Originally Posted by
staehpj1
The use of a light alcohol stove saves weight as long as you only need to carry smallish amounts of fuel. On a bike tour I typically carry only small amounts of fuel and restock often. So weight wise it is the way to go for that application.
The use of butane or other fuel with a greater energy to weight ratio saves weight if you must carry larger amounts of fuel. That can be a big help if counting grams on a trip with weeks between restocking opportunities.
That said both work fine and the weight differences are not enough to worry most tourists since the majority of them are not gram counters. That leaves the choice to be based the other characteristics for most tourists.
Very well put. For me the choice of an alcohol stove comes down to the ease of fuel resupply and the light weight and small volume. A canister stove (all things being equal) will boil twice as much water per oz of fuel as a stove burning ethanol. I'd use a canister stove if I needed to cook for more than one or if I thought I would be away from resupply for more than a week.