Trangia vs MSR Whisperlite

Ok, I know this is nerdy, but I did test these guys just to see which one really is better.

I’ve had a Trangia 25 (the bigger size) for ages and ages and it’s been great for all of that time. I went and bought an MSR whisperlite shaker-jet, basically because I’ve always wanted one. I didn’t really need it. But since I’ve got it, I thought I’d find out which is better.

I weighed them both:

Trangia
Wind shield: 400g
burner: 120g
grips: 55g
funky strainer/chopping board: 100g
pots (1.75L): 160g
(1.5L): 145g
lid/frying pan: 220g
All together: 1.06kg

Whisperlite
burner: 280g
fuel pump: 65g
spares/stuff sack: 40g
and I need to get some pots (or use the trangia pots)

The whisperlite is clearly lighter, mainly because the windshield is a piece of aluminium foil, rather than the solid storm shield of the trangia.

To boil three lots of 1L of water, the trangia used 75g of ethanol, the whisperlite used 35g of unleaded petrol.

The first litre took the trangia 9.5 mins, the second and third 7.5 mins each (the burner was already warm on the second and third goes).  the MSR took about 2 mins to prime and get warm, and then boiled the first liter in another 5 minutes. the second and third liters took 4.75 and 5 mins to come to a rolling boil.

The whisperlite is clearly faster, uses less fuel, fuel is easier to obtain and  is lighter. The trangia is far more stable, has a better wind shield, is dead easy to use, is cheaper, has no moving parts, doesn’t use explosive fuel and is plenty hot enough (the burn on my finger attests to that ). Plus I prefer the smell of methanol – I had a headache for the rest of the day after playing with unleaded. But which one is better? That depends on whether the fuel pump ever springs a leak… But I’ll be taking the new toy away with me.