Trangia 25-3 UL

These stoves are easy to use and maintain. They are incredibly durable and work in all weather conditions.

I have been using Trangia stoves in my Duke of Edinburgh programme for over 10 years. The stoves are easy to use and the learning curve is very short for those who are new to camping. All of the parts of the stoves pack down into a nested set consisting of a stand, a wind shield, two pots, and a frying pan. The actual "stove" or burner is basically a brass cup that holds methylated-spirits. 

The Trangia burners are very easy to light. I generally use a a ferro rod which gives immediate results. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that methylated-spirits have a very clear flame because of the lack of impurities in the fuel. It is quite possible to have the stove lit without being immediately aware and come in contact with the flame.

New users will have the most success with the Trangias if they stick to meals that require quick reheating, like soup, or boiled water for rehydrating. The stoves will boil a litre of water in under 8 minutes, which is not super fast, but they will do it silently so lots of other things—like conversations, can be going on while you wait. For more advanced users, the stove comes with an adjustable simmering ring that with some practices allows you to cook or fry things a lower temperature.

On of the strengths of the Trangia sets are their durability, stability, and portability. The entire set packs down into the equivalent size of a large cooking pot. When set up, the wide base is very stable and can sit on a variety of surfaces without becoming tippy. A very nice feature, especially for novice users, is that the sets can take a lot bumps and jostles and still remain upright. Even fuel spills are well contained since the burner sits inside the base up off of the ground.

I take two to three groups of teens backpacking and camping each year. These trips last from one to four days and on each trip we have two to five of these stoves. All of the stoves perform in the exact same manner as they did they day they were purchased with little to no maintenance on my part. This speaks to the quality of manufacture of the product.

One must, in my opinion, for the safe operation of these stoves wear a good pair of quality leather work gloves or a pair of kitchen gloves. The flame on the burner is quite high, and all of the surfaces of the kit get hot. To extinguish the burner, you need to place the closed simmer ring on top of the flame—which can be similar to playing ring toss. The gloves are indispensable when it becomes necessary to reach down and nudge the ring onto the flame, or pick up the now hot simmer ring and try again. As the adult supervising teens—extinguishing the stoves is my moment of greatest anxiety.

Background

I have used the stoves for about ten years in the my Duke of Edinburgh programme and on my own personal trips. We generally takes two to three trips a year lasting one to four days. There are usually two to three stoves on each trip and each stove consistently performs the same.

This stove system cooks anything nicely. It is easy to do real cooking with fresh, healthy ingredients.

I like this stove best for car camping. In it, you can make anything you can make in your kitchen at home. I have fried hamburgers and chicken, tacos, cooked vegetables, made rice w/o burning it, soups, etc. It is also ideal for pancakes. If you get the uncoated aluminum pans, you can even bake with it. I have baked homemade pizza many times with this burner and an uncoated, foil covered aluminum mess tin.

I have fueled the burner many times with yellow bottle HEET. Also, denatured ethanol from hardware stores works fine. E100 from an ethanol "gas" pump should work perfectly, also, and only cost a couple dollars per gallon!

This stove system is so good and so capable for preparing real meals, I am astonished it is not more popular in the US. The people who can sensibly avoid this stove are the boil 2 cups of water crowd. While this stove will easily perform this basic boiling task, other stoves will do that job for only a couple of ounces, instead of >2 lbs, which matters mainly to weight conscious backpackers.

The kettle is a good option for this stove system, and the pot gripper is almost mandatory. I warped and destroyed the green "Multi-disc" using it as a lid during cooking. I threw it away, and don't miss it. If I had porters, this is the stove I would use for every trip.

These stoves have been around for along time, they are bullet proof, simple as that. As long as you have fuel they will work. I have had mine in -40c and +40c it worked fine. At -40c it was slow but eventually I got hot coffee, feed etc.

Obviously gas and liquid stoves work faster and produce more heat but these have no moving parts nothing to break and they go on and on forever. With the gas adapters and solid fuel options they are one of the best all round options if you want reliability and let's face it not everyone is trying to cook a meal on the slopes of Everest.

Solid, reliable and you can pass them on to your grandchildren.

A great minimalist stove.

I use this stove for bicycle camping. Can't understand why anyone would drop big bucks on a complicated stove that uses bottled tanks that have to be carried out. You just have to remember what it is and what its limits are.

Be patient. It works in any weather. 

Oh, and DON'T use isoproplyl alcohol. It makes a mess. Denatured alcohol or Heet gas line antifreeze (in the yellow bottle) burns much cleaner.

This stove is quite simply bullet proof. They've been areound for quite a few years now but you can always rely on them to heat whatever you need. It's not got the hottest flame but at least its fuel of meths is cheap. It's extremely easy to use and although it's heavier than some of the other stoves there is nothing in it to break. It is simplicity at its very best.