Just idly wondering - whick backpacking stove would be the simmering champ? It should be able to hold the flame at very low levels without going out. Toshi
any gas stove or dragonfly. lowest simmer on dragonfly on a windless day wont hold water hot enough for tea or coffee. Have to run it higher than its lowest possible simmer for that
SVEA 123 & Primus 71 especially in a cook set like the SIGG or Edelweiss kits Trangia 25/27 w/simmer ring closed down is pretty respectable. Swedish Military mess kit, but try dropping in a wick burner of gel alcohol like "safe heat". I would be very surprised if you can simmer more evenly or lower than this in field conditions. AR
JRS08, I won't let you have it. I simmered a 400 for about 7 hours once by accident. Had the coffee on the stove and had to move to another area. By the time I got back to it, it was still simmering. The coffee was a little strong, but not boiling either. That's happened several times to me with different stoves. Coleman Apex and 550bs will simmer for hours as well. Mike
Coleman 508. Hands-down. The variant with the red on-off lever and the black flame control lever. Heavy, but if you want a good simmer, this is the nazz.
So will a 502, but I would think it's a bit big to be considered a backpacking stove by most members standards. Murph
Brerarnold, see Murph's statement. I TOTALLY agree about the two lever generator models though. Much easier to fine tune the flame with those bad boys. The 550 and Apex models do a great job on the simmer too and are significantly lighter, but the cleaning wire running the length of the generator makes them slightly more finicky to control. No doubt, the Coleman 500, 502, 508 will simmer like no tomorrow, but the larger tanks and heavy construction keep them out of the hunt. What sets the 400/505/576 types(with separate fuel and flame controls) apart are their ability to provide raw power at full throttle and then ease back for a low simmer, or anything in between, effortlessly. And all without priming Mike ps If anyone is hiking at Fort Sill Oklahoma, there is a red tank Coleman classic with plastic carry case, a Coleman Apex type propane model, and a Feather 400 all with coffee pots still simmering out there somewhere. If you find them, give me a heads up. They've been out there for years, so they're probably not simmering any more.
Maybe we should define "simmer" In my mine the coffee pot story qualifies. My 505b has the simmer control that works well but its low setting is barely low enough to be called a simmer. More of a very low boil. Dragonfly has a reputation for its simmer You can boil a litre of water in 3 minutes then turn it down till no bubbles even form on the bottom for as long as you like (1 litre fuel bottle could be more than a day with an occasional pump) then a flick of the knob and its straight to full noise with no flare up etc Interestingly the dragonfly will still burn a good custard or rice pudding more than the 505 despite its lower simmer because of the concentrated flame compared to the wider flame on the coleman.
As I said in my post, they are heavy. However, that big tank can hold enough fuel for three solid days of backpacking, so you don't need to take along a fuel bottle or do refills. This eases the pain somewhat. I used a 508 for backpacking through much of the 1990s, i08ncluding a week-long trip to the Colorado Rockies. My brother had a Whisperlite which we used for most of our cooking; my 508 was used for stuff we wanted to simmer. Since there were five of us on the trip -- me, Jeff, and his three boys -- we divided the heavy stuff up and no one had to pack that much weight. Not my first choice, mind you -- but not a bad one either.
Hands down winner for me is my 123 not "R" with my BernieDawg cap. This thing can simmer so low without going into underburn that you can barely use it to keep things warm. Best simmerer I have. My Omnifuel has what I call "creep". I set it on a simmer but after a minute or so it has gone higher and I have to re-adjust it down to maintain the simmer. Dave
i really like my Coleman 442 Exponent, i used it recently to keep parts i had in citric acid warm but not boiling for hours in the back yard. One thing to consider is i've done canoe camping weeknds and a 502 tank filled has lasted me the whole weekend so no extra fuel cans or one less item in your pack also has one of the best wind built in wind shields just something to consider with the 502; i cant speak for the 508 as i've never used one but im sure it's as good or better then 502 being a newer model, buy yha that 442 worked pretty good.
