Backpacking tent stove recommendations

ponderosa11

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191
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Colorado
I'm thinking about punching a hole in my Oware pyramid tent and sewing in a stove jack. There are several options out there… lightweight sounds good (must be packable), but honestly ease of setup is most important to me. Any recommendations?
 
I use one of these. They're a good deal when they put them on sale for $199. Customer service sucks, and they are real slow to ship sometimes, but you will eventually get it....

 
My son has a tee pee tent and stove manufactured here in grand junction by seek outside. The stove is the uturn ultra light stove and stovepipe. I've been with him a few times while camping and he got it mainly for his wife and daughter to keep them comfortable, he has a pack that carries all of it, tent and stove. I wouldn't be able to pack it very far but he's a beast and handles it and gear very well. The stove takes some getting use to as far as setting it up, it's the unrolling of the pipe that's dirty business once it's been used a few times, it's essential to put a screen on top of the pipe otherwise you'll end up with holes in your tent. The whole system works well, just a fair amount of labor involved
 
Winnerwell fastfolds are going to be about the easiest for setup. I have an Amazon knockoff that was $100 or so less money. The stove box portion of these things is idiot proof to setup, no nuts to screw on or any of that mess, super easy.

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Oh, and for really easy setup, and a little bigger stove, Winnerwell has this bigger model that doesn't require you to roll/unroll and mess with the stove pipe which can be a pain. This will be about as easy as possible for setup and takedown.

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The stove pipe for that thing nests together. At the expense of a bit of space and it isn't super light at 7'ish lbs.
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The seeks are a piddly setup, loose nuts that can be lost and have to be adjusted this way and that way to get right, loose rods, all the walls are separated which means you hold this one here, try to feed the front into it there... hold with your third hand over here to put this wall up and make sure that doesn't fall over...

Piddly, little pieces, it isn't that it's difficult in that you need a PHD to do it, but with cold hands, inclement weather, messing around with that stuff stinks.

And ultimately, I'll end up with a big mamma, I'm not knocking what they are.

But those fastfold type stoves are stupid easy, you fold up the walls and turn the little levers to lock them in place, put the lid on, turn levers to lock it in place and done. Oh, and another great thing is, forget the "put the lid on" step and you have a firebox, insanely simple. Add a titanium grate and cook over open flame if you want.

With Seek, because of the rods holding things together you've got to order an additional top and cut out a portion of it to do a fire box type setup. Which means more money and another piece to carry.

But maybe I'm misinterpreting what he means when he notes "ease of setup" ...

And again, I posted the winnerwell stuff, mainly because I think they originated that fold type setup, I bought a cheaper Amazon version, so I'm not trying to sell a company, just the way the stoves assemble.
 
Define packable? pack on your back or on a horse or in your truck? For on your back the seek outside are nice. They are design more for warming your tent, drying clothes and keep you from freezing. They are not really designed to pack with wood and burn slowly all night.
 
I like the seek. It has some quirks but once you get familiar with it it's pretty fast to put together. It packs small and is light enough. If weight wasn't a concern I'd use something heavier. If you go with the seek get yourself a handful of 1/4 20 wing nuts and zip tie them to the bag you keep it in. You will surely lose a few of those.
 
Thanks everyone. I'm seriously considering a Fastfold type stove. The ease of setup basically outweighs the disadvantages from what I can tell.
 
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