![]() ![]() Butane tends to perform poorly in cold weather, but Kovea claim that they’ve had no issues when used year-round in the UK. Most screw-fitting gas canisters used in the UK are a mix of butane and propane, but Kovea offer an adaptor to enable the stove to be used with pure butane – significantly cheaper than the usual propane/butane blends. And being a remote canister stove there’s not much chance of the gas canister overheating due to restricted airflow. There’s no windscreen included, but a simple foil design is highly recommended to improve efficiency. There isn’t a piezo ignition, but given the number of failed igniters I have experienced that’s not a huge deal (and it keeps the weight down) but a separate plastic handheld igniter (weighing 13g) is included. Locating this on the side of the valve, with a flat surface on the ‘top’ of the valve assembly means the flame can still be adjusted with the canister inverted and there isn’t a drastic need for extra canister support. The machined valve is neat and the wire bail permits valve adjustment when wearing gloves. ![]() Moving away from the burner the armoured hose has enough flexibility to prevent the stove flipping when the canister is manipulated, and there’s a good swivel connection between hose and valve. The preheat tube is small and neat – Kovea have invested time and effort in reducing weight here – and it prevents the flare-up that can occur when used with an inverted canister. With the valve tightened down it’s possible to effect a pretty good simmer, but when opened wide a comforting roaring flame still brings water to the boil in good time. The burner head is small but the flame pattern wide enough to offer decent cooking performance rather than just boiling water quickly. A little push down on the legs and they swivel to pack down into a surprisingly compact nylon bag that I managed to fit into a range of pots along with a small gas canister. The Spider has a feeling of rugged reliability – unfolding the three wire legs feels assured and results in a stable platform capable of supporting both wide and narrow mug-style pots aided by a series of grippy notches. Of course, if it’s so cold that it’s not even possible to eke out enough gas to light the stove in the first place in order to heat the preheat tube, then more drastic canister-warming methods will be required (or a ‘proper’ liquid fuel stove)… The small preheat tube looping into the flame next to the burner head vapourises the liquid fuel before it reaches the burner as gas. By inverting the canister (thanks to a swivel connection at the valve) there is less reliance on internal canister pressure to get the fuel into the burner. This is a useful winter technique – if it’s so cold that the canister contents refuses to ‘boil off’ and leave the canister as a gas it’s time to consider feeding the stove the liquid contents instead. In cold weather the remote canister can be manipulated to boost performance the canister can be insulated to help the propane/butane mix burn off efficiently, and/or the canister inverted to form a liquid feed stove if the stove features a preheat tube. There’s far less risk of inadvertent soup spillage. As alluded to in a previous review the remote canister design has definite advantages over a canister-mounted stove for winter use: by moving the burner away from the gas canister the stove can be lowered and the pot supports/legs widened to increase stability on uneven ground and accommodate wide pots. ![]()
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