Caldera Comparison Chart

Alcohol Stove

The Trail Designs 12-10 or Kojin stove is included with almost all Caldera or Ti-Tri Cone offerings and are the only stoves supported by Trail Designs for use in this system. The reason is that the temperature inside the Cone products is hotter and the oxygen is lower than most alcohol stoves are designed for. As a consequence, we have developed these two stoves that are optimized to run in that environment, and provide one with your cone.

Caddy

The Caldera Caddy is a two piece, screw together, food grade plastic container that safely protects your Caldera Cone, 12-10 Stove, Fuel Bottle, AND doubles as a bowl and mug!!! It comes in 4 different sizes to fit your Caldera Cone perfectly. This will ship with most Caldera Cones.

Fuel Bottle Kit

The Fuel Bottle kit that ships with most systems includes a 5.5oz fuel bottle, a reducer, lid, instructions, and measuring cup.

Included Pot

Most Caldera systems do not come with a pot/cooking vessle as standard equipment. The exceptions are the Caldera Keg family of systems, and the Titanium Goat Ti-Tri bundle. Of course, Trail Designs offers the complete line of Evernew pots and would be happy to bundle them together for you by request.

Beer Bands

The "Beer Bands" are silicone bands sized and designed specifically to server as a "lip guard" and a body support for the pots/Kegs included in the Caldera Keg family of systems. The Beer Bands are available separately for those of you who would like to build your own Fosters or Heiniken can systems.

Cozy

Cozys are insulating sleeves designed to fit your pot or caddy and keep your food warm and your fingers protected. They are included primarilly in the Caldera Keg family of systems.

Stuff Sack

A nylon stuff sack is included for Kegs and Caldera Sidewinders. A tyvek cone sleeve provided for Ti-Tris that pack in the pot.

Gram Cracker

The Trail Designs Gram Cracker is a titanium "esbit" or solid fuel stove designed to work exclusively inside the Caldera Cone systems. The Stand weighs only 3 grams, and the kit includes 3 Esbit brand tablets, drip tray, heavy duty ziploc bag to store it all, the titanium Gram Cracker stand, and two titanium wings designed to control the burn rate of your solid fuel tablet.

3-Fuel Capability

The 3-Fuel capability primarilly means that the Caldera Cone system you are purchasing is made out of titanium and designated as a Ti-Tri. The titanium construction, as opposed to the aluminum, means that you can burn MUCH hotter wood fires inside. The design still has all the alcohol and solid fuel advantages seen with the standard Caldera, but when opting to do a wood fire, you are able to prop the pot up on two provided titanium stakes through the body of the cone and use the handle cutout in the cone to feed wood inside.

Optimized for Wood Burning

Optimization for Wood Burning means that the standard Ti-Tri titanium Caldera System comes with an internal titanium sleeve and steel grate system called the "Inferno" and is designed to route the air flow under and above your wood fire to optimize your wood fire burning. There is some evidence that it helps alcohol and solid fuel cooking as well.....but not on the order it helps wood fires.

Caldera Cone Wind Isolation/Heat Transfer

Among the many strengths of the Caldera Cone System is the ability to isolate the pot from the enviornment while bathing all sides of the pot in the heat given off by the stove. The shorter we make the cone for the sake of packability, the more the pot is exposed to the environment and taken outside of the "heat zone" inside the cone. In all cases however, the stove is very well protected inside the cone and the venting is always biased to one side for wind protection.

The following is a description of the Wind Isolation/Heat Transfer icons:

Systems with 3 dots completely enclose the pot in alcohol and solid fuel burning modes.

Systems with 2 dots expose some of the pot outside the cone, but the majority of the water in the pot is below the top of the cone and inside the "heat zone"

Systems with 1 dot puts the pot predominately above the cone but will always rate higher in packability.

Caldera Cone Stability

The Caldera Cone System is the most stable backpacking cooking system on the market! The wide base of the cone with the pot supported by its lip and the center of gravity in the middle of the cone makes it extremely difficult to knock over. However, as the desire for a more packable cone pushes the cone top further down the pot and the center of gravity further up, the stability is not quite as good. Ultimately, any Caldera System will be more stable than most any other backpacking cooking system on the market.

The following is a description of the Stability icons:

Systems with 3 dots have the lowest center of gravity and are the most stable

Systems with 2 dots expose some of the pot outside the cone, but the majority of the water in the pot is below the top of the cone and the stability is still excellent.

Systems with 1 dot puts the pot's center of gravity above the cone but it will always rate higher in packability.

Caldera Cone Packability

All Caldera Cone Systems either come with a Caldera Caddy to pack and store the system, or the system will fit to varying degrees inside its specified pot. 

The following is a description of the Packability icons:

Systems with 3 dots are designed to pack the Cone system completely inside the pot

Systems with 2 dots packs the Caldera Cone mostly inside the pot and the pot fits inside the provided Caldera Caddy

Systems with 1 dot are designed to use the Caldera Caddy to pack the Caldera Cone

Caldera Cone - Variety of Pots Supported

The Caldera and Ti-Tri Cone Systems are custom designed to specifically fit your pot. We strive to support the most popular titanium backpacking pots on the market and a number of aluminum pots. However, design restrictions for the Fissure and Sidewinder product lines force us to restrict the pots we can support in those form factors. Also, the Caldera Keg line is specifically designed to fit a specific beer can, so those designs are even more restricted. Ultimately, you should be able to find a Cone system to fit your needs.

The following is a description of the Pots Supported icons:

Systems with 3 dots support the widest variety of pots.

Systems with 2 dots support a limited number of pots. This will typically be the ULC product line.

Systems with 1 dot supports only one pot. This will typically be the Caldera Keg product line.