Gear: camping stoves

I've had my camping stove, an MSR Pocket Rocket, for over 5 years now, and last week was the first time it started acting funny. It seemed like gas wouldn't come out. Granted, it was windy and extremely dusty (read: occasional whiteout conditions).
So, now that I've been gradually making my switch to ultralight gear, I feel like it's time for an upgrade (or downgrade, depending on how you look at it). Overall, I would buy this piece of gear again... it it weren't for this neat stove that I found! A DIY stove you can make out of a tin can and burn alcohol in.



So now I'm trying to decide between the above hobo stove, which uses liquid alcohol for fuel, and the Esbit stove and pot stand, which uses solid fuel. Solid fuel provides more heat for a minimal amount of weight, and is therefore ideal for ultralight backpacking. But both of these options, alcohol and solid-fuel stoves, are slow to bring water to a boil.

Here's an excellent blog post by Josh Spice, who compares the weight versus efficiency of multiple types of stoves.

Or I might just have to go no-cook and buy a dehydrator instead!

What kind of stove do you use, if any? Leave a comment and share!

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