Crux

I am really impressed with the simplicity and compactness of this stove's design. The under-the-canister storage mechanism is brilliant. This stove boils water very fast, and the simmer controls are very good.

Kind of expensive, but definitely a must-have for weekend backpacking trips when you want to go light.

(8/2/2004 update)
I am downgrading my rating for this stove from 5 to 4 stars: On a recent backpacking trip in Alaska with 5 other people, I had some problems with the fold-out pot supports on this stove.

Optimus has greatly sacrificed strength and stability to keep this stove light and compact -- At high heat, the supports would become red-hot and eventually bend under the weight of a full pot of boiling water, thus spilling the contents. I was able to bend them back using a metal fork while the flame was still going, but still kind of a pain (and I wasted a liter of near-boiling water.)

So, my overall assessment is that this is a great stove if you're cooking just for yourself or small (< 1 liter) amounts of water, but definitely not good for large amounts (> 1 liter of water) or if constant stirring or use of a spatula is involved.

I had one of these a couple of years ago.It stopped working after about a year of use.I tried to dissasemble the stove to find the cause of the malfunction,but with no sucsess.Before it died i found it to be an ok stove,but the folding system and pot support was easily bent when using normal size pots.This stove is obviously designed for small titanium pots.