The Primus Micro Trail Stove. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Price: £60
Weight: 86g (plus 10g storage bag)
Fuel: propane/butane
Country of manufacture: EU

This new backpacking stove from Primus fits in the palm of the hand when folded, and tips the scales at less than 90g.

Even when combined with a 100g gas canister, the total weight is not much over 200g, making it a useful addition to a rucksack for those looking to keep the pack weight down.

The Micron Trail Stove comes in three versions: the base model costs £35; with added piezo ignition £40; with regulated valve and piezo ignition £60. It’s aimed at solo travellers or two people sharing cooking duties.

grough got its hands on an early production model of the regulated version to put it to the test. The Primus Micron Trail Stoves are expected in the shops this spring.

The stove attaches to the top of a standard gas canister with screw thread. It has three fold-out pan supports, and the wire regulator knob, which has plastic coating at its tip, also folds out. As with all stoves that sit on top of the gas canister, a little care needs to be taken not to let it tip over, but the stove is only 9cm from base to the top of the pan supports, so is still fairly low in use.

We tested the regulator version, which Primus says maintains performance even when the gas level is getting low in the canister. The control needs more turns than you might be used to when turning up the flame: five full anti-clockwise rotations are needed from closed to fully open.

The Micro Trail Stove won't take up much space in your pack. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Once at full power, the 54mm diameter burner of Micron Trail gives a good heat. It’s rated by Primus at 2,600W or 8,900BTU/h. The company says it will boil a litre of water in less than three minutes when using a Primus PrimeTech Pot, which has a built-in heat exchanger.

Using a conventional lightweight pot, it took 5mins 15secs to boil a litre of water during our test on a moderately breezy day. Using a windshield brought the boil time down to four minutes. A half-litre boiled in 2mins 30secs.

But the feature of the Micron Trail Stove we really liked was the controllability of the flame. Quite often when out on camp, whether on the hill or at base, we’ll be cooking food such as pasta to keep up the carbohydrate intake, and dishes such as this are notorious for sticking to the bottom of thin lightweight pots, so it’s good to see this Primus stove able to maintain a very low flame for simmering our food without it going out and having to re-light.

The controllability of the flame was very good. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

The ability to control precisely the flame was a boon on our tests and Primus says the regulator also helps maximise fuel efficiency. If this aspect is important, it’s worth shelling out the extra for the regulator version; otherwise the basic stove can be had for a reasonable £35 or for a fiver extra, with the added convenience of a piezo ignition.

Performance 31/40
Controllability 18/20
Features 7/10
Weight 8/10
Quality 8/10
Value for money 7/10
Total score: 79/100

• The Micron Trail Stove was supplied to grough by Primus.