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Staff Test – Primus Eta Power EF & Trangia 25K HA

Staff Test – Primus Eta Power EF & Trangia 25K HA

Tester: Nick Price - Manager Exeter Store

I tested both models in sheltered conditions to give the fairest comparison.

Primus Eta Power EF

This stove comes with a 2.1 litre pan with lid, gas burner in a stand with windshield and a pan handle. It also has a good quality storage bag and a frying pan. The total weight is 830g. To get a litre of water to a rolling boil took me about 31/2 minutes, and used about 10g of gas. The stove can run any self sealing screw fit cartridge. It was extremely easy to assemble, the gas burner clipping easily into the stove base and the windshield slotted onto the base. Lighting was very straightforward thanks to the piezo igniter. I was very impressed with the way that the heat was concentrated on the base of the pan, I assume that the heat exchanger prevented heat losses beyond the base.

All in all, a great quality stove which was easy to use, stable and remarkably quick.

Trangia 25K HA with optional gas burner

As with all Trangias, the stove comes with lower & upper windshields, the lower of which houses the gas burner (or meths burner), two pans (1.5ltr & 1.75ltr), a frying pan/lid, handle and strap which holds the unit together when not in use. The weight is 1055g, this includes a meths burner, but excludes the gas burner. To get a litre of water to a rolling boil took about 4 minutes and used about 10g of gas. The gas burner option allows you to use any self sealing screw fit cartridge. The Trangia is one of the most simple stoves to set up, the burner simply clips into the lower windshield, the upper windshield clips on top and the pan sits on three small arms which are attached to the rim of the windshield. Lighting has to done the old fashioned way, but this is easy with the upper windshield off.

I have to admit to having a bit of a soft spot for this stove, although not as fast or efficient as the Eta Power stove, it has fewer moving parts, so less can go wrong.

Summary

The Eta Power ET is, without a shadow of a doubt the best performer here, it offers all you would need for a camping trip and scores additional points for its piezo igniter. The Trangia’s simplicity is its strength, although it is significantly heavier (but does include an additional pan), it is a stable solid performer.