I have an Optimus nova for camping and emergencies. She's loud though. With the windscreen and pot on top it doesn't let off a lot of light, should I worry? I got the stove so I could have discrete cooking and not worry about smoke calling people from miles away.. I guess if someone is close enough to hear it it's too late anyway? Or should I look for something more quiet?
Voices and the clanking of the cookware carries much further than the sound of the burner.
A white gas stove is tough to beat.
My home made alcohol stoves excel in this area and they heat quickly. I can't say they are as easy as the pressurized stoves, but they work.
I run a dragonfly...that is without a doubt the loudest stove out there. It's pretty loud when you're right up to on full blast. There's several things you can do. You can turn down the stove so it's not cooking at full blast (cooking at full blast isn't efficient anyways). If you have deep pockets can search out for
hugecanine silent caps they make them for all different makes and models of stoves
dragon tamer. They claim they reduce the stove to 1/3 of the original volume at full blast and improve simmering, but they aren't cheap. If you really need the utmost in quiet, you're going to want to seek out an alcohol, esbit, or maybe even a sterno stove solution. In all honesty..if you walk away from your stove a few yards the noise becomes discernible anyways so it's not really a big deal no matter what.
I think the smell of cooking food will carry farther and get more attention than the sound of the stove.
We live out in the country and most times I cannot hear any neighbors..... but we can sure tell when they are grilling for miles.
If you are just boiling water, you are probably fine.
