Phantom - Ultralight Stove and Windshield Set. Spill-proof burner with folding stand. Uses alcohol and gel fuel. For backpacking, camping, fishing and hiking. UK-Made.

I think this is an absolutely fantastic piece of kit - light (139 grams), compact, extremely portable and it all fits in a little storage bag. The burner is leak-proof due to it containing carbon felt so no danger of spilling burning fuel everywhere and any unused fuel can be stored in the burner with the lid on with no risk of leakage. Managed to boil 500 litres of water in just over 8 minutes using the supplied windshield in very light breeze - not the quickest I know (alcohol burners rarely are) but good enough for me - I’m never in a hurry when camping anyway. Quite sturdy, just be careful regarding the size of the pot/pan you use. Absolutely love this thing and at £14.99 good value.

I've been trying out different mini stove options, trying Trangia, Trangia knock offs, Fire Dragon stove, Gel burners, canister mounted stoves, but wanted something small. This little stove and the pot stand it comes with are tiny and brilliant. I've been boiling 300ml of water in a few mins, heating ready meals easily (using mess tins, Trangia pots), all with no real issues. This little stove is great. Plus side Tiny, lightweight, easy to light, good wide flame, no waiting for a "bloom", pot stand good, nice added extra of wind guard. Safety - I knocked this stove over whilst lit and yes it stayed burning so could have caught stuff on fire, but no burning liquid was spilled, so better than a Trangia style burner. Down side Not controllable like a Trangia with a "simmer ring" (although not tried a simmer ring on this burner), hard to judge amount of alcohol needed (you can't see the liquid levels due to the "wick"), need to use up fuel before storage ("wick" is soaked in fuel until burnt up). I love this little stove, I'd use it for one pot cooks or just for boiling water due to the on/off nature of the flame (no simmer ring), but for a simple, light and reliable stove, this is brilliant and will be coming with me on my adventures (it's so small I may pair it with my Trangia so I have two heat sources)

Meths Phantom start 14.08 Phantom steam 14.14 (+6) Phantom boil 14.27 (+19)3q4 Trangia start 14.34 Trangia steam 14.42 (+8) Trangia boil 14.52 (+18) FireDragon Phantom start 15.13 Phantom steam 15.19 (+6) Phantom burn out 15.22 (+9) BCB start 15.26 BCB steam 15.32 (+6) BCB burn out 15.35 (+9) To evaluate the efficiency of the Polymath Phantom I picked alternative cookers that would use the same fuel and give as close to the same conditions as practical. I used 2 types of fuel, 40ml of Meths; for which the comparative burner was a Trangia, and 1 block of FireDragon gel with a BCB FireDragon stove for comparison to the Phantom. For each burn, I used a measured 0.5L of cold water in a Trangia mini stove pan. After each boil attempt I rinsed out the pan with cold water repeatedly, until the pan felt completely cold, and then refilled with cold water. In each case I protected the burner from the gusty breezes, using the windshield which is a part of the Polymath kit. I timed the various stages using a standard wall clock and recorded times are to within a few seconds in each case. As you can see from the results, times for each stage with each type of cooker are remarkably close. I couldn't achieve a boil with FireDragon in either case because the block burned out before the water reached the required temperature and 40ml of Meths only just made it with both stoves, with the Trangia burnng out after a boil was achieved but before I managed to actually take the photograph! The meths issue can be solved by simply adding a bit more at the start but the failure of the FireDragon just confirms my previous poor results with that fuel. My conclusion has to be that the Phantom is as efficient as either of its closest rivals, but is also more compact and lighter than the competitors and on examination before and after use appears to be good quality, durable, very cost effective and far more versatile since it can be used with a wide variety of fuels. Note that when you use liquid fuel you use the larger carbon felt filled part of the container but for gel or solid fuel blocks use the empty cap section. Since I was testing a Polymath stove, it seemed appropriate to light the fuel using a Polymath Spitfire ferro rod kit. The sparks from this ignited the meths with no problem but the FireDragon wouldn't take light so I used the Spitfire tools to set fire to one of the waxed jute twine sticks from the kit and that lit the gel blocks immediately, using a total of only 1/3 of one stick for both gel blocks. This is yet another top class piece of kit from Polymath. It passed all my practical tests and I have no hesitation in trusting it to serve me well on many future trips in the outdoors, using reliable fuel types.

I've used this a few times now and I must say it's a fantastic little stove Tiny, weighs almost nothing, perfect for wild camping and backpacking Works well with solid fuel too if you use the stove lid to hold the fuel tablet (just remember to put a square of tin foil in first to stop it sticking to the lid once it's finished burning) Only knocking a star off because it feels a bit flimsy at times and I can foresee the pot I use sliding off it if not using the windshield to corral it in place and keep it stable - but for the price and size it's great

Very compact (not much bigger than a wallet or deck of cards) when disassembled and very easy to assemble. The burner works as described - when I charged it with meths and turned it upside down there was no spillage. Field tested it this morning, it took about ten minutes to bring 500ml of water to a rolling boil and there was still fuel left in the burner. By the time I had finished my cuppa it was cool enough to disassemble and re-pack into it's handy little pouch. There was a little soot on the bottom of my pot but it was easily cleaned. One slight downside is that the burner case itself is made of quite malleable metal and a clumsy oaf like me deformed it slightly getting the lid off, but its also easy to squeeze back in to shape. Obviously it's not intended for cooking three course meals, but for making a brew or heating soup or one pot meals it's excellent. Easy five stars for me.

I've been using this burner for the best part of a year now while filming for my YouTube channel ( #owtnabowt ) where a lot of videos start with getting a brew on. It doesn't seem to matter what else I'm doing, I am constantly asked about this little burner. I did a stove review on a different product recently, had no questions about the kit I was reviewing, but was asked where the commenter could buy one of these this. So decided it was only fair to stick a review on here. I love this kit. It goes with me everywhere. Day trips, overnighters or multi day treks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not using it to cook a meal on. I don't think the pot would hold enough meths, but when I stop for a brew, its set up in seconds, boils a cup of water in about 3 or 4 minutes, weighs nothing and takes up no space. (tbf. if you're hiking and eating boil in the bag, or dehydrated food, this is all you'd need) And its only a tenner!! I have knocked it over, and as promised the carbon sponge prevented a big splash of meths setting fir to my campsite. I have used the lid part with a hexi block, and that works as well :) For absolute clarity, I bought this with my money, I have no affiliation with the seller and I haven't been asked to provide a review. I just think everyone should know what a great little bit of kit this is. If you're looking for a light weight addition for your camping/hiking kit, then as long as you're aware of the limitations, I would thoroughly recommend this little burner. Seriously, go check my YouTube, you'll see it being used constantly.

This stove, stand and windshield is super lightweight and so easy to use. I just can not wait to use it in the field. Tried it out in the back yard and just need to work out how much fuel to use to bring to a rolling boil.

Bought for a budget YouTube video, I'd seen some other reviews after buying and was worried. Load claim boil time it long . Fortunately not an issue I had, boils a cup of water in about 6-7 minutes which isn't bad for an alcohol stove. I was very impressed with it in all honesty and it's now part of my main kit