Good evening, I'm the proud owner of two Optimus 8R and two SVEA 123R. They served me well on a couple of camping trips mostly over the weekend with one of my sons. Next year I'm planning to take the family (all four) for 4 nights and ask myself if I should get a larger stove for that With my positive experiences with Optimus I thought of a 111T. Is that a good idea? Or should I simply take two of the above with me? Thank you Peter
Yes! By that I mean take one of each. And a 111T is the Queen of campstoves! You won't regret getting one (or more) In My opinion...
Hi Peter, I don't have a 111T, but am the happy owner of a N°11, 2 roarer 111s running on paraffin and a silent 111, also paraffin. All 4 of them work fine & are very reliable (but the 11 seems to be the hottest of 'em all! And the roarers seem to be performing better over all. The silent has a tendency to go in underburn at times for no obvious reason ). As they produce more BTUs the 111 might be a better choice for cooking for 4 people (using bigger pots) than your N°8s or 123s. Still, it is perfectly do-able to use the smaller stoves. If it were me, I'd get a 111 and also carry say 1 or both 123s with me so you can cook with more than 1 pot at a time! Whatever you chose, enjoy your trip with the family! Best regards, Wim
Hello Peter, The 111 is a very good stove and worth having! It has some notable advantages over an 8R or 123: -It has twice the power. -It has a pump. Which makes it a very good stove for difficult/adverse conditions and as a group/family stove imho. Cheers, Peter
A 111t is high on my list of stoves to acquire but they tend to go for pretty big bucks on ebay and I haven't found one in the wild yet. Bummer!
I agree with Baja bum Peter. I take a Coleman propane stove (forgive me please) car camping, only because it has a large grill (over 2/3 of the stove area is grill), plus one burner. I still have to use another burner when cooking a proper meal (not of of those packaged things). I use my 111 kero for that and I also use my 123 (not R) for just boiling water for coffee, hot chocolate at night etc. That combination packs into a small fairly light package (for car camping not hiking) and provides all the possible combinations of cooking styles for us. Stan (ps the propane stove sucks whenever the temps go down anywhere near freezing as the bottles freeze up)
Our last road trip I brought an Optimus 8(not R), Optimus 111(kero only), 1954 Primus 71E, Optimus 00 kit, MSR Reactor 1.7L, and a home made caldera cone setup with alcohol stove and titanium pot. One lantern, a 1958 Coleman 237 kerosene. The MSR was used daily for coffee. That is a hard stove to beat for boil times. The alcohol kit was for the overnight hikes, it is very lightweight. The others were for various meals either on the beach, on the road, in the campsite, or in the hotel room. Salmon filets, Bison burgers or steak, potatoes, eggs, etc. But, any one of my classic Prentiss Wabers 2 burner is a great stove to have on a road trip. Our last trip to Georgia Coleman meet I brought the Coleman 426D 3 burner my parents bought in 1965. Ken in NC
Peter, What sort of camping are we talking about? For backpacking with 4 people, I think it is a toss-up between two 123Rs vs a single 111T. For what we often call car-camping over here, I'd opt for a larger stove, but still bring at least one of the smaller stoves.
Someone on here said that for car camping they use a Coleman 413 or 425 suitcase and transport a 123 inside the case as a spare or 3rd burner. As good as the 111T is, there are many high power stoves that could meet your immediate needs. For the "wants" you're on your own. 111's fetch a high price and move fast. I have an old Coleman 508 that can crank out the heat. Modern equivalent would be the Sportster. Not sure if the Exponent & 550 lines are still produced?? AR
Good Morning, Peter, I think all the suggestions made so far, are great ones, and I, too, think you should seek out and acquire a nice Optimus 111 stove, either the regular 111 (kero), or the 111T (Kero, Meths, and Coleman Fuel), OR if it were me, I'd get both models!! Then, your car camping setup would be complete, and if you wanted, you could bring along some of your smaller stoves, too, just for the fun of doing that!! Now, lots of my American friends have suggested Coleman suitcase stoves, and others of that ilk, and I agree that, for car camping, those stoves are VERY hard to beat!! But, I'm guessing from your location that you live in Germany, or someplace in Europe. Am I right? If so, then getting a suitcase Coleman, or Prentis Wabers suitcase stove, is not going to be easy for you, nor will it be inexpensive. So, as much as I admire, trust, and love the Coleman suitcase stoves, and same for the PW stoves, I think the idea of two Optimus (111 + 111T) is a good one for you, and probably easier to accomplish than seeking out a suitcase stove, and also paying the shipping to get it to you. Just my two cents, but maybe worth a thought. Have fun with your choosing, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Morning, Ken, An excellent idea, my friend!! The Opti 22 would be an excellent choice, too. As for myself, I have been blessed to have been able to find three Optimus 22B's here in the US. Got two of the B's for dirt cheap, and one, which was originally setup to burn Meths, I had to pay "a bit more". Then, I got my kero Opti 22 from Down Under, with help from a NZ Mate. He scored it on Trade Me, on my behalf, and sent it along. Paid more for the shipping, than I did for the 22! But, with some rebuilding, it's been a great stove. Seems to me that the best place to score a 22 or 22B is from Australia, or New Zealand. There appears to have been a ton of those stoves send Down Under at one time, or another. Great suggestion, Ken!! Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Mark
Thank you all very much for your input! So many ideas. For a newbie it's quite difficult to weight the pros and cons. But exciting I don't plan to carry the stove. We do quite a bit of backpacking but mainly to and from mountain cabins and lodges with a kitchen. A 123 is all I need there. The main use for the stove would be on canoe- and sailboat trips with a tent for cooking pasta, vegetables and tea/coffee of course. The 22B is a good idea but maybe a little large. And maybe a little difficult to get. I'll have a look. For the 111 I'd favor one with white gas because that's what I carry for my 123R anyway.
Well, if you (as Doc - and your Rhein-Main location text - suggests) live here i EUrope, you will find it rather hard to find any of the Optimus [11, 111 or 22]B stoves. They were rare beasts over here back when they sold new. But you will be able to find the ordinary [nonB] versions if you look long enough... The B's were sort of a very 'murrican thing...
Hey Peter, an other option you have is to look out for an Enders stove! They also run on white gasoline fuel (be it Coleman fuel, panel wipe or Aspen4 etc.) so all stoves use the same fuel. The later models were used by the army, are silent burners and very reliable (btw, Sefa sells the perfect replacement pumpcups for these, better than the originals!).Size-wise they are about the same as the Opti111s I have both a civil and an army model, they burn very well and very hot! Best regards, Wim
Sorry, I missed the geographic location. You can probably find that 111(T) at a much more reasonable price than "over here" @ Doc, Ooh Yah!! 22(B) with a 123(R) AR
The standard 111/111T will burn Petrol/Coleman fuel, as well as Kerosene. The B model was a slightly cheaper version, made for white gas/petrol/Coleman fuel only (USA) 2 burner tubes vice the 4 needed to preheat kerosene. The standard 111 is a roarer burner, which should be more available as well as cheaper. But it will be noisier
at the moment mine has a mix of both . works fine . not really sure if its a 111 or 111t ??? roarer with 4 tubes I just thought I would ad that for your knowledge . cheers, kerry
Doc Mark, I am pleased to hear lots of Optimus 22 stoves are here in New Zealand! They must be well treasured by their owners, because I hardly ever see them on Trade Me. Maybe one day? Cheers Simon Foxxx
Kerry. if it's a kerosene firing roarer burner it's a 111 The T had a silent burner... /Odd [And the B a two legged roarer burner]
