Gear Review: Soto Micro Regulator Stove
This stove comes tailor-made for winter campers and high-altitude mountaineers.
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Cold-Weather King
This new stove arrived late, so it didn’t receive the full battery of tests that the others did (and thus isn’t scored). But its innovative technology makes it a great choice for winter and alpine campers. Soto claims the Micro Regulator solves the typical problems that plague canister stoves, namely: inferior operation in cold weather and at high altitude. Though we have yet to do high-elevation testing, the prototype excelled during subfreezing campouts. In temperatures between 15° and 30°F, boil times varied from 4.5 to six minutes–30 to 50 percent faster than the other stoves in this test. The secret is a fingertip-size fuel regulator inside the burner, which maintains a steady flow of gas. And in our controlled tests, the Micro Regulator scored the lowest average boil time and tied-for-first efficiency. On the downside, flame control is just average.