Jet Boil is neat.
I use a Coleman F1 for a single burner butane stove and hiking with others. Under 3oz and puts out 16,000 BTU's.
Hiking solo, I use a Brasslite alcohol stove or an Esbit solid fuel rig. All I'm cooking is a couple cups of hot water at a time, so weight and space rule.
Car camping, we use a Coleman 2-burner white gas stove I bought 30 years ago in a thrift store for $5. I've replaced the pump leather and the generator a couple times.
I have a Coleman Peak 1 unleaded gas one burner that is used for simple car camping and part of our disaster kit. I got it at a yard sale for a few bucks. It could be used for hiking, but it is heavy by today's standards.
If you are just making oatmeal, coffee, and dehydrated dinners, the one-burner butane stoves are great. The Coleman F1 and the Pocket Rocket are both good examples. There are some models with built in lighters. Most will boil a quart in ~3 minutes.
If you use them a lot, mark the partials and/or weigh them and compare to full and empty cannisters to gauge the fuel left. One way to handle a lot of partials is to get a lantern that uses the same cans and burn the leftovers for light. I haven't had much problem figuring out what was left. If the weather is humid, you will see the fuel line on the side with condensation. They are good with a group where you need to crank out a lot of hot water and each member of the group can carry a share of the fuel with no extra expense for liguid fuel bottles-- no leaking fuel in your pack either.
If you are winter camping, then the liquid fuel stoves like the Whisperlight mentioned above and other MSR stoves are the best choice. Butane and alcohol stoves are cranky in the snow and cold.
Esbit stoves are cheap and store well. I have the original folding stove and a "wing" stove made of titanium that weighs nothing. It works great for a small titanium pot with a little foil for a windscreen. If you can get a flame of any kind going, you can light the fuel and boil a couple cups of water at a time. Some use Esbit stoves made of wire and beer cans. The Esbit fuel tablets also make for excellent emergency fire starters, giving you 15 minutes of 2500F flame to get your firewood going. Great for solo, but slow for groups unless you are just making hot drinks for a day hike. They are a great backup for a butane or liquid fuel stove that breaks down.
Alcohol stoves are good in moderate weather. They are light, relatively inexpensive, and quiet. Denatured alcohol fuel is found in nearly any hardware store, paint store, or marine supply. Watch the fumes as there is a lot of methanol in denatured alcohol. If you don't mind the expense, Everclear high proof "white lightning" will work and you can have a Gatorade cocktail while dinner is cooking. Brasslite makes excellent stoves and there are a bunch of pop-can stoves out there. Trangia has made burners for years and they have pot kits to go with them. As with the Esbit stoves, they are best for boiling a couple cups of water at a time. They can be difficult to get going in cold weather and can use a larger portion of the fuel to get the stove up to full operating temperature. If you are camping in moderate temperatures, they work well. Use a little caution as you can't always see the flames-- they aren't for kids to play with.
Pressurized liquid fuel stoves need maintenance and I check mine before a trip. Jets plug up and pumps can fail. Any stove with a hint of a leak needs to be set aside and repaired. I had an o-ring leak on an MSR rig with all too spectacular results. I got it shut down and the flames out before it got to the fuel bottle. Just keep in mind that you are working with a slightly refined flame thrower full of burning gas.
And I never cook in a tent-- the carbon monoxide and flames around all that fabric are Murphy's Law waiting for a new chapter. A flare up may find you without facial hair or shelter. There's all kinds of arguments on this subject--- I'll opt for a granola bar until I can cook outside.
