Titanium, steel and glass for cooking, burning and lighting outdoors, with no coating and no battery.
Outdoor kit fails in three ways and all of them are avoidable. Nonstick burns off over a flame, thin aluminium warps off a flat base, and anything with a battery has a date of death. Everything here is bare metal or glass: titanium that does not corrode, steel that either stays bright or grows its own rust skin, and lamps that burn oil or a candle and will still light in a power cut. The only consumables are wicks, candles and fuel.
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At a glance: Camping and Fire picks compared, with buy links
304 grade stainless steel in a double wall, which pulls air up between the skins and feeds it back in over the fire, burning off most of what would otherwise be smoke. There is nothing in it to service: no coating, no moving part, no electronics. The maker's own terms call heat staining and surface rust normal rather than a fault, which is the honest position for steel that lives outdoors, and it carries a limited lifetime warranty against defects.
A hot dip galvanised steel hurricane lantern made in Germany to a pattern that has been in production since 1902, burning paraffin through a flat wick for around twenty hours a tank. There is no pump, no mantle, no circuit and no battery, so the list of things that can fail is the glass and the wick, and both are sold for pocket money.
Three point nine ounces of uncoated titanium, which is the whole argument: nothing to burn off, nothing to corrode, and no temperature a camp fire can reach that will hurt it. Aluminium of this weight dents and warps, steel of this strength weighs three times as much, and anything nonstick is a consumable. The folding handles are the only moving part.
Corten weathering steel, which rusts on purpose: the surface oxidises into a tight layer that seals the metal underneath instead of flaking off it, so the pit gets darker and stops. That is the opposite of a painted pit, where the coating is the only thing between the steel and the weather. Double walled for the same secondary burn, and heavy enough to stay where it is put.
Two walls of titanium with a vacuum between them, which keeps coffee hot without the mug becoming too hot to hold, and stacks inside its siblings so a set takes the space of one. Titanium does not hold flavour, which on a mug that will see coffee, soup and whisky over thirty years is the point.
The same pot with a bail handle instead of folding arms, which is the version to buy if the fire is a real one rather than a gas burner: it hangs from a pot hook or a stick and keeps your hand out of the flame. Same titanium, same satin finish, same absence of anything that can wear out.
Two and a half ounces of burner that screws onto any isobutane canister and has nothing in it but a valve and three pot arms. No piezo igniter to fail, which is the part that fails on everything else in this category, and no electronics of any kind. A match does the job the igniter would have done, and will still do it in twenty years.
The ultralight version, with thinner walls and a smaller capacity for the people who count grams, and the same uncoated titanium as the rest. Thin titanium dents rather than splits, so the failure mode of saving weight here is cosmetic.
Titanium cutlery weighs almost nothing, never tastes of metal, and cannot corrode in a pack that has been wet for a week. Snow Peak has been making outdoor goods in Niigata for more than sixty years and states a lifetime ownership policy on its hard goods, repairing or replacing a failure while explicitly treating scratches and dents as use rather than fault.
Hard anodised aluminium, which is aluminium whose surface has been converted into a ceramic oxide rather than coated with one, so there is no layer that can peel away from the metal underneath. It holds 1.8 litres, pours like a kettle instead of a pot, and the alloy carries heat faster than titanium, which is the one thing titanium is bad at.
The two person size, at 1100 ml with a shallow pan that doubles as the lid, so one object covers boiling and frying. Six and a half ounces of titanium with no coating on either piece, which is what makes frying in it survivable: there is no surface to scrape off, only metal.
Two stainless steel pots, a lid and a folding handle that nests into one stack. Stainless steel takes a flame, a scouring pad and a fall onto rock without a coating to wear through, which is the part that fails on non-stick and thin aluminium cookware. MSR calls it its most durable two-person pot set, and the handle, lid and pots are plain metal that a repair shop or a spare part can replace. MSR warrants it against defects for three years and runs a repair shop and a parts store.
Stainless steel pots, no coating to wear through
Two pots, lid and folding handle nest into one stack
A closed-cell foam pad that folds like an accordion, with nothing to inflate and nothing to puncture. A foam pad has no valve to fail and no air to leak, so it works the same on the last night of its life as on the first, and a scuffed corner does not stop it sleeping warm. The dimpled surface traps heat and the silver face reflects it. Therm-a-Rest covers its products with a Limited Lifetime Warranty.
Closed-cell foam: nothing to inflate or puncture
Accordion fold, straps to the outside of a pack
Reflective foil face and dimpled heat-trapping surface
Three candles behind glass in an aluminium and steel case, which produces both light and a surprising amount of heat, enough to take the edge off a tent. Candles are the simplest fuel there is: nothing to spill, nothing to pump, nothing to prime. The glass chimney and the candles are both stocked parts, and the spring loaded tubes that feed the candles up are the only mechanism in it.
The single wall version, which weighs half as much and can be put directly on a flame, something the insulated one cannot do. That is the trade in one sentence: this is a mug you can boil water in, the other is a mug that keeps it hot.
A stainless percolator is the only coffee maker that works on a fire, and this one is built like a stockpot: welded stainless, a glass dome you can watch the brew through, and no paper, no plunger and no seal in the whole machine. The basket and stem are steel, so the only part that could ever break is the glass knob, and it unscrews.
The widest of the three at 25 inches, which matters more than it sounds: a bigger diameter takes ordinary firewood without cutting it down, and the secondary burn still works because the double wall scales with it. Stainless construction, a cover included, and nothing inside but air channels.
The Blizzard is a cold blast hurricane lamp, a design Dietz has sold since the 1800s, which draws fresh air down the side tubes so the flame stays lit in wind that blows a hot blast lamp out. It takes a seven eighths inch flat wick, the commonest wick size there is, and a standard replacement globe.
304 grade stainless steel in a double wall, which pulls air up between the skins and feeds it back in over the fire, burning off most of what would otherwise be smoke. There is nothing in it to service: no coating, no moving part, no electronics. The maker's own terms call heat staining and surface rust normal rather than a fault, which is the honest position for steel that lives outdoors, and it carries a limited lifetime warranty against defects.
A hot dip galvanised steel hurricane lantern made in Germany to a pattern that has been in production since 1902, burning paraffin through a flat wick for around twenty hours a tank. There is no pump, no mantle, no circuit and no battery, so the list of things that can fail is the glass and the wick, and both are sold for pocket money.
Three point nine ounces of uncoated titanium, which is the whole argument: nothing to burn off, nothing to corrode, and no temperature a camp fire can reach that will hurt it. Aluminium of this weight dents and warps, steel of this strength weighs three times as much, and anything nonstick is a consumable. The folding handles are the only moving part.
Corten weathering steel, which rusts on purpose: the surface oxidises into a tight layer that seals the metal underneath instead of flaking off it, so the pit gets darker and stops. That is the opposite of a painted pit, where the coating is the only thing between the steel and the weather. Double walled for the same secondary burn, and heavy enough to stay where it is put.
Two walls of titanium with a vacuum between them, which keeps coffee hot without the mug becoming too hot to hold, and stacks inside its siblings so a set takes the space of one. Titanium does not hold flavour, which on a mug that will see coffee, soup and whisky over thirty years is the point.
The same pot with a bail handle instead of folding arms, which is the version to buy if the fire is a real one rather than a gas burner: it hangs from a pot hook or a stick and keeps your hand out of the flame. Same titanium, same satin finish, same absence of anything that can wear out.
Two and a half ounces of burner that screws onto any isobutane canister and has nothing in it but a valve and three pot arms. No piezo igniter to fail, which is the part that fails on everything else in this category, and no electronics of any kind. A match does the job the igniter would have done, and will still do it in twenty years.
The ultralight version, with thinner walls and a smaller capacity for the people who count grams, and the same uncoated titanium as the rest. Thin titanium dents rather than splits, so the failure mode of saving weight here is cosmetic.
Titanium cutlery weighs almost nothing, never tastes of metal, and cannot corrode in a pack that has been wet for a week. Snow Peak has been making outdoor goods in Niigata for more than sixty years and states a lifetime ownership policy on its hard goods, repairing or replacing a failure while explicitly treating scratches and dents as use rather than fault.
Hard anodised aluminium, which is aluminium whose surface has been converted into a ceramic oxide rather than coated with one, so there is no layer that can peel away from the metal underneath. It holds 1.8 litres, pours like a kettle instead of a pot, and the alloy carries heat faster than titanium, which is the one thing titanium is bad at.
The two person size, at 1100 ml with a shallow pan that doubles as the lid, so one object covers boiling and frying. Six and a half ounces of titanium with no coating on either piece, which is what makes frying in it survivable: there is no surface to scrape off, only metal.
Two stainless steel pots, a lid and a folding handle that nests into one stack. Stainless steel takes a flame, a scouring pad and a fall onto rock without a coating to wear through, which is the part that fails on non-stick and thin aluminium cookware. MSR calls it its most durable two-person pot set, and the handle, lid and pots are plain metal that a repair shop or a spare part can replace. MSR warrants it against defects for three years and runs a repair shop and a parts store.
Stainless steel pots, no coating to wear through
Two pots, lid and folding handle nest into one stack
A closed-cell foam pad that folds like an accordion, with nothing to inflate and nothing to puncture. A foam pad has no valve to fail and no air to leak, so it works the same on the last night of its life as on the first, and a scuffed corner does not stop it sleeping warm. The dimpled surface traps heat and the silver face reflects it. Therm-a-Rest covers its products with a Limited Lifetime Warranty.
Closed-cell foam: nothing to inflate or puncture
Accordion fold, straps to the outside of a pack
Reflective foil face and dimpled heat-trapping surface
Three candles behind glass in an aluminium and steel case, which produces both light and a surprising amount of heat, enough to take the edge off a tent. Candles are the simplest fuel there is: nothing to spill, nothing to pump, nothing to prime. The glass chimney and the candles are both stocked parts, and the spring loaded tubes that feed the candles up are the only mechanism in it.
The single wall version, which weighs half as much and can be put directly on a flame, something the insulated one cannot do. That is the trade in one sentence: this is a mug you can boil water in, the other is a mug that keeps it hot.
A stainless percolator is the only coffee maker that works on a fire, and this one is built like a stockpot: welded stainless, a glass dome you can watch the brew through, and no paper, no plunger and no seal in the whole machine. The basket and stem are steel, so the only part that could ever break is the glass knob, and it unscrews.
The widest of the three at 25 inches, which matters more than it sounds: a bigger diameter takes ordinary firewood without cutting it down, and the secondary burn still works because the double wall scales with it. Stainless construction, a cover included, and nothing inside but air channels.
The Blizzard is a cold blast hurricane lamp, a design Dietz has sold since the 1800s, which draws fresh air down the side tubes so the flame stays lit in wind that blows a hot blast lamp out. It takes a seven eighths inch flat wick, the commonest wick size there is, and a standard replacement globe.
Cold blast design, stays lit in wind
Takes a common seven eighths inch flat wick
Replacement globes widely stocked
Burns paraffin, no battery or mantle
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Product photograph, Snow Peak
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Product photograph, GSI Outdoors
Product photograph, TOAKS
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Product photograph, Therm-a-Rest
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Product photograph, Snow Peak
Product photograph, GSI Outdoors