trangia clip-on preheat

Nice work on that comparison; my opinion as well that time doesn't necessarily need to be the ultimate factor in comparing campstoves.

I noticed, that most people do know the preheat-gizmo for the Trangia, but few seem to have actually used it, since there's no pro-con discussion about it.

I bought that trangia stove-preheater before taking my trangia westwind on a 3-day snowshoing trip in -25 Celsius.
Never having used an alcohol stove in those conditions, I was a tad sceptic.

On the first day I volunteered to boil water for coffee, while the other two used their colemans (500 and Feather) to cook supper.

The preheater probably works fine, provided you find a way to pour in just the right amount (a few drops) from a standard Sigg-bottle while wearing winter gloves..
I never managed to do that out in the boonies.

If you overfill it, your preheat flame around the stove will be rather large, eventually boiling the alcohol in the stove and thus generating an incredibly large flame on the stove itself that consumes a full fill of the stove in about 3min. (at -25 Celsius outside!). And that doesn't even create a lot of heat in the pot, nonetheless.
I wasted about half of my supply of meth that first day.
If using too little fuel there's no actual gain on using none at all, since the heat dissipates quickly.

The following days I just kept the stove in a warm place (i.e. my jacket) and had no problems lighting it - without the preheater. Output seemed about normal.
Once its lit, it'll take care of itself, anyway.

If possible, put the fuel bottle somewhere warm!
I used some heavy tinfoil under the stove to keep it from sinking in the snow and reflect some heat back up.
Can't say it worked (the reflecting part), can't say it didn't.

Considering the ease of starting the stove, which leaves you more time to take care of other,equally important chores, I can easily recommend it for winter use.
Wouldn't entirely rely on it alone, though.

Blue skies, Blue flames,
Jan