1 July 2008
Nice backpacking stove
Posted by admin under: Equipment .
My troop just went on an outing and had to backpack in to camp. Of course, that means backpacking food and backpacking stoves. I was trying out a really low-tech gimmick that was nothing more than a tin can with a brace, really. I had no problems, but I could see that if there was a stiff wind I would have been in trouble.
Coincidentally, a couple of our dads both bought the same stove just before the trip. They both bought the Jetboil Personal Cooking System, which is a fancy way of saying small backpacking stove. Paul was raving about his because it boiled water so quickly. The container to boil your water looks like a travel coffee cup and holds one liter of water, or 32 ounces for us Americans. He started asking us to time him as he was able to boil 8 ounces of cold water in only 60 seconds and 16 ounces took only slightly longer. From the way the fire is concentrated and surrounded by a baffle you can see that it will survive windy conditions, too.
Mike had purchased the same Jetboil backpacking stove from a different store and after a slight mishap where water and coffee grinds got on the stove and had to be cleaned up, the stove wouldn’t light with the automatic starter. Fortunately, the store he returned it to was cool with exchanging it and explained that the piezo starter was poorly adjusted. It’s too small a sample to decide, but watch for your starter if you get the Jetboil and immediately return it if you have problems.
Mike, too, was enthusiastic about the performance of his Jetboil. According to the manufacturer, it uses less fuel than other backpacking stoves so it’s actually better than lighter stoves when you go backpacking because you don’t have to pack as much fuel. I took a look at their web site and they have another version that you can put a pot on so you can actually cook meals on it as opposed to only boiling water in the cup.
Paul said his cost $89 at REI. Mike didn’t say how much his cost at Sport Chalet, but he did say they were very gracious about exchanging it. The Jetboil got enthusiastic thumbs up from both of our troop’s dads who bought it. So, that’s a field report on the Jetboil Personal Cooking System. If you’ve got a better price or a better stove, I’d love to know about it. I’m sticking to my low-tech system for now, but love to hear about all the cool toys out there.
- Woodburning Stove Report
- Jetboil Recall
- Gear Guy Talks White Gas
- Gear Junkie Field Testing
- Don’t Waste Fuel
One Comment so far...
» Don’t Waste Fuel Says:
25 November 2008 at 3:35 pm.
[...] check out his other tips and see the pic of his Jetboil stove. Cool. I reviewed that a while back and the dads in my troop swear by it although I’m still using my old-fashioned liquid fuel [...]
