There's nothing better than a smell of fried bacon and perhaps some eggs in remote location, after cycling in the early hours. You can plan your route around cafes but you can't really compare it with a joy of cooking your food yourself. There's no shortage of equipment for outdoor cooking and of course everyone has their preference but if you're looking for a quick cooking option, with the smallest and lightest cargo possible, then this burner may be something for you.
Great little burner taking no space in your bags
25g titanium alloy foldable gas stove
Yeap, you read that right. Only 25g and less than a size of a finger when folded. Dead-easy to use; just screw the stove directly on the gas canister, turn the knob and light the fire. You need some matches or a lighter as there's no piezo igniter - but If you've ever used piezo igniters before you know that sooner or later they either break or rust or melt... So you end up using matches anyway.
The stove I bought from ebay has the following spec:
- Main material: Titanium alloy
- Fuel: Butane gas
- Power: 2700W
- Gas consumption: 140g/h
- Folded size: 37 x 48 mm (D * H)
- Unfolded size: 85 x 60 mm (D * H)
- Item weight: 25g / 0.9oz
The burner came in a nice little green pouch along with an extra rubber seal that goes between the stove and the gas top screw. To complete the setup it's nice to get one of those plastic foldable stands for the can and perhaps a windbreaker (I use a piece of tin foil). And a gas canister of course.
The stove has got "BRS" written on it as well as some Chinese characters, I assume that's the brand. It's definitely Chinese made, but hey - so is your iPhone and 95% of other things you purchase.
Tiny stove in the wild
My previous stove was one of those with a hose, also foldable, carried in a quite big plastic box. The BRS is probably 20 times smaller and from what I observed so far it offers a lot more heat. One thing to be aware of though is the size of its arms. If you're planning on using a full-size kitchen frying pan it may not be ideal. It's perfect to use with small metal pans and cups - I usually put on it a frying pan with 15cm diameter, and it works just fine.
One small issue I noticed is that the turning knob can bend a bit if I put too much pressure when switching off the gas. It wouldn't be hard to replace it - a paperclip would do the job - but nobody likes to deal with uncontrolled fire on top of a gas canister in the wild.
After cooking it cools off very quickly. Usually after we're done eating it's already cold enough to unscrew and pack with the rest of the gear.
My verdict
4.5 out of 5 stars. The size and weight are amazing. Ease of use is great. This tiny stove is now my constant bike ride companion, especially when the view at my destination calls for a hot bacon sandwich.