Best Backpacking Stove

Weight, reliability and flame control determine whether people like a stove.  The SVEA 123 and Optimus 111 Hiker stove are all-time favorites for reliability but are often criticized for being heavy.  MSR stoves like the Whisperlight, Dragonfly or XGK are lighter but their large number of moving parts and o-rings leads to constant failures and maintenance in the field.

Here is my recommendation on how to make the lightest most reliable stove. Start with the basic concept of a SVEA 123 using a brass burner, internal wick, self cleaning jet and fuel cap / pump attachment.

Begin by getting rid of the brass windscreen.  Next remove the brass fuel storage / stand.  Instead replace it with a round brass sphere that incorporates the fuel cap.  A sphere will hold more fuel for a smaller amount of material and will sustain greater pressures with thinner metal because of the round shape.  Additionally, if you turn a SVEA 123 over, you will see that the bottom is actually concave to withstand the pressure.  This adds extra weight, and makes the stove bigger for a smaller amount of fuel.

Here is how the guts of my new stove would look.  

Ideal Backpacking Stove

The sphere should hold enough gas for three days of camping.  Ideal for a 2 day weekend trip with one day to spare.  A larger bulb could be screwed on for larger group use.

Now build a lightweight cage around the stove to hold the pots as well as provide a windscreen.  The center stove would be attached to the cage spring like connectors.  That way if the stove assembly was dropped, the outer cage would absorb the shock and the inner stove would be protected.  Add little tabs to the top and the bottom of the cage to provide additional support.  The tabs would fold into the cage when not in use.

Stove with Windscreen and Fill Cap with Schrader valve

The fuel cap / pump attachment / pressure relief valve should have a Schrader bicycle tube inflaetor nozzle.   The pump on an MSR stove is the weakest link and should be eliminated.  By moving to a Schrader valve, you can get the entire bicycle industry to start developing lightweight pumps.  Each pump is interchangeable and the bicycle gear heads will have a field day.  Win / win for both industries.  Don't forget to add a small chain so you do not lose the cap.

The standard way of lighting a SVEA 123 is by holding it with your hands to warm it up until a little gas spills out and then lighting the gas.  In cold weather, you may not want to take your hands out of your gloves to touch a cold metal stove.  This is where the pump comes in handy.  Another alternative is to use a small cup on the end of a little stick.  Unscrew the fuel cap, dip the stick into the gas and then pour it into a small reservoir in the burner head.  Replace the cap, light the fuel and when the stove is hot, turn on the gas.  The cup could be incorporated into the fuel control key to keep from losing it.

By using similar components as a reliable SVEA 123 but incorporating a round gas tank and light weight wind shield, MSR, Primus or Optimus could create a next generation stove that is compact, lightweight and extremely reliable.  The most complicated part, the pump, could be based on the open standard of a Schrader valve allowing a large number of companies to contribute designs.  With this hybrid approach, many complementary companies outside the camping world would support the new design with pumps solidifying the stove as the leader in the industry.

Improving Home Security with your TV

When buglers are deciding what house to rob, one of the critical factors is, "is the owner home?"  When you go on vacation, it is always important to have your neighbors pick up the mail and the newspapers so things do not pile up in front of your house.  People also have lights on timers that turn on at night to make the house lived in.  Unfortunately, setting the lights on timers can be difficult and you have to decide which lights to turn
on.  A bright light only in the front room will still make the house look empty.

TV Light coming from a window

Source: http://faketv.com/

There is one exception to this rule and that is having a single TV on in a room.  Many times when you drive by a house, the entire house will be dark except for the TV light coming from a window.  This usually means someone is watching TV before bedtime.  If a burglar sees the TV light, they will typically move on to the next house.  So how can you take advantage of this fact?

Here is how it would work.  TV manufactures should add a option to the menu that allows the TV to turn on and off for a certain time period each day.  The channel could periodically change. The volume would be set at a level that is a little louder than normal viewing.  If you have dish network or comcast, just leave the reciver box on for your vacation.

When a burgler drives by your home, they would see the lights flickering from the TV and hear the sound and think that someone is home and move on to the next house.  Of course this would not work if your TV is in the front room visible from the street.  It would work better if the TV were in a back room where no one can see who is watching the TV.

By adding a menu option that turns the TV on at specific times during a vacation, TV manufactures can create the illusion that someone is still in the house causing burglars to move to the next house.  This should add no cost to the TV but should provide piece of mind to the owner.

PS. While searching for images for this article, I came across the following company that does this very task expect they sell a stand alone LED device that mimics the TV light in a room.  http://faketv.com/