clikstand stove thingy review in miniature

Tue, Apr 2, 2013

A wee while ago I decided to go back to meths stoving, having used a JetBoil for a few years and accumulating a pile of nearly empty gas cannisters. Heading off on a trip would mean 'playing the cans', shaking each in turn to see how few I needed to carry to use them up as each one didn't have enough for a weekend away. So hankering after my Trangia days, I foraged on the 'net for what was available these days. I'd almost decided on the Pocket Stove but after a recommendation from Grahame Boath, plumped for the Clikstand, stove, sort of.

It's not a stove per se, rather, it's a burner holder, usually a Trangia burner. So I got an Evernew titanium 0.9L pot and Trangia burner from backpackinglight and headed off on an MTB trip. A nice easy loop of Glen Brittle. As I'd decided to move lock stock and boiling barrel back to meths I thought I'd get the titanium Clikstand with titanium windshield as they'll last for yonks (I reasoned). It comes in a really nice triangular cardboard box which I admired in an artistic way for a while before bunging it in the recycling bin and assembling the bits. Nice and easy. Just be gentle slotting the burner plate into the sides where it clicks nicely (giving the contraption its name). It's then solid as a rock and the Trangia burner feels nice and cosy inside and you can hear it squeal with delight as you fit the windshield.

So what's it like in practice? Brilliant is all I can say. I've used it three times so far. First time on the beach at Glen Brittle in a brisk cold wind of about 20mph which was blowing sand everywhere. The burner lit after a few strikes with an Oak Fire Steel and the pot sitting on the triangular frame, inside the windshield kept the wind at bay. About 10mins later I had boiling water for a brew-up. I was really impressed with how well it coped with the sand laden wind.

Next time I used it was the day after on a mountain bike trip through the Applecross peninsula and again it coped well with a biting cold easterly wind, serving up piping hot brew water in about 10mins. Then again the day after at just under 600m on An Stac, next to Blaven. No problem with the freezing temperatures, 10mins to boil again. Or thereabouts. It felt like 10mins. Enough time for a blether with Penguin and a look at the view before it was obscured by clouds of steam.

So I'm impressed with the contraption. The Clikstand, windshield, fire steel and spork fit nicely inside the 0.9L pot which sits in the pot cosy I made. The Trangia won't fit in but that's no bad thing anyway as it's always reeking of meths but maybe that was the sand grains in the lid which I've since cleaned out. I think you might get it in a larger pot although the Clikstand only supports (pun!) the 1.something pot. Check on their website for the details. The windshield has two 'settings', or interlocking tabs. Use the shorter setting for the 0.9L pot and the larger for the larger pot. Any larger and the pot won't fit inside the windshield. Having said that, I forgot the windshield on day two and it still boiled fine in about 10mins with some help from a rucksack.