Snow Peak Litemax Stove Review

Brady Meyers Avatar

Written by:

Updated 11:25 pm

Expert Rating

80

Having a cooked meal in 17-degree (Fahrenheit) weather can really brighten your day. You take small comforts when you can get them. But during activities where the weight of your equipment matters, it’s a luxury, at best. With the Snow Peak LiteMax Stove, that’s no longer an issue. It’s the best backpacking stove for serious campers who want very little weighing them down.

Why We Like It – Snow Peak LiteMax Stove

You want a portable stove but don’t want the extra weight. With this backpacking stove, its 2 oz weight is never an issue, with durability to boot. It can even withstand 17-degree (Fahrenheit) weather.

Pros
  • Will work in 17-degree weather (Fahrenheit)
  • Lightweight and durable
  • Free shipping
Cons
  • Best performance is limited to Snow Peak GigaPower fuel
  • Susceptible to wind

Performance

The Snow Peak LiteMax Stove performed under what other backpacking stoves on our list did. People found, as did we, that boil time was about 4 minutes per 500ml of water. To put that in perspective, canister stoves like the MSR PocketRocket Stove boiled the same amount in 2 minutes. In other words: the MSR Pocket Rocket is twice as fast.

On the brightside, the Snow Peak LiteMax Stove will still work under 20-degree weather (Fahrenheit); in fact, it’ll still work in temperatures as low as 17-degree Fahrenheit. But there’s a catch: you need to use Snow Peak’s GigaPower fuel.

Design

More impressive than its performance, however, is the design. Considering it’s made of titanium and aluminum, the Snow Peak LiteMax Titanium Stove is rather light. It clocks at under 2 oz. To put that in perspective, the Coleman Camping Sportster Backpacking Stove is 2.35 pounds. You would need 19 Snow Peak LiteMax Stoves to equal a Coleman Camping Stove. Unfortunately, its low weight makes it susceptible to wind. If you have a stand of some kind, it can be ignored.

Value

The Snow Peak LiteMax Stove teeters on being really great value, down to decent value. It largely depends on what you want from it. Are you going on a serious trip where every gram is counted? Then it has great value and you’ll want this over, say, an Ohuhu Camping Stove. But remember: you still need to carry fuel. If that’s a problem, then the Ohuhu Camping Stove will eek out more value for you as it does not need fuel—just wood or solid alcohol. Its $60 price tag is also softened by free shipping.

Snow Peak LiteMax Stove Wrap Up

One could make the argument that the Snow Peak LiteMax Stove’s performance can easily be made up by its low weight and durability—and we can certainly get behind that. With the right fuel, however, it can cook and boil water in 17-degree (fahrenheit) weather, a few degrees below our best. We suggest finding a good windshield and stand to circumvent its weaknesses.