Best Non-integrated Canister Stove for Windy Conditions

By fusing innovative engineering with a touch of witchcraft, SOTO has created a non-integrated canister stove capable of performing in windy conditions. Thanks to the combination of a concave burner and pot supports that keep your pot or pan mere millimeters from the burner, you are now able to boil water in “gusty conditions.” The stove also comes with a piezo lighter and can exchange the supports between the larger four-arm supports or lighter three-arm support. The one drawback is that the supports do need to come off to be stored, leaving you with two pieces of metal to keep track of. We think the value is there for the SOTO WindMaster; it’s time to get outside and cook some food! Being able to boil water in “gusty conditions” is proof enough that this is the Best Non-integrated Canister Stove for Windy Conditions of 2021.

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SOTO—which means “outdoors” in Japanese—began as Shinfuji Burner, one of the first companies to reduce outdoor stove preheat times from minutes to seconds. After creating the Pocket Torch, Shinfuji Burner realized that the impervious-to-wind application could be used in the outdoor recreation world, and SOTO Outdoors was born. Now, with a name like “WindMaster,” there are immediately some red flags, as historically, canister stoves struggle in the wind. Has the SOTO WindMaster actually mastered the wind?

The Stove

The SOTO WindMaster is one of the few canister stoves that comes in two separate pieces. The pot supports fully detach from the stove; this allows for a choice of interchangeable pot supports. The stove we focused on comes with the 4Flex support (four support arms), but for an additional $9.95, you can purchase the TriFlex (a smaller, three-armed pot support). The TriFlex is ideal for those focused on going fast and light and do not have large cookware.

The SOTO WindMaster burner alone weighs 2.12oz (60g); with the addition of the 4Flex support, it weighs 3oz (87g), and with the TriFlex, it weighs 2.3oz (67g). There is an included carry bag to keep the burner and pot supports together.

There were a couple of reasons that this stove deserves the “WindMaster” title. The concave burner shape coupled with a lip around the burner on its own offers impressive wind protection. Combine this with pot supports that sit so close to the burner, and you have a burner with barely any room for wind to get between the burner and the pot. This design is one of the best we have seen for wind protection, next to integrated systems that essentially come with their own shields.

Ease of Use

The SOTO WindMaster comes with an incredibly reliable piezo lighter. The ignition source is tucked away in the middle of the stove so it won’t get bumped or impacted while traveling in a backpack. The regulator dial isn’t the largest, but the stove itself is tall and the regulator is right at the bottom of the burner, so it keeps your hand away from the flame.

Although we like that the SOTO WindMaster offers two different types of pot supports, the one negative is that they need to be taken off the burner to be stored or changed. This leaves you with two pieces of equipment to look after on the trail or packing before a trip—when basically every other stove is a one-piece deal. Obviously, everything can be kept in the included storage bag, but we are all humans, and things get lost, so you’ll have to remain vigilant on the trail.

Simmering

The SOTO WindMaster excels at simmering thanks to its highly capable wind protection. The larger burner head spreads the heat out well across the bottom of your cookware, reducing the chance of spot burns. There is an even amount of resistance offered by the regulator control to control the simmer—a superb addition to the design for finding the perfect temperature.

Boil Time

On their website, SOTO states that the WindMaster can boil 500ml of water in 2.5 minutes in “strong winds and gusty weather.” To even gain a full boil in those kinds of conditions is impressive. Other reviewers were able to generate a 1-liter boil in 4 minutes and 42 seconds in a windless and controlled environment. The main point is that the SOTO WindMaster can boil water in windy conditions and even beat liquid fuel stoves in a boil test in windy conditions.

Fuel Use

During the 4:42 boil test, the SOTO WindMaster used 14g of fuel. This number shows the efficiency of the WindMaster’s burner, as it can create a boil using a low amount of fuel. The proximity of the pot to the burner helps to reduce any wasted heat and keeps it all working to boil water or cook your food.

The Bottom Line

We were very impressed with the SOTO WindMaster and how capable it is for such a small package. Sporting a piezo lighter while remaining lighter than 3 ounces seems wild. The low-profile design works to make it very effective in “gusty environments.” At $64.95, it is one of the more expensive canister stoves on our list, but we think that the value is there. Very few stoves can offer efficient boiling coupled with a good simmer in such a small package. As we looked at both integrated and non-integrated canister stoves in this review, the SOTO WindMaster definitely stood out as the Best Non-Integrated Canister Stove for Windy Conditions of 2021.

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