Bad for flyers or groups

By Seth Spartan Ranked #34 - Canister Stoves November 13, 2008

I know a lot of friends of mine like 'em but I'm not a fan. Here's why:

1) Climbing Mt. Rainer with the winter mix. Winter mix got too cold to light. (Thankfully I had my MSR Whisper Lite to cook / make water with.)

2) Can't fly with the canisters. So if you're flying some place, you're going to have to cross your fingers and hope you can find a store that sells it. That's fine if you travel to western populated locations, but eastern Europe or Central Asia. Good luck, I'll take the stoves that can take unleaded fuel or karosene.

3) Another on flying: Say you do buy some. Odds are you probably won't use it all. Still can't fly with it home, so you're stuck donating it to someone. (Which I'm sure they will appreciate.) At least with the unleaded fuel options you can pour the $0.30 of gas into a car.

4) Care about your carbon footprint? Think about everyone of those cans that gets thrown away.

And generally: I found my MSR WhisperLite to be able to boil 2 cups in a pot just as fast as the Jet Boil can in it's specialized mug. (And another plus to general stoves: you can cook 4 or more mugs at once, so you're not eating in shifts if you only brought one stove for a group.)

Overall, if you're a solo hiker and this is the ONLY thing you have, it's not bad. It is REAALLY easy to use. But for people in groups or air travelers, I think there are better options out there.

View Details: Jetboil Classic Personal Cooking System

Helpful Votes: 4 Yes | 2 No