breakfast and dinner the second, that's 3 meals so you bring 3 tablets.
I have tried multiple stove systems. The all-around best? A Trail Designs Sidewinder/Ti-Tri stove. They can burn alcohol, Esbit and wood. And to my knowledge, they are the most-efficient burn designs of any wood, alcohol and/or Esbit stoves available.
Having used Esbit, IMO it is the least-suitable stove fuel for a thru-hiker. You just won't find the cubes in most trail towns. But you can find grain alcohol in every trail town. Heat brand auto fuel additive in the yellow bottle works. You can find wood almost anywhere (though you cannot burn it in some areas, such as the AT in CT.
Beside the supply issue, Esbit fuel is very expensive. Even if you buy it in bulk.
And it is hardest to save excess fuel when you are done cooking with Esbit.
The one major advantage of Esbit is its safety. People accidently knock over stoves. Esbit is the least problematic in such an event.
Back to Trail Designs, these are "gassifying" wood stoves - they burn HOT! They easily burn wet wood, once you get the fire burning, though it would be smokey. Dry burns are clean, blue burns. I love these Trail Designs stoves, even though wood demands more effort and attention. Of all the wood stove designs I have researched, these are the easiest to feed and maintain.
I have used these wood stoves to keep warm all day under a tarp on a day of torrential rain with cards and Yahtzee when car camping with friends. You can only do that with wood fuel. And I use it on every section hike I do, too.
The one downside? These stoves take up about twice as much space and weight as would a BRS cannister stove with a full cannister of fuel, stored in a titanium cooking cup.
No stove system is perfect, right? I think the advantages of these Trail Design stoves are well-worth the disadvantages.
You bring up great points! Resupply with these would be difficult and I feel like it's hard to use only what you want. I gotta try your recommendation!
@@BackpackingTV ,
Cool. I am honored that you would condider it.
I bought mine six years ago, and they have since come out with more-compact versions that can fit in a cup.
Mine fits a medium-sized Snowpeak titanium pot...I think it is a liter-size pot. (You order them based upon the cooking pot or cup you I plan to use.)
The plastic case for mine is about the size of a Foster's - big. But at least you can use it as two large drink cups or bowls (including hot drinks, if a recall), which is by design.
The case for mine can fit the complete stove, a bottle of alcohol fuel, several backup Esbit cubes, a heat shield, a lighter and a few spoons. So you can use it to feed and serve two people. That somewhat makes up for the extra weight and bulk.
I look forward to your comments on it in the future. Not many people have them, but they seem to prefer them once they use one. It is that way for me.
Happy trails to you.
Packaged meals? Chef Corso must be disappointed in you! ;-) :-p
Haha, I know! I hope @montyboca doesn't see this!!
I would try it.
Excellent! It's an interesting concept for sure.
My state is on fire where are you at please be careful everyone
Flagstaff? Yeah we gotta be very careful with how dry everything is!
hello is it possible to replace the fuel with wood?
it's possible yes, but it really doesn't work efficiently at all that way.
Yes I would
I'll bet that you could bring an old small can ie tomato sauce etc and a bottle of alcohol to use on it instead of the pellets... 🤔
I bet you could, yes. Great idea!
Very detailed review. Like how you thought ahead about not having cubes and trying sticks/twigs. Thanks!
Thanks! I could see the need to use twigs as a backup, but yeah the results were discouraging.
It seems to me to be something to throw in your bug-out bag for emergency use. But impractical for regular use on the trail.
I think this is fair.
can used a lowrofile alchool stove in it
I have Esbit stoves (round, oblong) and love them so much that I will not use anything else now. I live in Alaska and many fuels will not work, would will not light or you can not find it- in snow covered arctic lands. Hexamine or Esbit dry fuel will burn - I burned some at -24F in Alaska. No problem. Bring several items to light them besides a lighter. Also the Esbit stove is light and sturdy, and its a great size for one person. Especially if you live in far below zero temps. Coughlin dry fuel tabs work as well. It may cost you more but it is lighter and certainly more reliable. Plus we have power outages so I have stocked up on Coughlin's. They will not ship these from Amazon or REI to Alaska, you need to buy in person. WTF? As far as he said managing fuel pellets for young people.....there is probably an "app". I love the quality of the Esbit pots and stoves. Very light and very sturdy. Having tried alcohol, jet boil, and gas, oh...Sterno, its dry fuel Hexamine by Esbit or Coughlin. It is dependable. When its too frigid to filer water you need to boil, and you need to depend on fire, and on the Esbit I get a fire as cold as nature can kick out.
If you don't want to waste the whole tab, just blow it out and use it again later. Thats what I do. I wrap it in foil. Keeps it good for later.
You can cook with the solid fuel tablets with a couple of rocks to lay your cookwear on....
Smort!
why not cook on the wood fire ??
This burner is better, because it has sheild on all sides !
Okay, but how does it do in the wind? Lol.
It’s fairly resilient to the wind as it’s design gives it pretty solid wind blocking.
You can just blow it out and relight it later. The fuel doesn't need to go to waste
to spare the fuel blocks u can simply blow them out and re-use it .
I have since learned this thanks to people like you, thank you!
Can't see how it improves on the Trangia system and that's a 70-year-old design
I still gotta use the trangia. Lots of love it there for it.
I have an Esbit stove just not that model
That thing is huge and heavy over 16oz, I know you said its Titanium probably just miss spoken I know it's anodized aluminum. This is a car camping/bushcrafter setup where weight isn't a concern as much. I get your trying something new to you and of corse had to do the clickbate title, but solid fuel hexamine has been around since the 1940.
You need to really use a item for a while before giving an opinion, to give a on a first time use isn't fair to the products just don't shill it because it was free. Just my two cents and people would respect your channel more for doing so. Sorry if I sound mean but be more real with your true opinion, if it bad and suck just say so your will lose sponsors but gain the trust of the community. Thanks
I appreciate your response here. I don't pretend to be the knower of all things. Part of the fun is getting to try stuff that's outside of my experience base and I try to tell people that up front. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts!
I think you missed a lot of the worst parts of this cook system. A thru hiker would never want to use this on trail for the following reasons: it's too bulky, the fuel is expensive, the fuel isn't readily available like fuel tanks are and the biggest reason of all.....you can't drink out of it! You'll have to bring a separate cup just to have coffee! That's a huge downer for a though hiker who's trying to be as light as possible and packing minimal gear.
That's a great point! Yeah it would make for an awkward coffee cup! The resupply thing is a major issue for thru hikers. But it was very light and you could pack stuff inside the stove if you cleaned it! I like your assessment though!
This is not new. The military has been using this for years (not the small stove you have there). Hexamine tablets and a small folding stove, google it - hexamine stove. You can break the tablets in half and still get the water boiled and heat up a meal if you organise yourself and then not waste the entire tablet. Also they will light and burn when wet. I have used this for camping for more than twenty years. Cheers
For a night or two... maybe.
Looks like a good stove for actual cooking but terrible for dehydrated meals. Unlike your taoks cup which is excellent for dehydrated meals but terrible for cooking.
You can definitely bring water to a boil and add it to a bag of dehydrated food. It was great for food that needed ten minutes or less of cooking. But it wouldn't be great to cook raw food as that would be pretty slow and you'd consume a good boy of fuel.
I wouldn't use it it would be a pain if u was trying a big meal
If I'm not mistaken I'm preety sure the modern German army and other European armies have used this.
Sounds like there is a lot of military use for these puppies.
No Titanium