That $40 Hot Tent Stove Changed My Whole Setup

I was talking to an old timer at the REI parking lot in Missoula last weekend, he said his dad swore by those cheap titanium stoves for winter camping with canvas tents. I always figured you needed a $300 brand name stove to not burn your tent down, but he said the key is just keeping the pipe clearance right. Has anyone else run one of those budget stoves for more than a season and had it hold up?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_ward1d ago

Whoa, hold on a second. I gotta disagree with that old timer a bit. Those super cheap titanium stoves can be a real gamble, especially if you're using them with a canvas tent which needs a lot more heat to stay warm. I've seen the welds fail on a few of those budget models after just one season of heavy use, and that's a scary situation when you're miles from a road. Saving a couple hundred bucks isn't worth waking up to a hole burned through your floor, is it?

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emmar7520h ago

Betty's spot on with this one. I've been around hot tents long enough to know that cheap titanium is a false economy. Those budget stoves use thin gauge metal and sloppy welds that just can't handle a real hot fire all night. A canvas tent needs a lot of BTUs to stay warm, and pushing a cheap stove that hard is asking for trouble. I've personally seen a weld crack on a friend's stove mid trip and the whole thing started leaking smoke inside the tent. Not a fun night. Spend the money on a proven stove, it's basically insurance for your shelter.