Although I don't own this stove, I have used it enough times to be able to review it.

The whisperlite is a reliable, rugged, well built and stable platform for cooking your favorite meals. It's easy to start and will work in colder mountain temperatures without fuss. However not all that glitters is gold.

On the downside, simmering with this stove is practically impossible and requires all your attention due to a 1 minute lag between your fiddling with the gas flow control and any change in heat output, you can burn your food before you get the simmer going. The plastic pump is also a problem since it is prone to break, it's not flimsy or cheap, but they could learn to use aluminum.

So bottom line for a non-owner: would I buy it?
The answer is probably no, I would chose a gas stove or one with simmer control over the whisperlite, but this is still a very good stove that may work well for you.

good stove, only thing that sucks is its hard to use the simmer function

I have to give high marks for this stove been using it since 1986. Still works great. It will bring a pan of water to boil in no time. The only thing I dislike is the foil wind screens. I wish there was a better system. I have only had two problems 18 years. Once I got a clog in the jet, (I have the pre-shaker model) I had to take a saftypin and hollow out the jet. Needless to say with the large jet it really cooks fast. One other time I blew an O ring in the boulder field on longs peak. A nice camper near by gave on to me. With a record like that I say it is Great.

i really like this stove - simple and quick to use. not the lightest stove out there, and it is an art form to simmer with it, but all in all a very dependable stove. neat little trick i learned about this stove (i am easy to ammuse, so you might not find this as interesting as i did)...if you flip the gas bottle over (rotate it so that the knob for adjusting the gas flow is towards the ground instead of facing up like it is when you are using the stove), it will burn itself out in about a minute, and there will be no liquid gas in the hose when you remove the bottle. just remember to shut the gas flow off when you disasemble the stove so you don't spill gas everywhere.

My whisperlight has accompanied me on many backpacking and road trips. I have found it easy to use, easy to find fuel for, and, most importantly, reliable.
Does the job for most backpackers and climbers, although weight freaks will prefer the simmerlight.