Originally Posted by
cyccommute
I also question the ability to tell how much fuel you have left in the alcohol 'cat can' stoves or stoves like the Trangia. Since they are mass burn stoves, you really have no idea how much fuel you have left.
I've never found this to be a problem. I find I can pretty reliably put in just enough fuel for what I am cooking and have no further need to evaluate how much is left.
And what happens if you run out of fuel during cooking?
With a pop can stove there is so little mass that it cools almost immediately. Even if you add alcohol immediately, very little vapor is produced. Bottom line is that I have never found this to be a problem. The greater mass of a brass stove like the trangia may make this more of an issue.
I also "cook" on my stoves. I don't just reheat water. The control valve on every butane stove I've used is fine enough to have a hard boil or a slow simmer and every thing in between. If anything the control is almost better than my kitchen stove.
I agree that is an advantage of the butane stove over pop can stoves.
That said I don't really find it to be all that big of a deal for me when touring. You can do a number of things to get some adjustment in heat with the pop can stoves. One way is a diffuser plate, another is a simmer ring, another is raising the pot a bit higher, and yet another is having a different simmer burner (at under .5 ounces carrying an extra burner isn't a problem). None of those allow super fine control, but they work well enough.
If all other factors were equal I'd use butane for it's better flame control, but when alcohol is the lighter option I will use it for that reason. Similarly I am likely to use it for availability reasons. I know some folks report excellent availability for butane canisters, but I have not found that to be the case in a lot of the places I have toured, and I have always been able to find alcohol.