For those who make short walks or micro adventures – and yet want to make a quick cup of fresh coffee or soup – a small stove is ideal. Provided it has sufficient capacity.
The past few months I have used the Optimus Crux Lite mainly for this, camping in the Netherlands and short hikes in Scotland. The Crux Lite is small, durable, fast and comes with a handy case (and manual).
About Optimus
Optimus is originally a Swedish company and has been making stoves for more than a century. Since the establishment of the company in 1899, Optimus has been developing and improving its products to meet the demands of users around the world. Like most Swedish outdoor companies, they are damn good at what they do.
Optimus Crux Lite
The Optimus Crux Lite is a stove for the real gramme hunter. The stove weighs only 82 grams and takes up very little space. This makes it one of the lightest stoves of the moment. Due to the lack of the folding system, the stove is even lighter than the regular Optimus Crux.
Use
The Crux Lite distinguishes itself in two ways from other stoves. In the first place, a collapsible control valve ensures that the stove can be folded into a small package in such a simple and intuitive way.
Secondly, the pot supports are processed from the stove itself, creating a durable and compact design. In my opinion, an incredibly innovative solution. The stove is delivered in a casing and is easy to store as a small package, for example in the hollow of a 220 grams gas canister.
With its 82 grams, the Crux Lite is the lightest burner that I have come across to date. One litre of water boils in just over three minutes, making it also very ‘fast’ for a small burner.
Although I have to say that this depends on the wind and ambient temperature, with a gas canister of 220 gram, you should have almost 90 minutes of burning time. However, I would like to advise investing in a small foldable ‘windscreen’ to prevent heat loss in a lot of wind. Optimus has brought the Clip-On windshield available for this.
Despite the compact package size, the Optimus Crux has a powerful burner head with a capacity of 3000 watts. The flame is easy to regulate without burning your hands. The lightweight and the powerful burner head make the Optimus Crux Lite the ideal cooker during trekkings and hikes.
Conclusion
The Crux Lite is not designed to prepare an extensive meal for four people but designed to boil water for a cup of coffee or soup efficiently. Good stiff pan supports smooth operation, fast and reasonably economical and excellent performance in colder temperatures. It has become a standard part of my equipment; in combination with a 1-cup Bialetti.
Optimus Crux Lite
The Optimus Crux Lite has a suggested retail price of € 44.95 and is available at:
