Vargo Titanium Triad Multi-Fuel Stove - Solid Titanium Construction, Lightweight, and Versatile

This little stove is an outstanding choice for backpackers who want to keep their packs light and their gear simple. It definitely qualifies as a minimalist stove with just the stove body itself and the only moving parts being the legs and pot supports. It has good overall stability due the short foldout legs which can be firmly placed in the ground. The diameter of the pot supports is just right for most backpacker's cook pots (typically in the 450mg - 750mg capacity range). In my use of this particular stove, I've found the fuel efficiency to be on par with most other alcohol fueled stoves. In controlled tests (indoors at room temp) the stove burns consistently for 19-20 minutes using one once of fuel (HEET... yellow bottle). And it brings 2 cups of water to a roiling boil in 10 minutes. Having used countless DIY alcohol fueled stoves over the years, both of these stats are double what I've found using DIY variations. However, when accounting for the Triad's total burn time it comes out fairly equally. One MAJOR issue that I (and many others) encounter with this stove is it's incredibly long bloom time, as well as it's inability to bloom at all if it isn't filled to capacity with fuel. This is VERY easily remedied by using a priming tray however. I simply bring along a small piece of aluminum foil and quickly fashion it into a priming tray (see photos). By adding a few drops of fuel to the priming tray, placing it beneath the stove, and lighting it.. the time to full bloom is reduced to a mere 20 seconds. This method also has the added bonus of allowing you to use only a half of an ounce of fuel in the stove while still remaining fully functional. This helps reduce the overall amount of fuel used and is perfect for getting that exact 10 minute boil time... with absolutely no precious fuel going to waste 👍 All in all, this is a great lil' stove for backpacking. It is a bit expensive for an alcohol fueled stove in my humble opinion, but if you don't mind the price then this is the stove to get 👍 Thanks for reading this review 🙏

This is only my initial impression. I haven't cooked on the Triad yet, though based on reviews and tips, I think it will perform as advertised. I got the Triad to see if it can be an alternative to the BRS3000T titanium stove. My only concern would be the pot supports which open slightly outward giving an 89mm diameter, which barely supports my 95mm diameter 650ml titanium pot. The supports touch the very edges of my pot. In order for it to be more secure, I think I'll have to make the pot supports stand up straight (90 degrees) to reduce it's diameter, and I think the rivets are tight enough to hold it at that position, even with a pot full of water (about 2 cups). I would not attempt this with a larger or heavier pot of the same diameter. As for weight, for those who are curious, the Triad with a 150ml bottle of ethanol weighs 180g, while the BRS3000T with the small 3.9oz/110g fuel canister weighs 222g. The difference of 1.5oz/42g, to me, is insignificant. Which cooking setup to take will depend on availability of fuel and performance expectations. For short trips the alcohol stove wins due to its lighter weight, but for long trips, you'll have to bring more fuel relative to the butane setup because the alcohol stove only has half the BTUs of butane. Update: After using the Triad, I can confirm that the pot supports can be adjusted to a more upright position, and the rivets are tight enough to hold my 95mm titanium pot with 500ml (2 cups) of water. You just have to be gentle in setting the pot on the stove. I might shave off the tips of the pot supports to give them more contact with my pot when in the upright position. I used the aluminium bottom of a tea light as a priming cup and placed it under the stove. In less than a minute the jets started working. Total time to boil 2 cups was 11 min. which is fine with me since I am usually not in a hurry. I used ethyl alcohol (95.5% ethanol) purchased from a drugstore. It burned cleanly and there was no soot on my pot. After a 11-min burn time, the alcohol was still right at the hole of the stove (I filled it only about 2-3mm above the hole. Very economical indeed. One problem I had was pouring back the alcohol into the container since it was still pretty full. The first pour will trickle from the stove legs, and the remaining fuel will trickle from the pot supports. It will take some practice but for sure you will end up spilling some fuel, possibly more than what you consumed during cooking. The thing is, the stove is meant to be used with a full load of fuel, so you cannot simply put in a little fuel. Lastly, it probably wouldn't be wise to store the stove inside your cook pot since there will somehow be residual alcohol in the stove that could impart taste to your pot.

UPDATE: I added a star to my review below. I took the advice of other reviewers and decided to try a primer pan underneath this stove to make it bloom faster. WOW! It works remarkably well. It blooms very fast - in seconds - by just using a few drops of alcohol in a pan below the stove and lighting that first. I used the concave bottom of a soda water can as another reviewer suggested. I like that I can carry the primer pan under the folded legs (see pics.) Frankly, however, i kind of resent having to use this mod to get this stove to work as the directions say it will ( I still don’t believe Vargo’s “ will bloom in 30-60 seconds” claim; it took me well over 4 minutes on multiple indoor tests.) Vargo should create a design that integrates a primer or quit making unrealistic claims. That said, with a primer modification, this thing is an awesome stove. If Vargo would figure out a primer pan integrated design, this would be the best alcohol stove on the planet. OLD REVIEW: I'll cut to the chase, this stove took over 5 minutes to bloom indoors, with no wind, at room temperature in my first two tests. I used the 1.5 oz. of fuel as directed. The package and Vargo website say the stove should bloom in 30 to 60 seconds. If I haven't been able to accomplish that INDOORS. I'm not comfortable relying on this product in the backcountry. Too bad, because the build quality is great, and the design is really cool (though the pot support legs are wider than I'd prefer for my Esbit 750 ml ti pot.) I'm gonna contact Vargo directly. I don't like to return gear, but I'm not sure this product lives up to its claims.

The Vargo Triad Multi-Fuel Stove is ideal for someone who wants an ultralight, ultra-durable alcohol stove with integrated legs and pot supports. Design-wise you will not find a more robustly built, uber-minimalist stove with integrated supports that neatly hold any 3.75" or LARGER diameter pot at exactly the right height for heating. (Pots less than 3.75" diameter, especially those with a rounded bottom, will not seat properly on the supports and become a hazard. Something like my beloved Toaks 550 mL titanium pot is the smallest diameter pot you can use worry-free.) A GRAVE DISAPPOINTMENT -- BUT ONE TRICK MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE! If you buy this stove and light it up right out of the package, you're going to be very disappointed. As alcohol stoves go, this is probably the most finnicky and frustrating stove out there. That's because it's designed to be filled to the brim with approximately 1.3 fl. oz. of alcohol--enough so that it not only fills the stove, but creates an open puddle of alcohol in the upper funnel-shaped mouth. This helps to heat the stove enough to vaporize the alcohol and allow the stove to bloom, creating a nice blue flame that will subsequently burn for approximately 20 minutes. This design feature presents two problems: (1) Even if you fill it all the way as described, the stove will still regularly take 2-3 minutes to bloom, sometimes longer, even at room temperature. Compare that with a Trangia, Evernew, or average pop can stove, all of which bloom in as little as 10-30 seconds because their non-titanium construction absorbs heat faster and thus, vaporizes alcohol faster to get the fuel jets running properly. (2) If you prefer to measure out a smaller amount of fuel to suit your exact burn-time needs, the stove often will NEVER bloom. Both of those facts suck, so why isn't this a 1-star review? Because you can alleviate both issues with a primer pan. To make mine, I simply cut off the bottom of an aluminum soda can. The concave bottom of the can makes a perfect primer pan. (Others use a bottle cap, but I find a soda can bottom is easier to use because it is larger, yet just as light.) Trimmed down, my DIY primer pan weighs only 2g and nests securely against the top or bottom of the stove (the folded legs hold it in place) when traveling. To use the primer pan, I put the desired amount of fuel in the stove, then drizzle 5-7 drops of alcohol into the primer pan. Light the primer pan and tuck it under the stove. Very quickly the fuel inside the stove will begin to vaporize. Often, it will ignite itself from the primer flame, but otherwise I light the stove as soon as I hear a soft hiss. Using a primer pan, the Triad will BLOOM IN ONLY 10-15 SECONDS, regardless of how much fuel you put in the stove! If you use only 5-7 drops of fuel in the primer pan, the primer flame will go out shortly after the bloom, which is ideal for efficiency (if the primer flame keeps going, it will vaporize the lit fuel too quickly, causing an unnecessarily high bloom that wastes fuel). Don't waste your time trying to mod this stove. The primer pan solution is simple, cheap, and VERY effective. If you burn solid fuel on your stove, you can also use the primer pan as a fuel dish to keep the solid fuel gunk off the Triad. WITHOUT a primer pan, this stove will frustrate you like no other--enough that it's weight savings won't feel worth the extra hassles of operation. If for some reason you don't want to use a primer pan, you'd be better off building a pop can stove or going with something like a Trangia (which is considerably heavier, of course). You may be wondering based on some of my comments: Why choose it over a DIY popcan stove? Because this stove is also a fuel miser. Although you will generally get a faster, easier bloom and hotter burn out of many of the better popcan designs out there, this stove seems consistently more efficient than many of the popcan stoves I've built. On a full reservoir, it easily ticks along at 20 - 23 minutes of burn time, whereas the same amount of fuel in some of my other stoves seems to burn up faster and generate more heat than I really need. Given the adequacy of the Triad's flame, I prefer its longer, more efficient cook time for a given amount of fuel. DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS OVER THE OLDER MODEL TRIAD Compared with the older model Triad, this version has a much larger filling hole (hooray!), beefier folding legs/supports, and an indentation to allow for more secure use of solid fuel tablets. As long as you have a bottle that pours smoothly, the generously enlarged filling hole makes it very easy to pour in the alcohol without spilling. The stove sucks it down as quickly as you can pour. This is a vast improvement over the tiny filling hole on the older model, which drained so slowly that it frequently caused alcohol to pile up and run everywhere. The legs also feel sightly sturdier. On soft ground, you can press the lower legs into the earth to provide additional support; however, I find that the tripod arrangement and modest outward flare of the legs is plenty sturdy even when standing freely atop harder surfaces. On the other side of the burner, there is now an indentation to help contain solid fuel tablets in the middle. This is a nice, but non-essential refinement over the perfectly flat surface on the bottom of the older model. While the beefier legs and newly added indentation for fuel tablets are nice, they're not good enough reasons to upgrade. If you have an older Triad, the real reason to upgrade is for the enlarged filling hole. It makes filling the stove much, MUCH more user-friendly. FINAL NOTES Of course, like ANY alcohol stove, you really need to use a windscreen. I seem to get the best results from a windscreen that wraps closely around the pot and stove--probably because it helps with the fuel vaporization by reflecting heat back into the titanium stove. I use the aluminum skin of a soda can. It weighs only 4g and wraps about three-fourths of the way around my Toaks 550 mL pot, leaving an open gap for the stove to breathe. I cut it just tall enough to pass under the handle of the pot, so it keeps the flames from licking the handle and making it too hot to touch. And it can also stow against the outside of my pot when not in use, where it takes up no room. Get yourself an alcohol bottle with a pour spout or a syringe. It makes it so much easier to measure out a desired amount of fuel. Spend a few sessions learning how to prime your stove and cook on it before you go into the backcountry. Use a stopwatch to see how much burn time you get per mL or fl. oz. of fuel and I guarantee that, in conjunction with the primer pan trick, you will be able to stretch your fuel consumption quite a bit further. For example, I find that 10mL of Yellow Heet is *just* enough to bring 1 cup of water to the verge of a boil before the flame goes out. That's perfect for a morning cup of coffee, and way better than filling the stove with 3-4 times that amount just to light it as designed without a primer pan (and then trying to pour the leftover fuel back into a container afterward). ALWAYS ENSURE THE STOVE/FLAMES ARE EXTINGUISHED before attempting to refill the stove. Alcohol can burn INVISIBLY, so even if it looks like it's extinguished, always check carefully with your hand and also blow HARD down onto the burner to make sure it's out. If there is still a small flame when you try to refill it, you basically can create a bomb of burning, flaming alcohol that blasts everywhere, potentially setting your surroundings on fire and injuring you. Don't assume, VERIFY that it is out before you pour more fuel onto the burner. NEVER try to refill it while it is still flaming/running! Titanium cools down quicker than brass, so compared with a Trangia, this stove will be cool to the touch much sooner after use than the Trangia (by a couple of minutes). Likewise, it doesn't seem prone to the "runaway" effect that can happen with some brass or aluminum stoves which, once they get really hot, can over-vaporize the fuel and bloom too large for practical use (and possibly present a safety hazard unless snuffed out and re-lit after cooling a little). THE VERDICT Without a primer pan, this stove sucks. Vargo should include one. With a primer pan, this stove shines and should be an ultralight hiker's dream. The stove weighs 30g. Add in a plastic fuel bottle (~25g), primer pan (2g), a thin aluminum windscreen made from a soda can (~4g), and maybe a small 10mL syringe like the kind used to give oral medicine to children (~9g) and you're still at only 70 grams, excluding the weight of fuel! Compare that to a Trangia stove which, by itself (with screwcap and snuffer/simmer cap), weighs 115 grams! All in all, I like it. I almost gave it four stars because Vargo really should include a primer pan and/or at least recommend a primer pan in their instructions. It makes the stove work SO MUCH BETTER.

It's a fun little burner. It's small, really light, and fairly sturdy. Like others have noted, I could not get it to bloom without a pre-heater, even on a hot day. I made my warming pan from the top of a regular sized veggie can, using a side cut can opener. You will also need a wind screen, a lid for your pot or cup, and a twig or match to light everything. it is hard to get close enough with a lighter without burning yourself. At first, I could not get 1 1/2 cups of room temp water to boil in my Snow Peak titanium 450 ml cup. However, using a short windscreen and some aluminum foil as a lid for the cup, I was able to achieve a rolling boil that lasted a few minutes on the same hot day. I also found out how easy it is to knock over the stove with burning alcohol. Practice with this before you hit the trail.

I just received this stove and the windscreen Vargo makes for it and have put it though some tests in my garage before taking it out on the trail. I am very pleased with the stove and look forward to using it. I have been using a MSR Wisperlight International for a very long time and decided to try an alcohol stove to shave some weight off my pack. 1) MSR Whisperlight: weight of stove, windscreen, 8oz fuel bottle w/4 oz of white gas, pump = 22.81 oz/323.75g Boil time for 1.5 cup water: 2 minutes Set up: 2 minutes 2) Vargo stove: weight of stove, windscreen, 8oz fuel bottle w/8 oz of ethyl alcohol = 10.1 ounces/277g Boil time for 1.5 cup water: 1:30 to bloom, 6:54 to boil (from match strike) 3) Vargo stove with priming cup made from bottom of beer can. Weight of stove, windscreen, priming pan, 80z fuel bottle w/8 oz of ethyl alcohol = 10.16/288g Boil time for 1.5 cup water, priming cup lit first: 0:30 to bloom, 5:41 to boil (from match strike) My conclusions: MSR Whisperlite: By the time you add set up time, the MSR is a few minutes quicker for the boil, but with about 12 ounces additional weight. It doesn't sound like much, but on long slogs every bit you can shave off your pack weight helps. That said, I can see where the MSR would be preferable in extremely cold temperatures or at high altitudes, both of which I do, which is why I got the Whisperlite in the first place. Vargo: Setup is very easy and it very light.....and small! Plus the stove, windscreen, and priming pan fits in the titanium cup I use to boil my water. Boil time is slightly longer without the homemade priming pan and using one will add about 11g to your kit. For me, shaving 12oz/.75lbs off my pack is worth the few extra minutes. Overall I would highly recommend this stove for most people. If you need to cook food over the fire instead of heating water for freeze dried food it may not be up to the task, but water is just fine. It remains to be seen how this works in temps at 0F or below or at altitudes above 10,000 ft. My guess is the MSR will be substantially quicker in those situations and the alcohol stove may be totally ineffective. I am sure someone on the internet has tested alcohol stoves at extremes of temperature and altitude. I look forward to taking this out on the trail. Tip from a review I read while researching alcohol stoves: Use a plastic bottle for the alcohol and put a drop or two of food coloring in the fuel. It makes it easier to see the level of the fuel in the bottle.

The first day that I received the stove, I filled it up, lit it and waited 12 1/2 minutes for the stove to bloom. I ran out of fuel after burning for 23 minutes, with the Vargo windscreen and no wind, yet my 500 ml pot of water was warm but did not boil! I refilled the stove after it cooled and managed to boil the water in another 18 minutes of heat time. I was not happy with the performance to say the least. My wife then asked me if this new stove was even capable of boiling water in our 1 liter titanium pot, so today (day 2 of ownership) I tried. It took 12 minutes and 27 seconds to bloom and it ran out of fuel in 24 minutes 10 seconds. I let the stove cool, refilled it, and lit it again. The 1 liter pot came to a rolling boil after another 24 minutes of cook time and completely consumed the fuel again on this second burn. I was really upset and figured that my stove was defective. I liked the weight and the design with the fold out legs and pot stand built in...I wanted to like this stove but felt ripped off. Before I decided to send it back and give it a 1 star review, I decided to read what other people were saying in their reviews. I was shocked when I saw four and five star reviews and I started reading carefully what they were saying. Then I found the secret to making this jewel perform like I always wanted it to... Cutting the bottom off of a Coke can and using it as a primer pan by putting 5 drops of alcohol in it and lighting it under this stove changed everything! The stove bloomed in 15 seconds and the flame was considerably stronger. I had a slow boil in 5 minutes 15 seconds and a full rolling boil in 7 minutes 4 seconds! OK, I can deal with the couple of grams that the primer pan adds! Forget this stove without the primer pan, but wow is this this the real deal with the pan! Thank you Amazon reviewers for the tip, this stove now really performs!

I really thought I would love this stove. I did not. On paper, it looks like a great stove. It seems to check a lot of boxes. Small, light, multi-fuel, built-in pot stand, sure. But it takes forever to bloom. I mean after 20 minuets I took a lighter to the side of the stove for five minutes and finally got it to bloom. Then the fuel ran out before the pot ever boiled.

Revisen la reseña que recomienda usar una bandeja de imprimación debajo de la estufa para que funcione aún mejor

It doesn't hold a lot of fuel for each burn, requires some modest priming beforehand to really burn well, and some kind of windscreen is essential, but with that, I was able to boil 400ml water in a titanium cup in under ten minutes in a light breeze. A great pice of kit for ultra-light, ultra-minimal adventures (but realistically? only those! still, for that it excels: pretty easy to find alcohol fuel anywhere before setting off on your adventure).

山道具の軽量化で買ってみました。 ゴトク一体、チタン、頑丈、30g。軽さ自慢UL勢はアルミ缶の底を使うらしいですが、それを除けば優勝です。 ガスバーナー：イワタニプリムスP-153（120g）＋250OD缶（新品344g）＋自作風防（8g）＝472g アルスト：これ＋アルコール（ボトル込約120g）＋チタン風防（12g）＝162g だいたい300g減です('・ω・`) まあ高い買い物じゃないし、良かったかなと。 火力は湯沸かしには十分（400ml沸騰まで5分弱）です。ただし・・ ライター必須です、BICミニライターを予備も含めて厳重防水で2つ持っていきましょう。 プレヒートの間は少しの風で消えてしまうので風防必須です。プレヒートが終わって周りの穴から燃えだしたら火力が一気に上がります、今度は風防で遮熱しないと鍋の取っ手が持てなくなります。自作アルミ風防は熱で溶けたのでチタンのを買い足しました。 ガスと違って火力調整できないし燃焼時間も限られるので、炒め物とか煮物とか凝った料理には向きません。アルファ米は湯が沸いてから15分必要で、温かい味噌汁も頂こうと思ったら2回火起こしすることになり、その間にアルコールはどんどん蒸発します。袋麺よりマシな選択肢は早茹でパスタとか、ソーセージのボイル＋3分リゾッタくらいです。 ゴトク径は9cmもないので、大きな鍋だと湯が沸くまで取っ手を離せません。 ひっくり返したら溢れたアルコールが燃え広がるので、前室含めテント内はマジ厳禁です。土砂降りでも外で使うしかないので、天気の読めない夏や長期山行はガスのほうが無難です。冬は論外。 蓋がないので残ったアルコールはストーブ冷めてからボトルに戻すことになりますが、若干コツが要ります。少し傾けると下のゴトク伝いに流れ出し、最後は上のゴトク伝いに回収します。地べたに置くと下のゴトクに砂がついたりするので、カーボンフェルトの切れ端を持っていったほうがいいと思います。 とまあまあ面倒です。これから山道具を揃える人はまずガスバーナー買いましょう、登るなら結局必要です。その上で、雪なし・天気よし・短期登山みたいな条件が揃うなら、アルストも選択肢に入ると思います。天気予報見て前日に荷物を入れ替えましょう。 んー、やっぱり趣味の道具ですね。それも込みで気に入っています。

Super light. Can be used for esbit block burning also. Will fit inside a 450ml titanium cup for nesting. I Recommend using a wind shield with this.

Finition au top, très léger, très pratique, que demander de plus Assez stable sur ses 3 pieds il fournit une bonne chaleur, j’ai réussi à faire du café ou du thé avec. L’orifice plus gros faire un remplissage plus facile, et après avoir soufflé la flammes il est encore possible de transvaser (on peut écouler l’alcool grâce aux pieds)