Ok, I guess stoves are my weakness. I keep having to fight the urge to get or make another one. Sometimes I win the fight, sometimes I don’t. This time I didn’t. I fought with myself for a week but couldn’t resist REI’s 20% member sale and now I have this.

It’s the Snow Peak LiteMax. According to the specs it’s the lightest canister stove at 1.9 oz. They lied. My scale reads 2 oz. 🙂 Unlike the Giga which comes in a hard plastic case, the LiteMax comes in a velour-type bag. With the bag the stove weighed in at 2.3 oz. This is a small difference from the Giga manual at 3 oz and an even greater difference with the Giga and case at 3.9 oz.

Here’s a little side-by-side comparison for you. The Giga is shorter but bulkier. The LiteMax is tall and skinny.

I did a quick test boiling 2 cups of water since this is what I usually do on the trail. I was happy to see a rolling boil at 3:03:49. For comparison I fired up the JetBoil and did another 2 cups. The time came in at 2:41:48. That’s only a time difference of 0:22:01. Not too shabby for the LiteMax.