UKH

Hi,

I'm a long term trangia user and have opted for the fuel gel as the favoured option after trying others. Vango fuel gel, which we found to be the best all round option, is being discontinued now though I gather.

Does anyone have alternative fuel gels they've used and would recommend as a replacement when current stocks run dry?

Cheers 

I can't say I was impressed with any of the fuel gels; too slow, faded as they were consumed, left a sticky goop. I did experiment with 60+ % hand sanitiser gels, which did work, but had the same issues. There's a lot of cheap alcohol hand sanitiser around these days, most of which is pretty pure, with no fragrance...

I experimented quite heavily with home-made alcohol stoves around 2008-2010 (including winning Alpkit's Colab 09 competition with one of my stove designs). The ability to measure out the right amount of fuel to boil a given volume of water was handy for ultra-lightweight stuff (8g red bull burners, 37g pan support/windshield: the Caldera Clone). Sadly, the huge OM thread on making meths burners has vanished from the internet, along with the rest of the OM forum.

Get a gas adapter (the GoSystem one is cheaper and pretty much the same as the official one).  You won't look back.  A gas converted Trangia really is the best of both worlds - super fast and totally windproof.

Fair. I think that is the way we're likely to go. Hadn't seen the GoSystem one before, it's so much cheaper. Cheers.

Apart from making an already heavy and bulky set up, heavier and bulkier. I've got a soft spot for Trangias, but would never choose one for backpacking these days.

Bulkier I will give you (though there's not much in it between a Sigg bottle of meths and a gas canister, while the gas burner fits in the kettle the same as the meths one did) but not heavier, probably slightly lighter if anything.

I switched to gas and it was a fabulous upgrade (and that was paying full price for the official attacment) At the GoSystem price it seems crazy not to go for it!

Which still leaves it pretty heavy!

I know some folk love them but I just don't see the point in Trangias these days. They suffer from the usual disadvantages of alcohol stoves (slow, smelly, limited control) but none of the advantages that other types of alcohol stove have (light weight, low bulk).

They are a bit heavy, but unless fastpacking I consider the weight worth it.  If you're that bothered they do do titanium pans, though they're pricey.

They're all in one including a plate to eat off and they are near totally windproof and incredibly stable.  That's worth being a bit heavy for me.

Probably better with a Jetboil (or near identical Alpkit fake at half the price) if you only eat dehydrated packet food and thus just need to boil water quickly, but I can't stand the stuff.  And obviously if you're camping by car or only walking a short distance from e.g. the station then doing day hikes the weight doesn't matter.

As a meths stove I can see your point, but with a gas converter they're just brilliant.  Heavy yes, but I've very rarely seen any stove quite so well designed.

They aren't alcohol if you use gas. What does weight matter if you are car camping?

Yes, they definitely make more sense if you're not having to carry it.