Liquid fuel - MSR Whisperlite International

Advantages

• liquid fuel
• reliable
• Quiet operation (not silent)

Disadvantages

• Stove becomes covered with soot if primed with white gas or kerosene
• Requires priming

Notes

• Multi-fuel is: White gas, unleaded auto fuel, and kerosene
• More suited to boiling
• Pack weight: 14.9 oz. (421g)

You will notice that I did not list multi-fuel as either a pro or a con. I do all my backpacking in North America and white gas is readily available and I have no need to use kerosene. I have tried kerosene with this stove, and it does work very well. However, the priming for kerosene leaves the stove heavily covered with soot that gets on everything. As the stove heats to a glowing red, the soot detaches and floats in the air. When it lands it leaves a black soot stain. You will get soot on your hands, the storage bag, clothing, and even you pack if you are not careful. So I just quit using kerosene. Since I use denatured alcohol to prime the white gas, I do not have any soot reside. However, alcohol does not burn hot enough to prime the kerosene! If you use white gas to prime the stove, you will have some soot to deal with.

The stove comes with a heat reflector, a windscreen, storage bag, pump, maintenance wrench, o-ring and pump cup oil, and instructions in several languages.

The stove does not include the fuel bottle.  MSR fuel bottles are available in three sizes. 11 (~300 ml), 20 (~600 ml), and 30 (~900 ml) fl. oz. models. The fuel bottles now come with a "child proof" cap that only adds weight (28g). MSR sells an expedition fuel cap for a price that weighs 11g. An empty bottle without the cap is 86g. When I purchased my bottles the expedition cap was the standard. I really dislike the new cap so much that I have looked at other vendor's bottles. Unfortunately I discovered that all the vendors have gone 'CYA' with the new heavy useless caps, and sell the ones you really want for an added cost (which I think is too high).

My use and testing show that the stove boils 2 cups (~500 ml) of water using a MSR Titan Kettle in 3 1/2 minutes using 1/2 oz. (by weight) of white gas. A full 11 fl. oz. bottle will hold about 8 oz. of fuel (by weight).  You can do the math. I used the Whisperlite International in the Wind Rivers of Wyoming for a week cooking (boiling) for two people and came home with a half full bottle of fuel.