A year or two ago I spent 26 weeks cooking my morning porridge on 26 different Classic Camp Stoves,,, among them were a Svea 123 and a Svea 123r… Anyway, the short unedited videos show everything from lighting to the end of cooking… The videos too show how quickly the liquid in the wee pot came to a boil… Interesting on some levels,,, if one is interested in acquiring either Svea…
They must have made a lot of them. Be interesting to know the total production figures in Sweden. There is a large and regular supply of them available at any given time for bidding or purchase on that famous auction site, no scarcity. Almost a commodity, there is apparently a steady demand which tends to put a floor on the "retail" price. Looks to be around maybe $75 to $100 for serviceable, used examples, and sometimes much higher depending on the usual variables. Bargains abound out there, but like anything else you have to do the legwork. A better question really, is "What's bad about it"? They do have a somewhat limited fuel capacity and aren't particularly suited for larger groups, tend to be a bit fiddly in arctic cold. For a solo hiker or two not encumbered by elaborate cooking rituals they are still tough to beat overall, when all is said and done.
Not so common in Britain- paraffin stoves dominated the market and the minority that used petrol were the Primus 70/1 type, or Optimus and Radius equivalent. The marketing push of the 123r to UK climbers and serious walkers came around the time of serious competition from equally small and light gas stoves, so they were never enormously popular and many here today are more recent imports. I'll end up in huge trouble for being negative about a stove so popular in its main export areas, The US and Australia/New Zealand (?) But: Although the stove itself is an excellent and reliable bit of engineering and a pretty little thing, it is hidden in a horrible windshield! Yes I know its brass, but personally I can't stand it, to me it smacks of horrible cheap brass ornaments (probably a British thing!). I'd rather the obviously utilitarian steel tins of the 71 with nice transfer, or the beautifully decorated tins of the Radius 42... but that's just personal taste. Again on the subject of appearance, they always seem top heavy with a cooking vessel on top, I'd rather the slight extra weight and bulk of an 8r which gives a rock steady stove plus the upper part of the case gives some useful shielding from the wind. Of course the 71 family have an even smaller footprint so the 123 wins there! But I still enjoy seeing action shots of 123/r's in use
The 8R is definitely less tippy, but anecdotally at least it seems to have a problem with the safety release valve in the fuel cap letting go, said to be caused by using too large of a cooking pan radiating heat back down on to the fuel tank. I've never found any of the camping stoves to include an adequate windscreen in the field, it just isn't really possible, some sort of secondary windbreak is always required for best efficiency.
