Having discovered Temu in late 2024 I have become somewhat addicted to the weird and wonderful array of oddities on there. At first I did not trust the site having read some bad reviews on the platform and the fact that it’s run by the Chinese but I did my due diligence and used PayPal as my payment method and I’ve had absolutely no problems at all. Of course you always take a risk on platforms such as Temu with the quality of the products but if you steer clear of the blatant rip-offs at prices too good to be true then I think you’ll be fine.
As I write this the vast majority of items I have bought have been what I would consider to be ‘good enough’ and some purchases have even shocked me by how good the quality has been including camera mounts, bags and other bits and bobs. Of course there has been some complete rubbish too but considering the cost it has not really mattered and returns have been superb – I’ve not even had to actually return the product, they just refunded me and told me to throw them away!
With all that in mind I thought it may be fun to purchase the cheapest alcohol stove I could find and do a little video on its use – what could possible go wrong?
I found what was claimed to be a high quality stainless steel alcohol stove ideal for camping and picnics (or panics as the site truthfully but accidentally stated in the description due to poor translation) at the lofty price of £1.41. So, how did it fair? You will have to watch the full video below to find out as the result was a shock…. Or maybe not!
I did take lots of precautions as alcohol stoves can be dangerous due to the volatile nature of the liquid used – I’ve set plenty of stuff on fire previously so this time I got wise and used a metal fire pit base with a small paving stone on top to avoid setting the naughty bench alight again! Was that a good move – you’ll find out by watching.
I do love alcohol stoves as they are virtually silent in use and I find them quite relaxing due to the time it takes to boil a kettle of water – it gives you time to just sit, watch and listen to your surroundings whilst watching the world go by. And that’s the whole point of the vast majority of the videos I produce on The Outdoor Vlogger – to encourage you all to step outside your dwelling and make some time for yourselves whilst enjoying the wonderful sounds and views that nature beholds.
Hope you enjoy the video below and consider liking and subscribing to the channel.
So what on earth happened then? With the non-existent ‘built in wind guard’ the flames were not concentrated onto the base of the kettle and therfore ignited the handle! Alcohol stoved are notorious for the flame moving around in the wind, it’s completely normal and normally just means that the kettle will take a bit longer to boil. However, in this case it is just an utterly dangerous design and could have ended up worse if I had not kept and eye on the stove and took the necessary precautions, it was touch and go getting the flame extinguished too as the snuffer was not particularly efficient. Take a look at the still images below and you will see the obvious design fault.
