Vargo wood burning light weight stove

[Mannlicher]

I have been using a MSR Pocket Rocket stove for several years now. It uses the little Iso-Butane canisters, and is a very good little hiking/camping stove.
There is always the chance of running out of fuel though. I have been looking for a wood burning alternative, and I think I have found a good one in the Vargo stove.
It is Titanium, folds up, weighs only 4 ounces. It comes with a nylon storage pouch. Set up is quick, as all the panels are hinged together. The stove snaps into shape.
I always carry a small fire starting kit with me in my pack. I have dryer lint, fat lighter sticks, matches, fire steel, striker and a Bic lighter.
Initial set up was easy, and intuitive. No instructions needed. I built my fire, and after only a few moments, was able to place my 16 ounce SS container on the stove. It is stable. It has a door that you can open and feed more twigs or sticks into the fire.
I had boiling water in about three and a half min. Of course, you have to then put out the fire, and drown the embers. That takes a bit more water. The stove takes awhile to cool off, but by the time I had finished my Mountain House meal, it was packable.
I bought this from REI, and the cost was $59.00

 

[The Warrior]

I bought one of these, but haven't had the chance to use it yet.

 

[nezpercelands]

I ve had a pocket rocket for years, and was thinking about getting a stove similar to yours for colder weather. 4oz, 60 $, and the nearest REI isa 20 minute walk away...might be getting one by the time the frost comes!

 

[Hawkeye5]

Thanks for the review . I saw those at REI but did not get one. I am thinking about letting Santa get me a emberlite

for Christmas.

 

[MAURICE]

I got an Emberlit UL over this one, but it was a close race. It is a solid stove. I don't see how someone could go wrong with one.

 

[Codger_64]

Thanks for the review . I saw those at REI but did not get one. I am thinking about letting Santa get me a emberlite

for Christmas.

I got an Emberlit UL over this one, but it was a close race. It is a solid stove. I don't see how someone could go wrong with one.

Likewise I looked at the Vargo and other competetors before I bought Mikhail's Emberlit Ti stove. I am yet to regret my decision in any way. Last overnighter on the river, when I set up camp on the gravelbar there was no dry driftwood to burn. The firepit there had only green softwood that the last users failed to get to burn. In a matter of minutes, I scrounged up bits of twigs enough for two prolonged burns.

Quenching my thirst with a frozen margarita, I put together a hot ham sandwich on rye. Then I boiled enough water to cook my lasagna and make a pot of coffee and apple brown betty desert.

Next morning I dumped the handful of ashes, cooked two hashbrown patties, four sage sausage patties, a pan of biscuits and two fried eggs, then made a big billy of coffee. All with that initial few handfuls of twigs. Can't beat that.

Oh... and the leftover ash? It went away in the gravel with a splash of rinse water from the billy. Like I had never been there.

 

[JCavSD]

I have both the Emberlit and the Vargo. Haven't done a side-by-side, but just winging it I'd say the Vargo takes more attention and feeding than the Emberlit to keep hot. Could be the difference in size. As far as which burns hotter I don't know...both do the job.

 

[Hawkeye5]

Thanks for you reply Codger . I was hoping that you wood chine in .I will pass it on to Santa. Coffee,Ham sandwich,and hashbrowns . I am going to have to bring my Pro Gater Roughe up there and paddle with you one day.

Likewise I looked at the Vargo and other competetors before I bought Mikhail's Emberlit Ti stove. I am yet to regret my decision in any way. Last overnighter on the river, when I set up camp on the gravelbar there was no dry driftwood to burn. The firepit there had only green softwood that the last users failed to get to burn. In a matter of minutes, I scrounged up bits of twigs enough for two prolonged burns.

Quenching my thirst with a frozen margarita, I put together a hot ham sandwich on rye. Then I boiled enough water to cook my lasagna and make a pot of coffee and apple brown betty desert.

Next morning I dumped the handful of ashes, cooked two hashbrown patties, four sage sausage patties, a pan of biscuits and two fried eggs, then made a big billy of coffee. All with that initial few handfuls of twigs. Can't beat that.

Oh... and the leftover ash? It went away in the gravel with a splash of rinse water from the billy. Like I had never been there.

 

[Codger_64]

Thanks for you reply Codger . I was hoping that you wood chine in .I will pass it on to Santa. Coffee,Ham sandwich,and hashbrowns . I am going to have to bring my Pro Gater Roughe up there and paddle with you one day.

I would be pleased if you would. Any of you for that matter. And if you don't have a boat or it is a hassle to transport this far, I have extras that can go tandem or solo and a trailer made to carry them. Same for most of the other needed gear. And the river is only 40 miles away or so, a nice relaxing drive on a hilly two lane blacktop.

I am certainly not saying that my Emberlit is better than the Vargo or any other twig stove since I have no others. But I can state that it works well for me and I have no complaints. I still occasionally carry my Coleman Micro gas stove as a backup, but really haven't needed it yet. But I do just cook for one, and with a river partner, it would be handy to be able to make coffee at the same time breakfast is frying up. Or maybe Santa will bring me a second Emberlit ti. Yeah, that.

 

[Quirt]

I would be pleased if you would. Any of you for that matter. And if you don't have a boat or it is a hassle to transport this far, I have extras that can go tandem or solo and a trailer made to carry them. Same for most of the other needed gear. And the river is only 40 miles away or so, a nice relaxing drive on a hilly two lane blacktop.

I am certainly not saying that my Emberlit is better than the Vargo or any other twig stove since I have no others. But I can state that it works well for me and I have no complaints. I still occasionally carry my Coleman Micro gas stove as a backup, but really haven't needed it yet. But I do just cook for one, and with a river partner, it would be handy to be able to make coffee at the same time breakfast is frying up. Or maybe Santa will bring me a second Emberlit ti. Yeah, that.

Dang! I'm half temped to fly across several states traveling with my wilderness pack to accept this offer. I've never been in a canoe nor Tenneesse for that matter!!

 

[Hawkeye5]

Hey Codger my day off is tomorrow. Wish I could go but now vacation time left this year. But we will see what happens after Christmas.:thumbup:
Thanks for the offer.

 

[Codger_64]

Dang! I'm half temped to fly across several states traveling with my wilderness pack to accept this offer. I've never been in a canoe nor Tenneesse for that matter!!

I am by no means a world class canoeing expert, but I do have a bit of experience over the years. And I have taken a lot of people on their first canoe trip. My closest river is not deep nor wild. But it is very rural with wooded banks and bluffs, gravel bars to camp on and a nice variety of wildlife to be viewed up close and personal. No lions, tigers or bears though. And no gators that I have seen. Generally my beginner bowman just sits there enjoying the scenery until I need a bit of help with power or speed to steer around an obsticle. Also as I said, if a visitor wanted to try his or her hand at paddling their own canoe, I'll gladly loan one and provide escort... maybe give a few lessons to make the learning easier an drier. I do expect them to pull their weight with camp chores though. But even those are easy and quickly done. I go out to smooth it, not rough it.

You can land in Nashville and I can pick you up at the airport. You can be on the river in under two hours. Remember the items that are forbidden by TSA. I can supply those here I think.

Hey Codger my day off is tomorrow. Wish I could go but now vacation time left this year. But we will see what happens after Christmas.:thumbup:
Thanks for the offer.

Hawkey5, I was off today because of rain but will be working tomorrow. Since this river is relatively tame, cold weather paddling is not too dangerous and using good sense and care to not get wet, and carrying spare clothes in case you do, winters here aren't a reason to stay off the river in a canoe. In spring, summer and fall, I could do an overnighter with almost no gear if it weren't for bugs. But they aren't usually bad on the gravel bars anyway. But days do get a lot shorter, so less loafing time in camp between put-in and take out.

And if anyone has a favorite stove, such as the Vargo, bring it along and we will do a side by side comparison.

 

[pinnah]

Oh... and the leftover ash? It went away in the gravel with a splash of rinse water from the billy. Like I had never been there.

So, to continue the hijack of the Vargo thread and to continue along the lines of the Emberlit review that it's becoming....


Getting a complete burn to ash with minimal fuel consumption is a combination that is really attractive to me. Could you say more on 2 points as I'm contemplating getting one primarily as a portable fire pit for "comfort fires" in the fall/winter/early spring in places where I don't want to create the impact of a fire ring (including partially burned coals) and I want to minimize the amount of wood harvesting.

1) Can you say more about the experience of letting the Emberlit burn with no pot on it. Does it throw any heat or is the flame at all visible? I'm really essentially looking for a portable chimenia to cheer up the weary at 7pm when supper is done, the gloom has descended but it's too early to get in the sleeping bag.

2) Can you say more about the burn down to ash? When you stop feeding it fuel, how long to burn all the way the down to ash? About 30 minutes? I'm thinking about possibilities while ski touring here.


thanks

 

[Mannlicher]

I'm gonna change my thread title to "85 guys offer reasons to buy a different product".

 

[pinnah]

Mannlicher,

Can you offer any comments on my 2 questions with respect to the Vargo?

BTW, in your pictures I had to convince myself that you were burning Virginia Creeper, not Poison Ivy!!

 

[Hawkeye5]

Sorry Mannlicher , Did not mean to hijack your post. Thanks

 

[Mannlicher]

it's all in fun guys. One of the main reasons I bought the Vargo was it was on the shelf when I felt the urge to buy.

There are probably 20 other choices out there, that would do what I want. In all honesty, I have not, in the 7 or 8 years I have been using the Pocket Rocket stove, ever run out of fuel on a trip. The wood burner is 'insurance', ya know?

 

[Codger_64]

No pot on top.

A wet wood fire.

Almost done.

And adding an adapted aluminum oven to a hickory twig fueled Emberlit...

Gets you this...

I have lung problems so can't take campfire smoke. I have used the stove as a substitute for a campfire and sit close. It does radiate heat and "carburates" the fire so that combustion is more complete... less smoke and less leftover charcoal. I would imagine the Vargo does likewise. Somebody send me one and I will try it out alongside the Emberlit and report back in a year or so.

 

[Codger_64]

So, to continue the hijack of the Vargo thread and to continue along the lines of the Emberlit review that it's becoming....


Getting a complete burn to ash with minimal fuel consumption is a combination that is really attractive to me. Could you say more on 2 points as I'm contemplating getting one primarily as a portable fire pit for "comfort fires" in the fall/winter/early spring in places where I don't want to create the impact of a fire ring (including partially burned coals) and I want to minimize the amount of wood harvesting.

1) Can you say more about the experience of letting the Emberlit burn with no pot on it. Does it throw any heat or is the flame at all visible? I'm really essentially looking for a portable chimenia to cheer up the weary at 7pm when supper is done, the gloom has descended but it's too early to get in the sleeping bag.

2) Can you say more about the burn down to ash? When you stop feeding it fuel, how long to burn all the way the down to ash? About 30 minutes? I'm thinking about possibilities while ski touring here.


thanks

Yes, it is an empty trapazoid (squished cube) container and you can fill it to the top with twigs from toothpick sized to thumb sized, and it will generate a lot of heat, though due to it's chiminey effect, most of the heat is directed straight up. I typicaly build it nice, full and hot, then add the pot as it gains a bed of coals. I then feed more fuel through the door opening. Keeping the opening full aids the carburator effect of air coming in through the small side holes and hot gas and flame going out the top notches around the bottom of the pot. After my water boils and supper is cooking or rehydrating, I continue to push the fuel in through the door. By the time I have eaten, the burn is usually complete and the stove has cooled enough to handle. I've never timed this and I supose it depends largely on the type of fuel used. In my oven experiment above, I used hickory twigs. Hickory has the highest BTU value of any wood. The temp gauge actually went up to near 700, enough to begin to melt the aluminum oven. I set the oven off and let the fuel burn down some. Then added small cubic chunks of hickory for a slower hot burn than I was getting with the twigs.

It sounds complicated, but poking a fire is thereputic. And not altogether done away with by eleminating the campfire. If all I am going to do is brew a billy of coffee while breaking canp, I can pretty well fill, fire and forget it while I go about packing up. So it's not like it actually requires a lot of close attention.

On my last overnighter use, supper and breakfast cooking left about one cup of ash, just starting to cover the bottom air holes. I suppose I could have buried it in a cat-hole or scattered it to the winds, but I just washed it down into the gravel.

Mannlicher, thanks for being a good sport. Need my mailing address?

 

[Mannlicher]

Don' need the addy, but it would be fun to share a camp fire with ya.