i am going for my first camping trip this weekend and as we are just trying it out i thought about buying an army hexi stove and seeing if it was okay. We are camping in a remote field with no electricity and as it will be mainly used for boiling water to make hubby a cuppa and to cook a few sausages i was wondering if this would be okay. Has anyone any experience of it?
i used to use the hexi stoves when i was in the forces alright for a quick cuppa but not for long cooking as the blocks dont burn too long and it would need to bee a small kettle as we used to boil our boil in the bag meals in the mess tin and use the water we had cooked with for a cuppa but that about all they are good for
Hexi is good as an emergency stand by but I think a gas stove or a Trangia is better and if you go to ebay and type in Trangia you will see army stoves that will outlive both of us if you treat them right.
Remember the fumes well....... You could do better by buying a trangia type cooker or simply a cheap gas one, personally I prefer the trangia type, I can recall the fumes of the old Hexi blocks and I am afraid that is the one thing that puts me off........
Oh it could have been the Biscuits Brown which you got in the Compo rations as well .... and burning everything in a mess tin...........
As mentioned best for brewing only.... after that they give intense heat for a short period then low heat, hence all food cooked black on the outside (even in a mess tin) and nice and cool in the middle !!!!
Every time I used one as a 'Squaddie' I wished I had joined the Boy Scouts instead. Try rubbing two sticks together and you will get much better results!
Fantastic bit of kit when used correctly, I have used them the world over for brews and cooking, brilliant and reliable. I really miss field rations, Babies heads and the biscuits sublime
i only used them to make a brew or too keep warm, when the fuel ran out of my mini stove, so small it fits in the palm of your hand yet was 2kw of power, think i still got them hexi burners laying about somewhere, and no they not worth paying for.
Hexi stoves are very messy, can take a while to boil water, handy to have as a backup cooker. Only really used them with boil in the bags from army rations many years ago.