The White Box Stove Review
The White Box Stove is an alcohol or meths burning stove, ideal for the lightweight backpacker this stove is a powerful & quick cook system perfect for quick brews on the trail.
Nice one Ash!
Bit of a difference on boil times eh? 8.55 has to be an unacceptable boil time for a stove that is essentially the same type (meths) as the recycled one. It has the same inherant problem as the trangia ie: it takes forever to warm-up relative to these thin ali ones. The traditional ones have a nice burn when they get going, but this difference in start-up time has much significance to consider when packing.
The weight and size wins hands down! Nice to see someone else using those bottles - I bought 3 for a quid at the car boot and soon swigged them for meths storage. you can keep them strategically placed in glove box/bum bag/rucksack/pocket for all occassions.
If you stretch out both arms to represent all time on earth, then with one stroke of a nail file you could eradicate all human history, and 98 per cent of all human history was spent in the stone age.
Oh!... you'll never believe it, I didn't mention but for each stove that I tested I let each one fully warm up and prime, the Tatonka one was full primed before I put the kettle on and started the timer, so that almost 9 minute time doesn't even count the prime-time. As much as a like the Tatonka Stainless Steel meths burner it isn't the fastest, although it does have it's benifits that you can store fuel in it and it can have an incredible burn time when full and shielded; I've used it numerous times in the shed as a shed-heater! - Had over an hour burn time out of it I think it was!Originally Posted by bigzee
As for the white box stove - burns a lot quicker and with more power but obviously goes through it's fuel quicker, not a problem if what you are after is a speedy brew.
I do like those little bottles, mine are from those energy-drink shots, not the expensive brand ones but you can get dirt cheap supermarket own-brand ones, I just poured away the drink and used them for methsThanks for watching.
A quick question for you please Ash.
It looks a great bit of kit but are there any sharp edges to the wind shield or other edges to be careful of (I am one of those accident prone sorts with an unfortunate ability to find anything sharp the hard way, especially if I try and pack in a hurry)?
White Box rocks! Durable, light, and fast. No need for a separate pot stand, but the fact that you balance your pot on the top of the burner makes it a bit tippy so care is needed. All in all, my favorite EtOH stove.
As a stove nerd whose built every design on the zenstove site on far too many occasions to confess, let me just play devil's advocate here........ sideburners like the whitebox are quick and powerful but fuel hungry in order to give that heat, don't worry about sharp bits in the kit if you're accident prone, worry more about balancing tall pots for food cooking (like a zebra) if one of these goes over you can kiss your trousers and at least your leg hair goodbye! That said, if your target is mega lightweight the mere fact that you stand the pot (at a perfect height from the flame) and employ a minimalist windshield, sideburners indeed "rock" (no pun intended). Downside number 2 on sideburners is heat control, it's very difficult to come up with a simmer option on these designs -as the song title says "it's all or nothing". All the aluminium recycled container stoves prime their jets quicker than brass or stainless trangias so whilst I have a couple of side burners that I use out for day hikes for a brew, I still go with a pepsi can trangia and simmer ring with a kitchen utensil stainless drainer potstand/windshield and pegs to set the burn height for my different sized billy's for the fuel efficiency and adjustable heat. As with all things bushy, this one is a trade off between overall weight, fuel carry, main uses, kettle/pot/billy configuration. Great vid Ash, covers the bases nicely - thanks. Jack
What the hell do I know about anything I spent 25 years chucking columbiformes into aero engines
Your right and in hindsight I wish I mentioned that, having used the stove for months the balancing of pots on it is just something I've got used to doing without thinking.
Great review Ashley, I agree the white box stove is all you said it is, but then again I'm probably biased, as I sell them out here in SA, with your typical temperatures
I was expecting a slower burn time, but I've found 3 - 4 mins as average over the course of a South African year, for interested parties the stove comes in two sizes,
Normal & Solo, I find the differences however, to be marginal.
For Elementowl, you would have to be extremely determined to sustain a wound from the wind shield, it is very pliable and comes with folded edges.
A very valid point, again in hindsight I wish I'd mentioned this now; I don't see this stove as a big cooking stove, but more of a boil-water fast stove for either brews, noodles, boil-in-bag meals etc. RE Cooking on this stove it's not really ideal for something that you'll want to be moving about cooking pasta or something in a pot.
I have done boil-in-the-bag meals on it (no need to touch it whilst it's on) and love this stove for brews.
Your right, again I wish I mentioned this; this isn't a stove that's versatile in the sense of controlling the heat - it's a furious, fast burn, again ideal for boiling water quick but maybe not for cooking directly on.
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