New Goshawk 53-MM alcohol capillary (siphon) stove Review

[craigprice]

New Goshawk 53-MM alcohol capillary (siphon) stove

Goshawk appear to have released a new upgraded version of their mini siphon alcohol stove (53-MM capillary)

I first tested a Goshawk siphon when I was looking for an alternative to my Toaks siphon and my own DIY Pepsi can stoves. I’d found that unlike my original Toaks siphon, the batch of Toaks siphons in Australia at the time all had a serious manufacturing flaw that spoiled the flame configuration (jet sizes uneven and not all located vertically in same plane). The Goshawk 53-MM looked to be identical design, and I was impressed by the quality of flame and boiling ability.

While the Toaks siphon has a titanium shell, goshawk chose a light aluminium shell, similar diameter but slightly taller, and similar internal design, for their stove at the time. Basically same weight too - 21g vs 20g

They also dramatically improved the jet design so the jets were angled, producing a swirling flame and increased focus, which increased efficiency and wind resistance. Boil times were at least 10% faster and the stove worked much better outside with wind.

The new goshawk siphon has improved in this area even more. It has an even more focussed swirled flame. See pics for comparisons.

The shell is slightly shorter by 1mm, same 53mm diameter. But the internals are different. They use a plain cylinder instead of a creased cylinder. The key difference is that jet ring is now a solid machined ring, instead of just holes in pressed metal. The new stove also weighs slightly more (about 8g or 38% more than the original Goshawk) but is still light.

The flame pattern and burner performance on the new goshawk siphon are very good.
Oh, BTW, the new design clearly has more pressure for the jets and the burner is slightly louder. Siphons all have a noise when going about same as a canister stove on low heat - but no where near a canister stove at full burn. So not completely silent like an alc stove that is a small pan with or without felt in it (eg TD Kojin or XBoil UL stoves).

The specs are:
Toaks siphon 20g; H40mm, D54mm
Goshawk siphon (original) 21g; H48.5mm, D53mm (hence the model name Craft 53-MM)
New Goshawk siphon 29g; H47.3mm, D53mm

Ps these stoves need cross bars that provide an effective separation from pot bottom to stove (about 25mm or 1” is optimum). I’ve made my own using 0.5mm titanium sheet that weigh 4.5g each (9g pair).

Combined with 0.05mm titanium foil and paper clips as the windscreen, the total weight of the stove kit set is now 52g (it was only 44g with the original Goshawk or Toaks siphons). With a small bottle for meths this make a very compact kit that fits in a mug or billy, but while compact, is no longer the lightest.

Weight Comparisons - similar sets (with stove stand, windscreen, and stove, excl meth bottle and lighter)
DIY Pepsi stove set 21g
Snow Leopard set 40g
XBoil set 46g
Trail designs fissure cone set 59g
The Goshawk 53-MM set now 52g

Pics -
Toaks siphon, Goshawk siphon 2020, Goshawk siphon 2023-4
Comparison of Goshawk siphon flame patterns (new on the right)
(I can’t upload video and the stills don’t do it justice)

[craigprice]

Close ups of the tops and internals
Showing Toaks construction vs Goshawk
Also showing Goshawk has more jet holes

[marcelus]

Found it very useful. Good work, thanks.
Given you're experienced with these, may I ask your opinion on how siphon stoves compare with the more traditional Trangia style burners, when it comes to performance in the wind?

[craigprice]

In my personal view the siphons work better as they have higher pressure pushing out the heat and the flame then is pushed up better if the jets are designed well. As mentioned I realised that a batch of toaks siphons in all shops in 2022 were faulty and the quality control had slipped - the pin holes were uneven and the resultant flame was deficient. Hence the goshawk, which is a whopping few grams heavier, but wow the flame jet!

Please note that all alcohol stoves really need a good windscreen and the design is important. It will have a big influence on boil time and fuel. Cones or cylinders that force hot air up the cup walls dramatically improve boil times. Or at least an aluminium foil sheet you can fashion into a tube held together with paper clips from ground to top will dramatically improve your alcohol stove.

To answer your question directly, in my testing indoors and use in real life in the mountains in windy (normal) conditions, the siphons always out-perform the Trangia for boil time and fuel use, and allow reclamation of unburnt alcohol better. Indoors and in the bush. They are also much lighter, and much cheaper! The Trangia was a game changer when it came in but now there are stoves with better jets and much lighter now.

[marcelus]

Thanks Craig, excellent detail again.
Convinced me to get a siphon style burner despite already owning two conventional burners (Trangia and Tatonka).