Hiker Stove

by  Optimus

Hiker Stove Description

The Hiker Stove is a accessory brought to you by Optimus. Read Hiker Stove reviews or submit your own review to share with the paddling community. Check out a few other accessory recommendations below or explore all accessories to find the perfect one for you!

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Hiker Stove Reviews

Read reviews for the Hiker Stove by Optimus as submitted by your fellow paddlers. All of the reviews are created and written by paddlers like you, so be sure to submit your own review and be part of the community!

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5

Back in the late 60's when I…

Submitted by: RikJohnson on 12/14/2010
Back in the late 60's when I was really poor and destitute, I found an old Optimus Hiker at a swap meet for a couple bucks. It weighed a ton and all the parts were steel or brass but it came in a steel box I could sit on. It also worked well if you weren't afraid of priming it with a match.

Later on, I switched to a single-burner Coleman which I liked because screwing in a tank and tossing a lit match on the burner THEN opening the valve to see that woosh was neater than trying to prime my Optimus.

THEN on one long trip, I got tired of the Coleman for one reason. I could never figure out how much fuel was in each canister so if I took two, are one full or both nearly empty? Yes, I know, mark the cans but somehow that never happened and I found myself packing IN and packing OUT an armful of green canisters.

So I returned to my Optimus.
Problem was that I had lost the instructions and couldn't remember how to work the thing. So I wrote to the company asking for a set. They replied that they hadn't made the original Hiker in years (the new ones are mostly plastic it seems). Then a week later I got a package. They had found some employee who had a set in his closet, translated them into English and sent them to me.
I LOVE that company.

I used it a couple more times until I got my Jetboil and retired my Optimus again. Then I had to send my Jetboil into the shop a week before a long trip and had to use the Optimus again.

Honestly, the ONLY problem I have with the Optimus is the weight! It is durable, strong, and once I made a windscreen from some aluminum foil and aluminum 'duct' tape, it works wonderfully.

Will I give up my Jetboil? No.
Will I give up my Coleman? Yes!
Will I leave my Optimus behind? No!!!

It is nice to have a back-up stove in case the Jetboil fails so I am willing to carry the weight for the security. As much as I love my Jetboil, if I had to choose only one stove, the Optimus has proven to be so dependable it is worth the weight. Besides, I see the newer ones with plastic fittings going for $150+ and the original Hiker for far more. And anyone willing to pay that much for an old stove must mean something.