Gear reviews, Stoves » Trangia Stoves Mini Trangia
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Weight: 330g
Fuel: rubbing alcohol, denatured alcohol, grain alcohol
Cost: $30 approx.
There are many variations of the Trangia alcohol stove but this is the smallest and lightest by far. It’s also the most limited offering, aimed specifically at adventure racers according to Trangia.
Even though I own a perfectly functional MSR WhisperLite I chose to buy a Trangia Mini for my bikepacking trips. The simplicity, lack of moving/small parts, and wide availability of fuel seemed ideal. The preferred fuel for many is HEET brand fuel line anti-freeze, which is just a fancy name for denatured alcohol. It’s widely available at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, grocery stores, and gas stations. One can also use rubbing/isopropyl alcohol or grain alcohol.
There isn’t too much to say about the working of the stove. You fill it with fuel, light a match, and it’s on. It’s so simple I really would consider this a great starter stove for younger campers. When you are done cooking simply cover the flame with the simmer lid and it’s off. The remaining fuel is stored in the stove with the o-ring equipped cap.
Some cons or things you should know. This is clearly a one person stove with main pot just big enough for two packs of ramen noodles. The frying pan is small as well, but you certainly could fit a veggie burger, meat, or some chopped veggies. The pot stand isn’t super stable, but with a level surface you’ll be fine. The pot handle works well and I was able to safely lift pots of boiling water, but some might find it flimsy.
My favorite part about this stove is morning use. Wake up, remove lid, light match….a few minutes later you have coffee and oatmeal. No pumping, no priming, no fuel smell.
Every Trangia kit is based on the same stove so find the kit you like and I don’t think you will be dissappointed.
Trangia web site – http://www.trangia.se/english
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I bought my Trangia stove in 1986 (really!!). It has been beaten, hammered, taken to several different countries and been on many a trip and still works! The thing is indestructible.
The stove does not work well in the cold. When it is below freezing it is almost impossible to get the fuel to light. When it does light it takes a long time to heat up. Keeping the fuel and fuel pod in warm in your sleeping bag helps but that did end up with a spill and bad smelling sleeping bag on a month long tour in New Zealand once.
My dad purchased my Trangia for me for a backpacking trip when I was in 7th grade. Also 1986. I forgot about it until I was 23, pulled it out of the closet, lit it up, and its been a favorite ever since.
I picked up a Trangia alcohol stove during my AT hike in 2000. Like others have said, it sucks in the cold (true of most alcohol stoves). Also, I found it took a bit of practice to get good at tossing the cap over the flame to shut it off. Also, adjusting the flame to simmer is pretty much useless, and if you use it for that, now your cap to snuff the flame is impossibly hot. So it’s basically an on/off stove, which is fine if you’re just boiling water/pasta/ramen.
Mine came with a different pot stand, three flat aluminum pieces that fit together to form a stable triangular stand. I love my Trangia, and it’s my go to stove for everything but car camping and winter camping, but it does have some limitations.
Oh, and by the way, I found rubbing alcohol to be pretty worthless for cooking. Probably because most rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) is cut with water… I didn’t realize back on my thru hike that HEET was the same as denatured alcohol, so I had a bit of a hard time finding fuel labeled denatured alcohol, but I never ran out…
Anywho, long live Trangia stoves!
I’m glad to see some Trangia love here! I have an official backpacking Trangia that I bought in 1993. I also picked up a Swedish Army surplus one of the same design– a bit heavier but it was about a quarter of the price of the “official” one.
The simplicity is unmatched. Another good thing about the Trangia is that it is extremely safe compared to other camp stoves. The alcohol burns at a lower temperature, leading to less destructive accidents, and spilled fuel evaporates cleanly. The fuel can also be found labeled as “marine stove fuel,” since alcohol stoves are so safe that they are used widely on sailboats.
I have a trangia in the trunk of the car so I can make tea on road trips or at trailheads.
I have one and was disaapointed with its performance- hard to fill, tips, burns slow…
Make one out of a cat food can- works great and cost less than a $1