MSR WhisperLite Backpacking Stove
As simple as it gets, and remarkably, still in production. The WhisperLite has been made more or less continuously since 1984 and is one of the very few pieces of gear reviewed on this site that you can walk into a shop and buy today.
Why it lasted. It is a liquid-fuel stove you can strip and rebuild on a table with the tool it comes with, it burns white gas reliably in the cold, and the International version will also run on kerosene and unleaded petrol, which is the argument for it on a long trip in places where a gas canister is not a thing you can buy.
What has changed around it. Canister stoves took over for most people, and rightly: they light instantly, simmer properly, need no priming and weigh a fraction as much. If your camping is weekends in a country with outdoor shops, buy a canister stove and do not think about this again.
Where the WhisperLite still wins:
- Real cold, where canister pressure drops and a pumped liquid-fuel stove does not care.
- Long trips far from supply, because fuel is a bottle you refill rather than a canister you must find.
- Flying, awkwardly. You cannot take fuel or a used canister on a plane, but an empty, aired-out liquid-fuel bottle and stove generally travels where canisters cannot be bought at the far end.
The honest drawbacks, which the original review was polite about: it roars, it needs priming, and it simmers badly. Learn to prime it in the garden, not on the first night.
MSR still sells it and still sells the service kit, which is the real test of a design.
Part of the guide to stoves and camp cooking.