After being very satisfied for almost 30 years with my Trangia (which is actually not even an original) I thought I should treat myself for my 40th birthday by branching out and explore other stoves a bit. The Manaslu 96 eventually caught my attention, and was just the right combination of beautiful, exotic (to me, because of the kerosene) and hard to get (from Japan, sold out in many shops). After the highly anticipated delivery the initial impression was good. It looks even nicer than on the pictures, maybe due to the fact that the brass is protected by a transparent varnish. Next I promptly tried it out with the classic "bring 1 L water to a rolling boil" test (unless further mentioned all tests were done with no lid on). The included manual gives an expected time of 4-6 minutes for 1L of water. And what should I say... I was a bit of a let down: The first test I did during lunch time with around 22C ambient temperature, almost no wind. But even after 20+ minutes the water wouldn't boil, and a thermometer test showed it just doesn't want to go beyond 77C water temperature. At first I blamed it on the pan I used (a stainless steel sauce pan), which differed from the pan I used on the trangia, which accomplished the task in 16:35 minutes, and my Primus Mimer gas canister stove (5:30 minutes). To be fair, the Trangia obviously has a slight advantage by having a wind shield.) So in the evening I repeated the test, now with 16C ambient temperature and a very light breeze. But still unable to get a hot cuppa from the Manaslu. After 25 minutes I showed mercy and decided to put a lid on the pan to help the poor little thing, an advantage that the other stoves did not have. But even with the lid on the temperature wouldn't creep beyond 80C. I also repeated the same test under these ambient conditions (without lid) on the Trangia and the Primus Mimer, which matched their previous times almost to the second. I can't see anything wrong with the Manaslu burning of the stove: It burns with a nice blue flame, and turns the burner a nice orange-red. Nonetheless I poked the jet with the included needles. I've also played with increasing the pressure hoping to get more power out of the burner, a task that made me realise why this stove design has not stood the test of time (I got very hot fingers). What I know now is that I rather stick to my Trangia(-knockoff). Although I am still puzzled with the poor performance of the Manaslu, because it sort of advertises itself as a stove ready for mountaineering and arctic expeditions. I'd rather not get caught in these situations with the Manaslu. Although it still looks beautiful.
