Website of the week: Adventures in Stoving

I am not a nuts and bolts guy when it comes to gear reviews.

My comfort zone is quite frankly looking at overall concepts rather than specifics.

I am more likely to tell you why a 100 wt fleece is such a great items versus how the various 100 wt fleeces are different.

Makes sense in a way.

My first love is history. And, to use an example I’ve used before, I could tell you why the V2 rocket was so important. I could not tell you how much it weighed, how many were produced or the accuracy of them. ^[1]

And while broad overviews are going to be my personal bias towards discussing gear, I also recognize that there is a place for more detailed nuts and bolts discussion.

The problem is that most so-called discussions are really simplistic reviews. And most gear review-centric sites, to use a technical term, are crap.

The “articles” are really a set of  listicles with clickbait titles so they can ultimately generate ad revenue as their main purpose. I sincerely believe about two-thirds, if not more, of online gear reviews aren’t worth the electrons used to generate them. ^[2]    Call it Buzz Feed: Gear Review Edition.

So what is an example of a good site for discussing, looking at and giving a thorough analysis of gear?

I say one such example is Hikin’ Jim’s “Adventures in Stoving”.

Do you want to know about fuel? In-depth knowledge of the types of stoves? What stove truly is more efficient than another one? Hacks that can be done to make your backcountry stove use more efficient? Then check out Jim’s site.

When I am doing research for any articles I may do on stoves, fuel or anything related to them,  I invariably consult Jim’s site first.

His writing style is informal but very in-depth.  The articles have enough detail to make a gear wonk happy but not so wonkish as to go beyond the useful for most people.

Three examples of articles that show this wonderful combo of technical detail and approachability are:

• What make’s a good backpacking stove?  

• Can I Use Any Brand of Gas Canister?

• Fuel Economy (Efficiency) with Stoves. 

And for a person new to backpacking, well worth reading.  Again, great information without getting bogged down with arcane detail.

So if you want a little more details about stoves than what a short and bald Coloradan will provide, check out Hikin’ Jim’s “Adventures in Stoving”.

A gear site done well.

God knows there aren’t too many of them.

[1] Netflix is streaming a great BBC docudrama called Space Race.  Takes place from  the tail end of World War II up until the moon landing. Good stuff.

[2] There are some bloggers who I read at least somewhat regularly who write useful gear reviews that aren’t listicles: Philip Werner, Chris Townsend, Andrew Skurka, Cam Honan, David Chenault.  I don’t read him too often but Will Reitveld is perhaps the gold standard of well written, in depth and experienced-based gear writing. There are  others of course. But I can only read so much about other people’s gear. 🙂