Buying the Right Kind of Canister.

Question:

I am getting ready to buy a lightweight canister stove. Is there a guide for which stoves use which fuel bottles? I would like to buy my canisters at Walmart if possible.

Submitted by – Dave

Answer:

If you’re buying a butane canister stove, any screw-on butane canister will work. Butane canisters all have a standard threaded “lindal” valve and all screw-threaded canisters mate with all screw-threaded stoves. You’ll find these canisters under a wide variety of brands: JetBoil, MSR, Primus, Coleman, to name a few. WalMart will likely carry the Coleman brand, which looks like this:

Just be sure that you don’t get a propane canister, which is meant for a different type of stove. Propane canisters are made of heavier steel. They are typically more cylindrical and look like this:

Companies generally recommend that you buy the fuel type that matches your stove (for instance if you buy an MSR WindPro stove, MSR wants you to buy an MSR canister). They say it maximizes performance of the stove, but in years of testing, I haven’t noticed any difference.