Best Titanium Stove

[7mmfan]

So I just picked up a new (to me) shelter from our very own Johnathan_s. I haven't gotten to set it up yet, but I'm pumped to get out and giver her a whirl. The next step for me though is to get a wood stove for it. I've assembled a list of most of the popular titanium wood stove brands out there and tried to compare pro's/cons/prices of all of them. They all seem pretty similar with the exception of TiGoats Wi-Fi Stove. Are there any opinions on here? Companies I've added to my list are:

Lite Outdoors
Titanium Goat
Seek Outside
Kifaru

Any that I'm missing?

Questions:

Are box stoves that much better than cylinder stoves?
How packable are cylinder stoves?
Are any of these companies really better than another?

Any opinions and advice is appreciated.

Rory

[highside74]

I have no personal experience with the titanium stoves but from what I see the new lite outdoors with the large door for bigger wood makes way more sense to me. The lite Outdoors would be my choice if I were to purchase one

[kselkhunter]

Unless somebody owns all four vendors, it's hard to really argue one is better than the other.  Kifaru is the biggest name of the group, and many guys swear by their Kifaru.   I own the Seek Outside that I bought as a bundle with their tipi package, and it works great.  I liked Titanium Goat stoves when I researched them, but have no practical experience.  Not familiar with Life Outdoors.

For me the most important item is sizing the stove properly for the size of your shelter.  Too small and it won't provide enough heat, too large and you'll be stripping off clothes and opening shelter zippers to vent it.

Packing the stove is a challenge.  I put mine on the outside of the pack to minimize risk of bending.  It's a bit awkward, but I have an XL size stove so it's bigger than most making it more complicated.

Keep in mind titanium heats up quick, but doesn't hold heat overnight like a normal wood stove.  You have to keep feeding it to keep the heat going.

[X-Force]

I have experience with Seeks Titanium large box and Kifarus Smith cylinder.

Kifarus cylinder is lighter, longer and burns hot. The stove burns really really well and you need to have a stack of wood to keep it fed. The length helps because it keeps you from having to break down wood into small pieces. The Tut has a couple of holes from sparks getting past the arrester and that is partially because the stove burns hot and the stove pipe weight pushes down on the cylinder moving the arrester slightly. Its not a cook on stove.
Goods
Weight, assembly, length, heat put out

Not so goods
Not as solid as some stoves

Seek is stout, shorter than the Kifaru and has more useless space. Putting round wood into a box create more voids and the door is in the middle of the box making it hard to stuff the thing full for the night. The dampers work really well and the pipe damper and spark arrester are solid. You can suffocate your fire if your not on it but it does seem to improve burn time. The box is solid enough to cook on and we do bring a frying pan, bacon, etc. I also like the stainless bands that are slid on the stove pipe.

Goods
Solid, box and pipe damper, cooking surface

Not so goods
Short, Dead Spaces

[The scout]

Lite outdoors is the best I have used. But I haven’t used all the ones you mentioned. Easy set up. Especially since they went away from the turn buckles on the top. And price also.

[Magnum_Willys]

I have the seek xl. It holds big wood - like 5 or so 4”-5” dia logs. Will burn 3 hrs between feedings.   Can heat a med sized wall tent .  Prob more than needed for small shelter.  Its relatively heavy like 4+ lbs with 9 ft pipe.

[bod]

There's a guy Ed_T that made the best cylinder stoves he is on the 24hourcampfire.

[colersu22]

I have a homemade stainless box stove tat is about the size of the Seek Outside medium stove, it was cheap to make but weight is around 4 lbs so I don't always bring it.  I have been looking at the Seek Outside box stove for awhile but I really am leaning towards the Liteoutdoors stove since it has a bigger door and I have never used the box stove to cook on so a cylinder stove will be fine, not to mention it is less than half the weight of my homemade stove.  From everything I have read on Rokslide the Liteoutdoors stove is the way to go.  I plan on picking one up this season to take to Idaho with me and selling off the homemade stove.

[dscubame]

 I can say from experience Kifaru does the job.  Give it a go and with no negative reviews good chance it does the job your looking for it to do.

[CaNINE]

I have the seek outside xl. No experience with the other brands. Very happy with the seek. Impressive burn time, can cook on it and cranks out the heat. 

[whacker1]

I have the Kifaru Smith Cylinder stove in 18 body.  This thing gets hot.    I spent 8 nights in a 6 man tipi last year by myself.  1 night it was 23 degrees and blowing snow sideways until it turned to rain late the next day.  i was pinned down in the tent for almost 24 hours.  i would only go outside to get more wood and take a whiz and get more water.  I burned a pile of wood, but the stove kept the wind driven snow from piling up, which would have been 8 inches and probably would have drifted into 20 inches based on what I saw elsewhere.  If I had not had the stove I would have been a wet mess.  It is extremely packable, and really works good with a tipi when you have two guys.  with two guys you can split the tipi and stove, which takes away the bulk from one person.  stove weighs less than 2 lbs and packs down small.

[Karl Blanchard]

I've used more than a few and am currently running an 18" Smith stove.  Cylinders are as efficient as they come but the burn time isn't great.  Not really a big concern as the goal isn't to heat the tent all night.   Goal is to dry gear and make a comfortable living space while awake.  Cooking surface is also not a concern of mine. 

I almost went with a Wi-Fi but I have accumulated a pretty good variety of floorless shelters I was concerned about the height of the stove in my smaller shelter. 

What did The Jon end up making for you?  If you wanna mess with Smith hit me up. 

[7mmfan]

Lots of good information here to think about.

Karl, I took one of his 4 man pyramids off his hands. Looks to be a well made shelter, I'm excited to try it out.

[Karl Blanchard]

Lots of good information here to think about.

Karl, I took one of his 4 man pyramids off his hands. Looks to be a well made shelter, I'm excited to try it out.

you'll love it man!  Solid choice

[7mmfan]

I see on a few of the cylinder stoves, 2 ties of some form that run the length of the stove right at the top. They look like you could support a small pan to cook on. Is this actually the case? An important aspect of the stove for me is the ability to cook on it. I know that box stoves are better for that, but am curious if its doable on any of the cylinder stoves.

[dscubame]

I see on a few of the cylinder stoves, 2 ties of some form that run the length of the stove right at the top. They look like you could support a small pan to cook on. Is this actually the case? An important aspect of the stove for me is the ability to cook on it. I know that box stoves are better for that, but am curious if its doable on any of the cylinder stoves.

I would not cook on my Kifaru Smith, two cents on that one. 
The titanium is so thin and malleable I don't see it as practical and I would not think the convection heat transfer would work very well based on the limited contact to the surface areas being it is a cylinder shape. 
The adjustable temperature msr pocket rocket does the cooking.

[7mmfan]

I've watched a few videos today on different stove designs. One guy used the Lite Outdoors cylinder stove and cooked on it. He had decent success but the body definitely warped. He didn't seem to think it was due to the weight of the pot on it, but I think it definitely affected it.

I'm beginning to lean more towards the Seek Outside Large box stove.

[whacker1]

The Smith design would definitely warp/deform with weight on it when it is hot.

[X-Force]

The Smith design would definitely warp/deform with weight on it when it is hot.

Very true.

The one I have has deformed slightly from intense heat combined with the weight of the stove pipe.

[banishd]

I burned in my new Seek outside medium stove this weekend. It should work just fine in my cimarron setup but man is it small. If I wasn't an ounce counter I would like something 4" longer to be able to use bigger pieces of wood.  I was going to get the lite outdoors cylinder stove until I realized it would be more expensive compared to the tent + stove bundle price from SO.

[7mmfan]

I burned in my new Seek outside medium stove this weekend. It should work just fine in my cimarron setup but man is it small. If I wasn't an ounce counter I would like something 4" longer to be able to use bigger pieces of wood.  I was going to get the lite outdoors cylinder stove until I realized it would be more expensive compared to the tent + stove bundle price from SO.

I was looking at the Large or SXL. I agree that the medium just looks tiny. I'm sure it will heat your tent fine and dry your gear, but you'll need to feed it constantly.

[WapitiTalk1]

7MM, I went through the same decision process recently.  I researched all the available stoves, features, and price points.  I ended up getting the 18" Lite Outdoors titanium for my new Luxe Megahorn III tipi.  The stove weighs nothing, goes together pretty easy, the price was pretty reasonable (well, they're all overpriced), and it seems to work really well.  Here's a real quick "initial burn off" VID I did a few weeks ago.  Happy shopping!  RJ

[7mmfan]

Thanks Wapiti, always appreciate your input.

[The scout]

I burned in my new Seek outside medium stove this weekend. It should work just fine in my cimarron setup but man is it small. If I wasn't an ounce counter I would like something 4" longer to be able to use bigger pieces of wood.  I was going to get the lite outdoors cylinder stove until I realized it would be more expensive compared to the tent + stove bundle price from SO.

Huh? I thought the most expensive regular sized stove from light outdoors was like 390$ aren’t the combination hot tent setup like 800$? And that’s the stove with both baffles. Maybe you got a smokin deal on a tent stove setup

[Tbob]

SO I went with the lite outdoors XL cylinder stove. I got it for my SO Redcliff. Just did my initial set up and burn in a few weeks ago.. I have ZERO complaints about the stove! I was worried it would be a little to big, but it’s perfect. I really like the door design and it’s long enough and the door is big enough to put in some sizable wood! It was prob Mid 30’s out and raining when we set it all up.. within 15 minutes or so we were all in t-shirts sipping whisky and deciding what to BBQ for dinner. Super stoked with my set up!
    I’d cook on the stove with the way it is designed. There’s two small bars that run across the top of the stove as a “frame”. It’s not really in contact with the stove if you set the bars a little closer together. I’d likely just put a small pot of water on for coffee or hot toddies maybe..
   Also, Brennan at Lite Outdoors is awesome to work with and his customer service is top notch! Good luck!

[Tbob]

On a side note, it sure is cool hanging out in your shelter, in the dark with that stove and pipe just glowing red hot!

[7mmfan]

Thanks for the input Tbob, I appreciate it.

[gaddy]

Glowing red ? Sounds like mood lighting

[Karl Blanchard]

Glowing red ? Sounds like mood lighting

what happens on the mountain stays on the mountain

[7mmfan]

Sounds like I need a smaller tent. Like a one person version.