The Jetboil is a great little stove. The first time I saw one was when I was teaching a backpacking class and one of my students had one. It was small and lightweight, boiled the water fast and it packed everything inside the mug.Well needless to say I bought one and have loved it ever sense. So, if you want a stove that's compact, lightweight, and everything nests inside the mug (fuel, stove and mug) than this ones for you.
I've used it on winter to summer trips and it performs great every time. It weighs under a pound (15 oz.), lights with the click of a button, boils water with in 2 minutes and has a 1 liter (32 oz.) insulated mug with a no-spill sipper lid.
A. Here's what it looks like when it's ready to pack:
B. When you take off the lid, the stove unit and fuel bottle fit inside.
C. Here's all the parts - 5 in all. 1 liter insulated mug with heat exchanger, the no-spill snap on sipper lid, the stove unit, and fuel bottle. The black cup at the bottom is used to cover the bottom of the mug for packing and has the added benefits of being a measuring cup and can be used as a small bowl or cup.
D. To put it together, you just screw on the fuel bottle and then the mug just clicks on to the stove unit.
E. The bottom of the mug has a patented heat exchanger for increased efficiency called a Fluxring. Here's a look at it.
F. Once it's all together, just turn the fuel on with the black knob and hit the ignite button (they thought of everything, you don't even need matches). You're cooking now.
G. Pour whatever you want in the mug and snap the lid on. I usually just boil water in it and then just add it to meals, etc... What's nice about boiling with this stove is that you don't even have to take the lid off to see if it's done, it has a little hole on top that begins to blow out steam when it's ready. It really is an efficient stove with the Fluxring, insulated mug and snap on lid.
H. About the only downside is that it does have a narrow base and can tip, but they do make a stabilizer you can buy or you can hang it by the grab loop it has. The hanging option is nice on cold trips because it keeps the bottle off the cold surface which does diminish performance.
I haven't tried it at high altitude because I still have a great canister stove, but I have had it up around 7,000 ft. and it did fine. Their are lots of accessories that you can buy to add to your cooking system and an average (3.5 oz.) fuel bottle boils about 12 liters or 12 times under normal conditions.
See you on the trail,
I haven't tried it at high altitude because I still have a great canister stove, but I have had it up around 7,000 ft. and it did fine. Their are lots of accessories that you can buy to add to your cooking system and an average (3.5 oz.) fuel bottle boils about 12 liters or 12 times under normal conditions.
So, if you want an ultracompact 1 liter, simple to use, travel light cooking system, that's great for backpacking, emergency kits or even work sites, then this is the one for you.
| JetBoil Backcountry Gourmet Cooking Set |
See you on the trail,
--Greg
