Stoves · carried on your back

SOTO Amicus OD-1NV vs WiKa UltraLight spirit burner

A screw-on gas stove or an alcohol burner — which one publishes enough to pack with confidence?

These are the only two burners in this hub light enough to be carried rather than driven to a pitch, and they are not the same object. The SOTO is a complete stove with its own pot support; the WiKa is a burner with no support at all, and the maker names a separate stand and three of its own stoves as hosts for it. Read the win count with that in mind. The boil time column is blank on both, as it is on every stove here.

SOTO Amicus OD-1NV

Wins 5 of 8

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≈ $50 / £39 / 53 €

WiKa UltraLight aluminium spirit burner with a carbon felt insert

WiKa UltraLight spirit burner

Wins 1 of 8

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≈ 13 €

Line by line

Compared on	Amicus OD-1NV	UltraLight spirit burner
Fuel type	Butane, isobutane and propane mixes in a screw-on canister — stated; the maker states it is not suitable for 100 per cent propane	Alcohol — ethanol, spirit and alcohol-based burning liquids are named by the maker
Canister fitting	Commercially available screw-on canisters to the Lindal valve standard — stated	Not published — this is an alcohol burner and takes no gas canister
Stated output	3,260 W — stated as full output, with the flame described as adjustable down to a simmer	Approximately 1,200 W — stated
Boil time	Not published — approximately 1.5 hours of burning from a 250 g canister is published instead	Not published
Weight	81 g — stated for the stove, canister not included	23 g in the listing title and about 25 g in the maker’s own bullet — two figures for one burner
Ignition	Stealth piezo igniter — stated, built into the burner shaft and worked by a push button	Not published — no igniter is described; the carbon felt is stated to light in sub-zero temperatures
Pot support width	10.6 cm across the four-arm folding stainless steel pot support — stated	Not published — no pot support is supplied; the maker names a separate stand and three of its own stoves as hosts
Packed size	3.9 × 3.9 × 7.2 cm — stated	Not published

Each tick belongs to its own line and nothing more. The row of ticks is not a score: the two verdicts underneath settle the page, because these two answer different questions on the trail.

Which one, for whom

Buy the SOTO Amicus OD-1NV

The SOTO wins five of these eight lines, and the reason is that it publishes: a packed size, a pot support width and a weight are all on the page, which is rare on this shelf. Buy it as a complete stove that needs a canister and nothing else. What it may be run on, and where, is in the instructions that come with it.

Buy the WiKa UltraLight spirit burner

The WiKa is the lighter object by a wide margin and it is not a competing stove — it is a burner, with no support and no igniter, meant to sit in a stand the maker sells separately. Buy it as one part of a cooking arrangement you are assembling yourself, and note that its own listing gives two different weights, 23 g and about 25 g, for the same burner.

What people ask before buying

Why does the burner lose the pot support and ignition lines?

Because it publishes nothing there and the other one does, and on this site a value nobody states cannot beat a value someone states. It is not a fault in the product: an alcohol burner is sold without a support on purpose, and the maker names the stands it is meant to sit in. The line records who published, not who is better.

Which one is lighter once everything is in the pack?

Neither listing answers that. The SOTO publishes 81 g for the stove with the canister excluded, and the WiKa publishes 23 g in its title and about 25 g in its bullets for the burner alone. Neither publishes a figure for fuel, a stand or a windscreen, so the packed total is not on either page and is not calculated here.

The full reviews

Camping stoves

SOTO Amicus OD-1NV

Screw-on canister stove · 3,260 W stated · Lindal valve standard · 81 g · 3.9 × 3.9 × 7.2 cm packed · 10.6 cm pot support · stealth piezo

The one backpacking stove in this hub, and the one listing that publishes a packed size. It screws onto a standard canister, states the highest output here and names the gas mixes it will and will not take.

Best for: Walking with the stove in the pack rather than the boot, where 81 g and a known packed size decide the purchase.

≈ $50 / £39 / 53 €

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Camping stoves

WiKa UltraLight spirit burner

Alcohol burner · approximately 1,200 W stated · 23 g in the title, about 25 g in the maker’s bullet · no canister fitting · no igniter

An aluminium alcohol burner with a carbon felt insert, and the only stove in this hub that takes no gas canister at all. It states an output and a weight — and gives two different weights for the same burner.

Best for: A walker who already has a pot stand or a compatible stove body and wants the lightest possible burner to sit in it.

≈ 13 €

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Prices in these summaries were read on the dates each review gives. The live figure sits beside every product.