Soto has recently put out the powerful yet quiet Muka gasoline stove (OD-1NP).
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| The Soto Muka stove (OD-1NP) in operation. |
The Soto Muka is a little bit different than the typical liquid fueled stove in that it does
not require priming. I've just recently completed
a full review of the Soto Muka which is now available on Seattle Backpackers Magazine. I've also got
a video review of the Soto Muka available.
This page serves as a supplement to the full review. Herein, I will put up a few additional photos that are worth a look that I just couldn't fit into the magazine review.
First, the vari-vent windscreen. This is a really nice windscreen, the nicest windscreen of its type that I've seen.
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| The vari-vent windscreen emplaced around a Soto Muka stove |
The windscreen is lighter than most in its class, and it has vents that can be opened up or closed down as needed to suit particular conditions. Note: The Muka does need a fair amount of air in order to atomize the fuel properly. You generally don't want to close all the vents all the way. You do want to take care to
roll the windscreen (typically around the fuel bottle) rather than fold it. Folding it up will shorten the life of the windscreen.
Here, that I've got a 0.9L Primus LiTech kettle on the stove. In this photo, I've tightened down the windscreen and clipped it in place. Soto actually provides a clip -- a much nice clip than the one I'm using here -- that I neglected to use the day I shot these photos. Notice though that there's quite a bit of "excess" windscreen doubled around the pot. They didn't skimp on this windscreen; there's plenty of windscreen to go around a substantially larger pot -- the kind of pot you might use for a group or for snow melting.
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| The windscreen easily accommodates a 0.9L kettle and has plenty of "slack" available to accommodate much larger pots |
Another small detail I'd like to call attention to is this fine pored filter on the fuel intake.
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| The opening of the fuel pick up tube is covered by a fine mesh filter |
This is exactly the right place to catch any impurities or adulterants that might be in your fuel. I've seen other companies put filters much further down the line. Nip them in the bud I say: Stop clogs before they start by leaving any crud in the tank. Don't run crud through the pump and down into the stove before you catch it for crying out loud. It's
much easier to clean an external filter like the one on the Soto Muka than a fuel filter embedded in a fuel line.
Now, here's another thing to notice about the Soto Muka: Look at how small it packs up yet how big that burner head is. Show me another stove in this class that has that large of a burner head and yet packs down this small. That large burner head means you have a well distributed flame. There are no burnt spots from a "pencil torch" flame with a Soto Muka.
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| Even though the Soto Muka packs down small, it has a relatively large burner head with a well dispersed flame. |
And pack down small it does. Even though the Soto Muka has a relatively long fuel hose, the highly flexible fuel hose packs away very nicely. For those of you who have used stoves with stiff fuel hoses, just take a look at the below photo. Nice!
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| Despite its long fuel hose, the Soto Muka packs down small |
There you have it, a few photos of small yet important details -- details that the designers at Soto did not overlook.
Thanks for joining me on another Adventure in Stoving,
HJ
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