Swedish brand Primus believes cooking and eating outdoors helps us immerse ourselves in nature and strengthen our commitment to protecting it. From camping stoves to gas canisters, here’s how to get the best out of your Primus outdoor cooking system.
Over the past 130 years, Primus stoves have been used from high-altitude Himalayan peaks to the frozen wilderness of the Poles, and everywhere else in between. Designed in Sweden and manufactured in Europe at the company’s own factory, every single stove is individually tested before it hits shop shelves.
Since 1892, Primus has built a long-standing reputation for its outdoor stoves. The brand prides itself on its dedication to feeding explorers and adventurers, and its goal is to make reliable, fully-featured, functional stoves so that you, the customer, can “focus on your adventure, the journey and the memories”. After all, what could be better than a hearty meal out in the great outdoors?
Primus has an extensive range of stoves, from multi-burner campsite hobs to wood-burning open fires. In this article, we focus on the Swedish brand’s backpacking stoves designed for wild camping and multi-day hiking adventures. There are three main categories of backpacking stove, as explained below...
Personal stove systems
These all-in-one stove systems have a burner head screwed onto a gas canister, and an integrated pot that attaches directly to the burner head. This creates a cohesive, locked-together unit, often with heat exchangers that ensure fast boiling and better fuel efficiency.
Example: Primus Lite Plus Stove System, £130
Canister-top stoves
Lightweight, packable and easy-to-use, these simple stoves consist of a burner head that screws directly onto the top of a gas canister. You’ll need to buy a pot separately.
Example: Primus Firestick Stove, £90
Hose-fed stoves
These stoves have a free-standing burner head that connects to a remote gas canister via a metal hose. This approach ensures the burner head, which has its own legs, is low-to-the-ground and very stable (rather than wobbly atop a gas canister). Most burners connect to an integrated pot.
Example: Primus PrimeTech Stove Set 2.3L, £185
Which is the best option for you? If you’re a gram-saving ultralight camper, a canister-top stove will always have the lowest weight – this is your best option. But, if all-round performance and reliability are more important to you, then a personal stove system or hose-fed stove will hit the mark.
With their all-in-one, integrated burner-to-pot designs, these cooking systems offer faster boiling times, better fuel efficiency, and excellent wind protection. This means you’ll use less fuel per meal, and can save gas, time, weight and money on every backpacking adventure.
All of these stoves are perfectly paired with a propane-isobutane gas canister from Primus, with three different options available to suit your needs. Primus Power Gas is the best-selling all-rounder for three-season use; in warmer climes from 15C-40C Primus Summer Gas is optimised for fuel efficiency; or in sub-zero conditions Primus Winter Gas features VaporMesh technology so it can work down to -22C. Primus also offer SIP Power gas, which has a smaller CO2 footprint
For more information on the best gas canisters and camping stoves for you, visit primusequipment.com. The website’s blog also has several insightful articles on topics including outdoor cooking recipes, choosing the right gas canister, and maximising fuel efficiency.
Two of the best Primus personal stove systems
1. Primus PrimeTech Stove Set 2.3L – £185
This unique multi-person, all-in-one system offers the most stable and windproof burner a backpacking chef could ever need. With a remote canister linked to a low-centre-of-gravity burner via a hose, the 2000W PrimeTech Stove will boil a litre of water in under four minutes.
This first-rate fuel efficiency is achieved in three main ways: an integrated windshield protects the flame, the burner is optimised for use with the PrimeTech pot, and the pot has an integrated heat exchange (a waffled construction of metallic coils at the pot’s base) that efficiently focuses heat from the burner head to the integrated pot. This reduces fuel consumption by almost 50% compared to conventional stoves. A 1.3L version of the stove set costs £165.
2. Primus Lite Plus Stove System – £130
This tower-style, all-in-one cooking system includes a 500ml aluminium pot, 1,500W-powered stove with piezo ignition, fuel stabiliser and plastic lid. It all packs away seamlessly, with everything including a 100g gas canister ‘nesting’ inside the pot.
But the real action is when you fire it up. The Lite+ features Primus’s compact and sturdy Laminar Flow Burner. This patented technology mixes air and fuel in a way that allows the burner to sit closer to the top of the fuel canister. The efficient burner produces more heat while consuming less gas and makes for a sturdier stove that is easier to operate, cook on and pack-up.