First of all let me say that this site looks AWESOME!!! Thanks Ross and everyone that made it possible! I was looking at the swisslink site where the large 2 burner gasoline stove was and found 2 other stoves of note. The first was an east german BAT stove. New in the box...$40. I figured what did I have to lose. Here is a LINK. I got the stove and it's pretty cool for $40. The brass on the tank seems a bit thin, but the solder is neat and it puts out a good amount of heat. I boiled a quart of water in 5.5 minutes. Despite what the site says about the supports being soldered on, the stove does break down. What are other people's opinions regarding these stoves? The other thing that I noticed... and I think this stove has appeared here before is this Trangia knock off... LINK. I went ahead and ordered one of them too after submitting a comment that the photo is messed up. Perhaps I'll take a proper one and send it to them. Does anyone out there have one of these? What are you're thoughts on the quality compared to a proper trangia? I'll take some pics of the bat tonight and the trangia when it arrives. I'll figure out how to post them here later. Oh my gosh! It's 8/8/08 and i still have to take pics of my 8r!!!
Someone noted a week or so ago that "Sportsmans Guide" had the alcohol burners back in stock. They do now, but I ordered at the time and they were back ordered, so have just now shipped. I think Robert/oops56 has one or several sets of those swisslink cooksets. He seems to have at least one of everything. Best, Bob
I have two of these alcohol jobbies. They are pretty good for the price. Works well. You won't regret it. I have used it at a few occasions, and it must work as well as the original. As for the bat, before you fire it up, take the burner off and look inside the riser. I bet you will see rust inside. I have one with roarer, and it was unused, when I bought it, and it caused a LOT of trouble. Its riser had steel sleeve, and it rusted over the many years on the shelf. It is now retired, never to be lit again. Clean off any rust, if there is. Mine worked like a champ, until the rist particles began to collect at the burner.
The Trangia type looks like the ones they sell on "Biltema" here in the Nordic countries, the price is about the same also. A funny thing is that the alcohol stove seems to be set up the wrong way Yes, this new site is good looking, but folks, I have to admit, I am lost. I can't find anything anymore. Hope I am the only one. Anders
Anders, as always when you leave something old and familiar for a new, unknown environment, it can look very confusing. Browse around and find the structure of it all, and i'm sure you find it very user friendly and easy to navigate. Christer
I forgot to add that the burner that comes with the alcohol set is not that great. It will work, but compared to Trangia burner, it is visibly inferior. I would recommend that you buy a genuine Trangia burner and replace it. One of mine leaks, so that I cannot carry it with fuel in it. Still cheaper than gtting Trangia 25-3. Edit: One thing about the new site is that I am allowed to edit only once. Wish it wasn't so. Edit 2: I take it back. But why can't I edit the previous posting?
Well, for instance, on the old forum was a line that I could click on and only the new posts were shown to me. Now you have "Recent topics" but that doesn't of course bring up every new topic since my last visit. I can surf around, I can answer posts, I know the colour codes on the small stoves , and I am pretty sure I will learn this forum someday, I am not that stupid you know, but as you said, when something new comes, you compare it to the old one, and I try to find the good things we had on the old forum so that I easily can find the topics I want to read. As I have to do now, I have to go trough every single headline and search. I will find what I am looking for, but it takes time. And yes, I know the Search button, but that's not what I need. Mostly I miss the "New post since last visit" or whatever it was. No offence, the site is still good looking, and I am sure I will love beeing here, after all, this is only a forum for us with the same hobby. Anders
On second thought the alcohol cookset is more like an optimus 77 than a trangia. But the two are close enough. I imagine i'll get another trangia burner to replace the cheapo one... or maybe an adapter for my nova
