Optimus Vega vs Stansport Outfitter Series 3-Burner

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Mine came damaged, only three legs touch the counter surface, the other is floating about half an inch, there's an obvious indentation under the stove, the manual says "ALWAYS place stove on a flat, level, solid surface", I did, but the fourth leg still floats half an inch, the two wind flaps consequentially don't latch, by the way that latching system seems very poor. I had high hopes for this little stove, it's a pain to have to return something. Overall, I think a better quality metal would be better, sand the thing well and paint it, part of quality assurance should be to make sure there's nothing that can potentially hurt the customer, like sharp metal edges, like I said, mine came damaged, so I don't even know if it works, or if it's safe to use, another failure point is the packaging, only one layer of bubble wrap inside two boxes, but the inner box is more like thick paper, very poor packaging, very frustrated with this purchase.

The Vega stove is lighter and packs up smaller. Having the feet built onto the canister attachment is also very convenient (MSR has a separate plastic attachment that can be lost). I also like having a slightly longer fuel line and the more aggressive pot arms on the Vega. I will say

This grill is pretty hefty feeling, so hopefully it lasts. Why it got two stars: One of the tabs on the lid that the side wind guard hooks in to is welded so far out of alignment that it cannot work at all. So the lid can only be held up by one side and the other burner is not protected and not able to keep as much heat in. Three out of four of the riveted hinges on the side wind guards are loose and quite wobbly right out of the box

Nubs at the ends of the supports to prevent your pot from sliding. Convenient, fold-out legs for the flipped canister position. (The MSR uses an awkward-to-pack plastic thing). And the Optimus looks cooler

It up here. Here's the piezo that goes in the second one. There you go and you can see this - has you can really kick out the heat out there. This we'...

Really like the stable low profile with the wide base and the can to the side instead of under the burner. If you’ve ever, after a long hard calorie burning day, tipped over your almost ready dinner because of a high profile profile stove that mounts on top the canister, you’ll appreciate this feature. Also I like the wider burner that helps you avoid burning food to the bottom of the pot. Then add to that the option of upending the canisters so you get full burn in the coldest of weather and you’ve got a full, unmitigated five star stove

First the good news: arrived promptly, a day earlier than promised, quick and easy set-up, piezo igniter easy to operate, flame adjusts from very low simmer to hot-hot-hot and everything in between so I think functionality is above average, but I still have to take two stars off. 1. The item pictured here is either not the 21250 Outfitter or the picture is outdated; and it isn’t just a cosmetic difference. The one I received is black with blue top/windscreens (I double checked and the box is labeled with the 21250 model number) which isn’t too big of a deal, but it has only a single latch not the double latch pictured and I really wanted one with two latches as I feel it to be more secure (at least it is a metal latch and not plastic), the “feet” on the one I received are relatively shallow molded nubs on the underside of the stove not the taller screw on feet pictured, that has both pros and cons: you don’t have to sit and screw on 4 feet and fewer parts is fewer parts to get lost and have to replace, but there’s a lot less clearance under the stove and you can’t use those molded in nubs to level it the way you can with screw on feet

All types have various advantages and disadvantages, and no system is perfect for every backpacking situation, however, if this is the style of stove you are looking for, you would be hard-pressed to do better than the Vega.

It's blue, black and silver and it's the coolest looking camp stove I've seen. I think this is my 5th camp stove over the decades, and I like it better than any of the others I've had.