Snow Peak Giga Power White Gas Stove

, 3/30/2008
Reviewer: Jonathan (Mill Valley, CA)
great stove. definitely better than msr whisperlite in terms of performance. heat output is tremendous. of great interest to me, was its ability to simmer. additionally, what is great about this stove is its ability to be shut off, maintain pressure for a very long time (an hour in my case), and then to be able to relight easily without additional pumping. that's nice when you want your meal, and then coffee or tea later...support is excellent. soot was zero. it's nice to be able to fold up without getting soot on stuff which always happened with whisperlite (granted, it was never that bad...just annoying.)

lighting of stove does requiring priming...it's just very different than other white gas stoves. matches don't work that well for lighting (hard to get in deep enough)...strongly recommend a good lighter.

only reason i didn't give it 5 stars is because its still not quite better than my old svea 123 coupled with the sigg tourist stacking aluminum cook set. otherwise, i'd give it a 5. better than msr whisperlite (quality of manufacturing is definitely better too, but ultimate dependability of msr is hard to beat). optimus nova is also another great stove (especially for cold weather) that's worth looking at if you want a great white gas stove, and want to be able to simmer (which msr whisperlite or simmerlites don't really do). 1st choice in stove - snowpeak wg, 2nd, optimus nova (not nova+), and msr whisperlite for outrageously bullet proof dependability.