This is a rare canister stove for me as I had missed being able to buy one new and Optimus current lineup doesn't have a four legged version of the Optimus Crux. Fortunately I was able to actually find one at a completely reasonable price at an auction and it was in a pretty okay used condition that wouldn't have hurt any more than if I were to have used it myself for years. It is a bit more of a beefier stove that lacks all the "weight saving" features like the control valve block being cut out and has a slightly more complex locking mechanism on the rotating head where it locks on the inside and bottom surfaces rather than on the outside. I don't think it reduces wobble by too much as it still does wobble a little, just like the external nuts used to hold the tilting head isn't any different beyond being less obtrusive. There is even a nice brass insert for the thread rather than being just coated aluminum. However from just setting a pot or wide pan on it the stability difference is definitely there! 4.75" diameter from the tips across and 2" leg to leg with the nearest tip to point while the tip to tip is 3.5". In contrast the Crux has about a 4.5" diameter and the nearest tip to point from the tips is 3", tip to tip from neighboring legs is 3.875"! The four legs makes it a lot more stable like the Soto Windmaster with 4Flex, Soto Amicus and Snow Peak Gigapower GS-100 but it doesn't hit the Windmaster's crazy 5.625" diameter with the 4flex supports. Too bad Katadyn/Optimus doesn't produce a four legged stove like the Flex. It would make sense if the Crux was the four legged stove in the lineup while the Crux Lite remained a 3 legged stove but from seeing how the legs are bent and longer I get they're just using the same legs between the Crux and Crux Lite. Curiously it is Made in Japan. Flex pictured on the left.
Manual and box photos for this. The manual is a letter sized sheet of paper folded up. And the manual:
@Reflector You haven’t shown a photo of the pouch the instructions illustrate, but that’s mirrors the Optimus Crux equivalent it appears. So, no connection with Optimus, but a clone, sort of, given the obvious differences. Well presented comparison. I guess the flame patern is Crux-like too.
The one I was able to get lacked a pouch when it came in the box. I thought for a bit this was likely some kind of Crux derivative as the Brunton Optimus Crux existed at the same time. That was a bad assumption then, I had made it as I saw photos of it and listings of it and thought if Brunton was the distributor during that time they were also moving the Crux it was some variant of the Crux based on the appearance, along with some online posts (elsewhere) about how Optimus makes both the Crux and Flex for Brunton. Also I believe the Flex may put out more BTUs (12k, vs 10k of the Crux). I will have to check how to move this thread to the right category as well as Brunton was a distributor. When I have an opportunity I'll see if I can fire it up next to the Crux or Crux Lite, it definitely has a super wide flame pattern but it gets slightly "captured" by the curved tips of the legs so it doesn't spill over as aggressively.
