Optimus Polaris Optifuel Stove

I can’t even express how amazing this thing is. Fuel lasts a long long time. And it’s very very well made. It’s worth every penny. It’s pretty compact and easy to bring with you and it isn’t hard to use. It can use multiple types of fuel which is awesome. If I could give it more stars I would.

This stove works perfectly well with all permitted fuels, and it’s very strong, compact and lightweight.I use gas when possible and petroleum as a backup. The gas is completely trouble free, as you would expect. Liquid fuels burn extremely well, but are of course a little more involved than gas, but 20 pumps is all you need and they burn clean enough.If you get one of these, the QuietStove is a must, it makes the stove barely audible.

This burns white gas / gasoline, kerosene / diesel, and propane / butane. The unit is absolutely rock solid, and gives the feeling that it is extremely dependable. For white gas, gasoline, kerosene, and diesel, it's fantastic. Like any kerosene and diesel fuel, it takes awhile to light cleanly (you can prime with alcohol, but you'll need to double-prime it). But for gasoline and white gas, it starts almost immediately. It doesn't have a generator, so converting from liquid to vapor happens at the jet. And that jet is an amazing invention: only one jet, and doesn't need to be changed out for the fuel being used - definitely a time saver in the field if you use different fuels. I only use white gas and isobutane canisters, although I like to use kerosene in cold weather, only because the odor is nostalgic. Another thing I love about this stove is that the pump is all-metal. No cheap plastic crap.The two negatives for the stove are significant: it's nearly impossible to light the stove when using the E417 canister gas without a piezo starter. That's because the gas pressure is too high for a yellow flame to catch, and so, you can't start it with a match or lighter. You MUST have a piezo starter. I thought the unit itself was to blame, so I took it in for review with the store that I bought it from (Campmor), and the repair people had difficulty starting it without a piezo starter. I returned it, then several months later bought another unit at another store (EMS) - same problem. And service at the second store also had a problem with it. So, I returned it again, as it just isn't dependable. A month later, I decided to buy a piezo starter and the stove here on Amazon and give it one more try since I was banking on the brand's reputation; and sure enough, the same problem happened again. However, using the piezo starter worked fine. I concluded that the design of the stove did not allow for using a match or lighter to start it. I compared all of my canister stoves (I have 7 of them from different brands and models), plus the Jetboils our boy scout troop uses, and all of them light easily with a match or lighter. In playing with the stove, trying to see what would start it, I also tried the ferocerium lighters (Bic) as well as the piezo lighters (Aim & Flame), and found only the latter to work. I tried a magnesium spark kit, that also failed to start the stove. I tried with a blow torch, that worked easily. I tried to light using another canister stove, another stove running white gas and kerosene, and these stoves all had no problem lighting this one. As a result of all this testing, I'm very comfortable stating that the design is the problem, and not the unit itself, and cannot be started with a match or lighter (yellow flame). Only piezo will work, or another blue flame, such as from another stove or blow torch. I expected much better performance from a stove of this cost from Optimus. The $8 stoves you get from ETekcity easily start with a match, lighter, and piezo starter, yet this stove not only can't start with match or lighter, it doesn't even have it's own starter as the lighter stoves do, nor does it come with a piezo starter. At this cost, Optimus, you ought to have thrown in a starter.The other negative of the stove is that it is extremely heavy. This isn't something an ultralight backpacker takes along. The stove is unequivocally sturdy, and to me, tops all other stoves in this regard. But it is heavy. I don't mind the weight and I primarily burn white gas and canister butane when I camp, and having a simplified fuel system, for me, outweighs the weight issue. All of my buddies won't use the stove on account of the weight.

As I examined the recently arrived Optimus Polaris Optifuel for the first time the other day, it struck me that Optimus added different features from their other modern stoves and added them to the Nova+.I have a lot of different kinds of Optimus stoves, from the classic SVEA 123R and Hiker+ to the Vega, the Crux, and the Nova+.Interestingly, it appears as though Optimus kept most of the core high-tech features of the Nova+, including the single nozzle (no need to change jet bolts), the curved wrap-around stand/pot holder, and the base and heat-shield.They then took the thinner fuel line and fuel line connector from the Optimus Vega, the throttle from the Crux, and changed the fuel line connector on the pump to a lindal valve to match LPG gas canisters.I’m not really sure those changes would make this qualify as a next generation stove, as to me it’s more like an evolutionary hybrid of other stoves, but they are welcome changes.The Nova+ fuel line was very thick. Not quite as bad as the MSR stove fuel lines, but much more rugged than necessary (have never had an issue with a thinner fuel line, so, glad it went thinner). Also, the Nova+ fuel line also acted as the secondary throttle. The goal for that was to eliminate the length copper fuel rod and throttle combination, but this turned out to be rather cumbersome to use. I frequently splashed and spilled some fuel in my effort to throttle by twisting the fuel line. The new thin fuel line and advent of the Crux throttling handle is a very welcome change.The thinner fuel line, being from the Optimus Vega, also has the side extension “legs” that are used to stabilize an LPG gas canister while it is upside down. This allows LPG stoves to be used in the winter, and also ensures you get all the fuel out, given that there’s always a few minutes worth of fuel left in an LPG gas canister in cooler weather conditions. They also found another use for these extension legs when using liquid fuel and the included pump. The legs allow the bottle to stay in the optimum position for “on” and “off”.Which brings us to the fuel pump. I’m least impressed with this pump and frankly, have never seen a fuel pump that matches the Primus ErgoPump. The new Optimus fuel pump is essentially the same as the Nova+ fuel pump, except that the connector is now a lindal valve connector, identical to LPG gas canisters. That’s a bummer. To begin with, the pump portion still uses an “L” shaped end, which is an unnecessary structurally weak point, and also slightly cumbersome to remove attach and detach from the bottle.But the bigger problem is that the fuel intake, the pipe inside the bottle where fuel enters to travel along the fuel line to the stove is still the crappy soft plastic tube from the previous generation.It’s crappy because of the fuel bottle mechanism, and because the softness of the tube means that it does not go where it’s supposed to….You see, that soft plastic fuel line is supposed to be angled so that the end is touching the inside wall edge of the fuel bottle. Why is this important? Because the stove is supposed to be designed to run either air or fuel through that fuel line depending on which way the bottle is laid down. Lay the bottle down one way, and that fuel line should be touching the bottom of the inside wall, hence, only fuel goes through. flip the bottle, and the fuel line should now be touching the top inside edge of the bottle, hence, only air goes through.But it doesn’t freaking work right….why? Cuz the soft plastic does not go to the inside edge of the bottle. Really a terrible design flaw.[SIDE NOTE: I thought about using the Primus Ergo Pump with the Optimus Polaris Optifuel stove, but this has a problem too. With Primus, the primary throttle is on the fuel line. With Optimus, the primary throttle is on the pump….so if I use a Primus ErgoPump with the Optimus stove, it means I only have the secondary throttle at the stove end. Frankly, I don’t know if that secondary throttle is enough or not, and it also limits finely tuned simmer control a little. So….no switching…booo]Apart from that on issue, I really like the Polaris Optifuel. It has all the wonderful features of the Nova+. including the wraparound pot stand and legs, the magnetic jet cleaning needle, the wide roarer plate to help reduce decibels a little (at least compared to the jet engine sound of the Primus stoves), and the simplicity of not changing the jet for different types of fuel. Great little stove.incidentally, on the topic of not changing the jet bolts, I should say that it’s kind of a gimmick. You see, other stoves require changing the jets because different jet hole sizes are optimized for different types of fuel. The rule of thumb is the cleaner the fuel, the wider the gauge. So kerosene, which is a fairly dirty fuel uses the smallest gauge jet, while LPG is so clean that it uses a very wide gauge jet. This is an oversimplification of course, as it’s really also the volatility of the fuel that comes into play. Kerosene requires a fairly high temp to become volatile, so the hotter the stove is, the easier it is to vaporize. White gas is volatile at a lower temperature, and LPG gas canister, using propane and butane mixes, are volatile at very low temperatures.In any case, the point is, on other stoves, you don’t have to change the jet bolt either. You can run kerosene through a thicker gauge jet bolt, and run LPG through a smaller gauge jet bolt. It will affect the efficacy of the flame, but it’s not a problem at all.It wasn't until I did more exhaustive testing that I realized something was up here. The bolt did lose efficiency when switching to dirtier fuels, but did not lose as much efficiency as other liquid fuel stoves where I didn't change the bolt. So Optimus is clearly doing something here to improve the efficiency of the jet bolt across different fuels. I can't gauge whether that efficiency fully optimizes each fuel, but it does optimize it somewhat.Interestingly, Optimus chose to use a cheaper bag for the Polaris Optifuel and that’s a bit of a surprise. The Nova+ bag was absolutely awesome, and a great design in and of itself. Not really sure why Optimus chose a cheaper bag for the Optifuel. Bit of a downer.All in all though, if you plan on using mostly white gas and LPG canisters, the Polaris Optifuel will serve you just fine. And it still works with kerosene and diesel (not as well, but certainly serviceable and you still get the blue flame when the stove is hot enough).With that said, I have to admit that this stove is fun to use, and I expect to get several years of use out of it. If you’re in the market for a multi-fuel stove, you could do a lot worse than this bad boy.

Works great! A little noisy at full blast, but you can buy an after market burner cap that quiets it down if you so desire.

not good

I would give this 5 stars but I dislike having a child safety on the fuel bottle.. Had to take gloves off to open the bottle..Was a pain..That being said, the stove took me a few times to prime and pre-heat the stove the first time..It was easier the second and third times I used it..I have only used it with kerosene and it worked very well..It is built out of heavy duty materials..It weighed a bit more than I expected but seems to be worth every penny..I am looking for either a cap for the fuel bottle that is not child proof or a fuel bottle that fits the threading that comes with a non-child proof cap..I have been collecting camping gear for 40+ years.. Really happy with this rugged stove.. good design and easy to maintain.. I feel this is something I will have for years, and pass on, it is that heavy duty..