Isobutane Canister Stove Fuel Test - Which is the best?

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

Demand for a cold weather test is high. Please give me some testing ideas and let me know what you would like to see. Thanks for watching!

[@shoefly757]

You could put the fuel canisters in the refrigerator or freezer for say 3-4 hours then repeat your currents test. Use this information vs the low temp to show which ones are affected more

[@2laughandlaugh]

Love the stash....you have a career in 70s style porn if your KZbin channel ever fails.

[@5shotgroup451]

Leave the canisters in a freezer over night then do the same test. I think that will really separate out the good from the bad.

[@asesinodezombis2077]

The primary culprit is butane, which stops vaporizing at 31 degrees Fahrenheit. (Isobutane-a chemical variation of butane-continues vaporizing down to 11 degrees Fahrenheit.) Isobutane is best. Boom, done.

[@majormojo]

Perhaps you could get access to a commercial walk-in freezer to do some testing. Leave the canisters inside over night then test lighting difficulty and boil time. Overall, (warm or cold) I think what’s important for me is availability and $/min of run time.

[@Martyupnorth]

I'm an engineer in Alberta Canada. I spent 30 years working in natural gas facilities that extracted propane, n-butane and i-butane from natural gas streams. The composition of our product varied by 2% on a daily basis. In other words, I could sell you propane that was 95%-99% propane and 1%-4% ethane on any day. Same for all our other liquid streams. The companies that make these cartridges source their feed on the open market. They do a rough blend at their facility and then fill a batch of canisters. You could repeat your test with different canisters from the same company and get different results. I'll go out on a limb and say that there's not much difference between one brand and another because they all source the same product. In the past companies advertized a summer vs. winter blend. That made a difference because it changed the percentage of propane from 10% to 20%. I don't think anyone does that any more. Everyone sels an 80/20 blend in a heavier canister. Also, the difference between iso-butane and normal-butane is not significant as a fuel. We separate butane into its two isomers for the chemical industry. The butane found in fuel canisters is a blend of the two, even though most companies advertise iso-butane. Otherwise, cool video.

[@AdventureOtaku]

Martyupnorth I was wondering if barometric pressure on the day the canister is filled would effect how much fuel is in the canister? On higher pressure days do you get less fuel?

[@Martyupnorth]

@@AdventureOtaku No, that's why they are filled by weight. You always get the same weight. But you are correct that volume is pressure and temperature dependent. The test results for the same canister will be different during different seasons and at different elevations. Years ago the manufacturers had a summer blend that was 90% butane and 10% propane and a winter blend that was 80% butane and 20% propane. The reason for the different blend was because at cold temperature a pure butane won't vaporize. It's all quite interesting. That's why these tests are fun, but have to be taken with a grain of salt.

[@johnnyboy8498]

@@Martyupnorth I haven't gone backpacking for a bit, but I had issues with some of those summer blend cans burning in cooler weather (40°F) vs the winter blends and that was a few years ago. So its my understanding they're still available.

[@Martyupnorth]

@@johnnyboy8498 That's certainly possible. A 100% butane canister in freezing temperatures would barely vaporize.

[@gertvanpeet3120]

@@AdventureOtaku no, the filling is fluid. No pressure! So at very low temp..

[@u2pda]

Great video! Another performance factor I looked at was dividing the time until empty with the time to boil to get an average number of boils per canister. Coleman=65, Olicamp=63, Perune=62, Energy=60, Primus=57, MSR=51, Jetboil=50, GSI=48, Snow Peak=48. If you boil an average of 3 times per day the Coleman canister will last roughly 6 days longer than the Snow Peak!

[@florianradu6944]

In the end, this is the only number that matters.

[@kristaps2010]

Makes lot more sense, thank you!

[@chrisladouceur4093]

This is what I was going to recommend. Great work

[@flyfishervt]

I was going to recommend the same data.

[@wzomar]

Kinda/Sorta ... You'll probably get less number of boils because you lose some gas everytime you screw and unscrew the fuel canister to the stove.

[@bobbymoss6160]

This man is a legend. Not only is he speaking on screen, he's also transmitting the words in Morse code with his eye lids concurrently. I've never seen this on a youtube video before.

[@GTFBITK]

His eyes are saying torture.

[@AWretchedMan]

Blinky bill

[@outbackwack368]

Coleman for me... always works and is available everywhere for a reasonable price. Thanks!

[@stanleyi2726]

Between the editing and the information this is one of the best videos I've ever seen.

[@ZahraArman]

I saw your movie from Iran ❤ and thank you for your good information ❤

[@thebubaloomonkey]

Good test. As a control test it would be interesting to try several "identical" canisters of the same brand, perhaps bought over a period of time so they are from different production batches, to see if these inconsistencies still exist. It may be that no 2 cans are the same, even when from the same brand!

[@JewishJuice]

What more could you ask out of this video? Great job friend. Thank you!

[@hooXpoo]

After watching hundreds of videos on gas canisters and stoves, this video had more info than all the rest combined. I thank you:)

[@jrcflaus]

This was excellent. Right to the point, good looking bar graphs. It got me exactly what I needed (how many to bring on a trip). Nice going.

[@SnowyAspenHills]

Great video, a lot of time and effort put into this test. In the UK Coleman is the main contender so I'm glad it came out well in the test.

[@Ghostbit]

You put a lot of work (and some money for canisters) into this. It was edited well and informative. Really well done effort, thanks for the video!

[@andyc1621]

Love the conclusion, 'just buy whatever'. Was thinking the whole way through who doesn't buy the cheapest / easiest to get hold of / what your local store stocks, glad to see I was right in my thinking.

[@Angelus11280]

The most polite and soft spoken hunter. :) Keep it up. God Bless

[@John-vi4ys]

Epic exhaustive comparison, great job! If you ever wondered about this sort of thing, and most of us have, the sideburn hunter just answered it.

[@michaelmcphee2930]

Without a doubt the best video on the subject topped up with great contributions

[@fixedG]

I totally put this on my Watch Later list thinking it was a Project Farm video but I was not disappointed!

[@Shane-Singleton]

I really appreciate you taking the time to run the numbers on all of these different brands. With a ~2.5-3 hour runtime each this took quite a while to collect all of the data.

[@djbreakfast]

I love how detailed this test was! The graphs were a nice touch 🤌

[@Bazzie_B]

I would just like to thank you for your time and all the detail in this video. Thank you again!

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

Thanks man!

[@orilion1820]

Outstanding video! Like the editing and the PowerPoint data. Exactly what I was searching for. Subscribed :) 👍🏻

[@donaldbolton84]

FANTASTIC DATA. Excellent notes regarding labels. Really solid value can be gained from this video. I wish more content providers would provide the due diligence, detail, and value you have here. Scientific Method approved!!! Notes: include temperature of the fuel canister, water, cooking vessel, burner, and room during tests to control variables. There was a 1 gram variance in Coleman fuel from the beginning and end of the video. Nitpicking notes: better control the ignition of the fuel and timing to ensure consistency, make sure the control knob position is always consistent (if not controlled already). Weigh in-between first burn and long burn. Document testing parameters for long burn EG: how did you determine the tank was empty, did you leave it open for an hour to ensure. I know it's in a basement but humidity, wind guard, the time between tests. etc. Bottom line this is a fantastic video, please, Please, PLEASE DO NOT LET MY NITPICKING DETRACT FROM THE VALUE HERE.. Way above what most review videos are. Empirical, testable, documented facts and data are present. And after collating the data myself I completely recommend the Oilcamp. It has the lowest price point as of December 2021. It contained the (acceptable variance) correct amount of fuel at 229 grams. Had the 3rd best overall burn time (pending controlled room/water/cooking vessel/burner temperatures and ignition/control knob standardization) and had the second-highest number of boils per container at 63. Therefore you will pay $.08 USD per 11.6 oz boil. Based on the data here you will pay $4.95 be able to boil 16.5oz of water 63 times per canister. Outstanding and fine work @TheSideburnHunter

[@maika0staretza]

This video remains a benchmark over the years !

[@jeepnicc]

Man, I hope someone bought you a frosty pint for this one. OUTSTANDING VIDEO!!👏😄👏 Thanks for all the hard work and thanks for sharing!!

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

Thanks man!

[@Meowski_2]

Keep doing the good Lord's work

[@eM-ed5pz]

What an excellent review! I've always thought about running this test but could never get my hands on that kind of variety. Subscribed. Best of luck in your future hunts!

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

Thanks man!

[@BushPigADV]

I have had very good luck with my olicamp stove and fuel. I love it

[@Chicagoguy.762]

As a newbie backpacker, I was debating on which one to use but I was leaning towards the jetboil and thanks to this Great video I'm definitely going jetboil.

[@blackdogbite]

Thanks so much. Perfect measurement criteria. Perfect objective testing and data reporting with no meaningless chatter or speculation.

[@zm5887]

Finally someone knows how to make science-based videos.... thanks man, very helpful

[@bettersteps]

This video was far more enjoyable than I thought it would be. It was actually very interesting. Good job.

[@elizabethingram9784]

Great video, Coleman forever! Thank you. :)

[@Ravidist]

Crazy how much effort you put into these tests. Though not "scientific" crazy to see how similar they all are

[@colinwatt00]

I appreciate the amount of work that went into this and your conclusion. Hopefully this comment will help your algorithm.

[@willverify1606]

I have the jet boil and it's a small business in New England and it's incredible. Lasts a long time.

[@AHR671]

From your video I got the idea that in countries which don’t have very cold environment, the Colman is best choice because it last longer than the rest. Thanks for comparing performance of different canisters, really helpful 🙏

[@sbeckij]

The Mister Rogers of Hunter's. Thank you 👍

[@beavix]

I will admit I was only coming to this video for a single canister but watch the whole thing. Absolutely impressive and well thought out. Subscribing just for the quality of content

[@321southtube]

WOW.....AWESOME.....Thanks so much. This test was well prepared and executed. No BS or fillers. Use, application, consistency and quality control of course produce variables however....this is by far THE best video to give an idea of what to get...and what you're getting. Well done

[@voldemortified]

All things being equal, I’d go for the MSR canisters, for one simple reason! They have float markings printed on the side, so you can check canister capacity in the backcountry. A simple innovation that weighs nothing, changes nothing about the performance of the canister, but adds a significantly useful feature to their product over all the others! Also they print _both_ net and full weights on the sides, which makes weighing and calculating fuel left at home so much easier. Still can’t figure out why most of the other brands don’t at least do that… 🤔

[@leif2335]

I just had a boil fail in -8 degrees Celsius. Warm crunchy noodles was the end result. This was using a Coleman can and BRS burner. Next time out in the cold temps I will be using my MSR whisperlite. Great video!

[@elephantcup]

Excellent job, truly. They only analysis missing is one where you combined all of the parameters- heat, boil time , total use time and how much product the package contained and come up with an overall winner, based purely on the numbers. You presented all of that data, someone might crunch those numbers and come up with an answer. Having said that though, I'm confident that none of those brands actually operate a refinery and produce any of that fuel, nor do they buy it in bulk and package it. All purchase it already packaged in brand/ logo printed bottles from a small handful of producers, maybe only one, and those producers package the product in a generic containers printed with each company's logo. Like various brands of canned vegetables or oil in the supermarket- all made and packed by the same producer, just branded and priced differently, taking advantage of differences on consumer brand value perception. "The Italian sounding brand of tomatoes must be better than the supermarket brand". Nope, they're the same, but the supermarket brand is much cheaper. Any variances that you saw are due to variations in manufacturing and bottle filling. Buy them all again in a month and run it again, you'll get different results. So I concluded as you did, just get whatever is cheapest and readily available, regardless of brand. I did see one camp cookware reviewer who said that only certain brand canisters will fit inside his cookware, so the fuel bottles can vary in size/ diameter slightly. Again, maybe down to whoever the refinery buys their bottles from in bulk and may change within brands regularly. Solid, solid review. Scientific methodology. Thumbs up.

[@mattharte7334]

I have a MSR Pocket Rocket but the MSR gas canisters aren't widely stocked here in the UK. You can buy them on-line but it's a hassle and they are expensive, and then you have to pay almost the same again in postage and delivery charges! It was nice to see that Coleman canisters performed well in your test especially as they are available pretty much everywhere in the UK, so I'm going to buy them from now on. I really enjoyed your thorough review, it was excellent. Thanks.

[@tedphips23]

How have the Coleman canisters worked with the pocket rocket? I just ordered the pocket rocket deluxe and have a bunch of the Coleman C500 canisters that are 70/30 blend. Started getting nervous reading about some of the potential issues with colemans.

[@markcummings6856]

Really interesting. Excellent content, editing! Thanks for sharing.

[@johngould7548]

Thanks great video. But... I should mention that if you are taking the Coleman with you in cold weather better be prepared to sleep with it because it doesn’t like the cold. I was camped near Yellowstone two weeks ago and it was cold enough I had frost on my tent. (in July!) In the morning the Coleman wouldn’t work but luckily I had a Jetboil with me and despite the cold it fired up no problem. I think it is due to the fuel composition.

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

Yeah, judging by the comments, I may be doing a cold weather test soon

[@Chadb11]

Great video. After watching the testing is was thinking “if he suggests buying anything other than whatever is easiest to get your hands on at a decent price, he’s full of it”, and you sure aren’t full of it.

[@swnorcraft7971]

Very interesting exercise. Thank you for your expense and time involved. From your data, I can see that I can figure out cost per minute of operation for each of the fuels you tested. In the end, this criteria makes the most sense for me to determine which fuel I will buy. Thanks for sharing...........

[@JamesPliny]

fun to see the data. Good job and a reasonable conclusion. Thanks.

[@Bornintheseat]

Thank you for putting in the time and money to do this test and share it!

[@Ralph5151]

Great test, now I know what the deal is with these canisters. Thank you!

[@THESPORTINGCAMP]

Great video. Way to keep it real. The margins are too small to make a real difference. Love the data. Thanks for sharing. 🏆

[@billrussell7672]

What also pulls from your data is the temp tells the tale of the butane propane mix , higher temp = more butane These cartridges are good for high altitude/ snow Coleman are high propane cartridges and are hard to start as canisters get low in high altitude /snow Great vid , I know this took days . To educate me in min.

[@Stantube1000]

Actually quite the opposite! Propane is the so-called 'winter gas'.

[@billrussell7672]

@@Stantube1000 check again , I fix propane and propane accesories

[@thehotcool1]

Thanks for the comparisons. The only problem is that the Olicamp was used with the stove. Great video

[@28memco45]

This deserves TWO THUMBS UP

[@SS-wz8po]

You have a done a very thorough set of tests. That is good information Thank you very much.

[@praktika1082]

If you test 10 canisters of the same brand, you'd get a large variable spread as well.

[@johnkumpel8974]

Excellent data collection. Much appreciated.

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

Thanks for watching!

[@grendle81]

Good video. I bought one of those Coleman canisters a couple years ago for a backpacking trip and when I unscrewed the stove the canister didn't seal. The fuel continued to leak out. I had to put the stove back on until I used it all. I vowed then never to buy the Coleman again but maybe I should give it another chance.

[@jaschawalter3500]

Outstanding Video!! I would go with the Coleman based on this. Fast boil time, longest burn time, wildly available, can get at Target with 5% off using Target Red Card

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

Thanks!

[@fartpluswetone8077]

I've only seen it at a grocery store or convenience store on occasion, besides the 20 LB barbecue tanks in the rack and the 1 LB Coleman tanks.

[@TheSleepLes]

Good,honest analysis. Much appreciated.

[@NomadicKing]

Great test, I can't wait to see more content. I would love to see a below-freezing test

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

I did one, go check it out!

[@normanmallory2055]

I have done close to the test you did .. I bought 4 different brands i could find local just to see where i was at on performance and boll times .. I did not weigh the canisters before and after the tests .. Your test is a lot more more in depth than mine by far .. Just something i was curious about when i started to use canister stoves 20 years ago .. I still use white gas stoves and have always liked them for the passed 50 years plus .. Canister stoves are not the Holy Grail of cooking or boiling water , they are just very small and very easy to work with .. But it adds up inside my pack either a 2.4 ounce stove or 17 ounce stove ..Each have their place out there .. With White Gas the price of fuel comes out to $0.08 per ounce, while a Snow Peak 220 gram ctg for $4.99 comes out $0.62 per ounce and i get around the same time out of 220 gram ctg which is real close to 3 hours depending on the flame setting control , i have had 4 hours out of a ctg before ....great test thanks for this one ..

[@vincentgomez319]

Great video brother!! Thanks for all your observation and feedback!

[@MisfitsFiendClub138]

Every time you mentioned Primus kept thinking about Les Claypool jamming on bass 😎🎸👍 Good video! Thanks

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

Maybe that's why I have a special place in my heart for the Primus brand

[@tellis9844]

Thats a great test, there is off course a slight variable where some of the gases are designed to work for a specific product but overall its a great test.

[@garrettvieira2382]

Great video, love all the info and the graphs helped.

[@McBlaster666]

Just the facts I was looking for presented very well, consice and easy to understand. Excellent job Sir and thank you very much.

[@LUVDOGS1954]

Outstanding. Somply no other comment. Thank you.

[@chrisruff3392]

Excellent well thought out and organized video. Big kudos for the time it took to gather all this data and present it!

[@EasyTigerSaurus]

great reviews. much details and variables, yet highly informative. greetings from Indonesia!

[@davidcolin6519]

And this is why I bought...A multifuel stove. My Svea 123 cost about 60 UK pounds about 30 years ago and it still works faultlessly. They're about 100 now. But the fuel lasts for literally 1-2 weeks for the cost of maybe 50p of fuel. And that is boiling 2 cups of coffee at breakfast. Main meal at lunchtime and another meal in the evening. Under the same conditions, I'd get through a primus canister every 3-4 days. When I bough the Svea I was doing 1 month tours. After a month, that worked out at 8 canisters or, in today's money 30-40 uk pounds, plus the price of the burner (usually about 30-40). Oh, and white gas/petrol burns MUCH, MUCH hotter than propane, and works faultlessly at low temps and high altitude. As you can see, my Svea paid for itself in under 2 years. But a gas burner has literally zero s/h value, whereas a Svea will always fetch good money on the s/h market. For almost anybody, under almost any conditions, a decent multifuel burner makes much more sense than the damned canister.

[@dimazimmer175]

I love my Svea 123R. But i had to modify it for the cold season with a wick for priming.

[@kellyjohnson3617]

Thanks for this. You have confirmed what I already surmised. Now there is empirical evidence to back it. Love my little pocket rocket style stove.

[@kosta2177]

That’s a great topic to research and discuss!

[@mohammadjuma4757]

Great work.... Best video I watched so far covering this subject.

[@lapicker1010]

Something that should probably be added is that I’d heard from a couple of sources that the Coleman brand canisters don’t work well with all stoves. I bought one myself to check that out, and one of my stoves was indeed finicky about working with the Coleman canister. So caveat emptor!

[@medleyshift1325]

I've heard this as well, fortunately it still worked on my superfly. IIRC I walked in with my stove and just put it on a can to check.

[@Colleenann61]

I had this issue with my Soto stove. I discovered I needed to tighten the stove substantially on the canister. I met others who, when they tightened their stoves, they were able to get the Coleman to work.

[@lapicker1010]

My DPower won’t work on a Coleman canister at all unless I completely remove the rubber gasket and really over tighten it. It works fine with any other brand of canister I’ve used it with.

[@bigsky2081]

That was awesome, Thanks. Looking forward to your channel.

[@elwinjude77]

Appreciate the effort put into this video! Sure was a long task. Great job.

[@mlb6d9]

Thanks for doing this detailed comparison! I've often wondered about the differences in some of the brands I see....

[@drcoolit]

truly a benchmark video for this type review! this rivals some professional lectures I've seen (though admittedly not on fuel canisters ...). you provide background, stats, methodology, graphs, and conclusions based on the results. as some comments suggest, there could have been some modifications to the video content and/or suggestions for another similar video, but as is, truly an excellent work. as an aside, the olicamp electron stove has a rated max output of 10,400 BTU. however, isobutane has 10,900 kcal/kg (1 BTU = ca .25 kcal) so ca 230g isobutane should have just over 10k BTU. if you're getting ca 2:30 run time at max, then you most likely are NOT getting the max stated output from the stove since you would run out of fuel in about ONE HOUR rather than 2-1/2x that. not sure what to make of that. OTOH you seem to be using one of those jetboil type pots that have the heat exchanger and I understand that these boost performance significantly in boiling water. I think I've seen some sites where the time difference using the same stove is almost 1/2 the time to boil using the exchanger pot vs regular open bottom pot regardless of the type heating method. many stoves will boil 500ml (ca 16 oz) in 6 mins or so, so 1/2 that (ca 3 mins) sounds about right. in a way, it's somewhat amusing to see all these different manufacturers touting their own product when in a "real world scenario" there is PRACTICALLY no real difference in performance! My motto has always been - "whatever works, use it". Go Walmart!

[@siddharthaganguli5299]

You have a scientists mind, went about so methodically! Good job.. Thanks a lot

[@danielfinch362]

I just bought two colman performance canisters and two extreme canisters. I was told that the extreme don't last as long but I'm so glad I can get over 3 hours out of a can. Bearing in mind you had the canisters on full, if you were cooking on a simmer with the temp down the canister would last a lot longer. I recon you everyday you coulc get a week out of a canister.

[@bobm.5301]

Best info I’ve gotten in 12min thank you

[@fatmanfaffing4116]

Excellent test and while I thought the Olikamp was best overall, the Coleman choice makes sense given how available it is. I refill mine from cheap butane aerosol canisters and during the colder months use an alcohol stove but this test certainly proved your point that the margins of performance are too slim to be bothered.

[@dariusvin7325]

Excellent testing, great video! Thanks

[@Tanko3691]

Good video, the ONLY thing which you could of added for the sake of technical variety would be the different mixes of gas each offered which would have indicated what mix (butane to propane blend) is optimal in cold climates, its something I always wondered about. Anyway, thank you from across the pond.

[@betsy773]

Thanks for testing these. Good to know. I wouldn't have wanted to do this myself but I am happy you DID ! Thanks!!!

[@JasonSnailer]

What a great comparison. Thank you for this information.

[@mattkarres3321]

Excellent detailed report. Informative. Thank you.

[@BanjaraHillbillies]

Very informative. I buy whatever is cheapest... usually in my local area tends to be GSI at $4.69... I've actually never seen a Coleman canister!

[@oldunion]

Olicamp FTW really. Great winter performance too.

[@jakeroadtonowhere4070]

I had to give this video a like for all the effort you went to make it thank you

[@Jasonsk908]

I loved how thorough you were and I loved your conclusion even more! Not enough difference to go out of your way for one or the other!

[@Bgd21Free]

So similar to ProjectFarm as a format , but a very 'respectable' and informative video! Thank you !

[@alaskabornheathen8902]

The Coleman might have been like 25% more in cost but you get almost 50% more burn time. That’s the best deal to me. Glad I watched this, I’ve stuck to Jetboil brand but I’m switching to Coleman!

[@streakychambers658]

This video is reassuring... thx for putting the time in.

[@condor5635]

Thanks for the extensive testing. Great job. I would’ve come to the same conclusion before watching your video. There’s not enough difference between them all to make a difference it’s what’s available and what’s cheapest

[@tonyfrewin4822]

This was a really useful video. Thanks for doing the research for all of us.

[@EvenStevenProz]

Great video! I usually go with perune because I like the way it looks, and the price isn't bad.

[@thesideburnhunter4481]

Where do you get it? How much $?

[@ASTHECROWFLIESHIKING]

Well done! I have always wondered myself. Nice information. I use these on all my backpacking trips. Great video and channel. Subscribed. Crow✌️