Anyone with experience on a 'JetBoil' stove?

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cryhavoc

Inactive
I am updating some of the gear in the vehicle BOB, and personal BOBs and saw this 'JetBoil' stove and wondered if anyone can give me a 'head's-up' on how good it really is.
I normally stay away from those 'little cans of gas' stoves, but Backpacker Magazine gave it some sound praise. I know post-TEOTWAWKI it's fuel will be scarce, to non-existant, so I'd have to get by on what I had stocked-up on.

So, let's hear it.....


cryhavoc
 
Dobbin

Dobbin

Faithful Steed
Not keen on Gaz, Butane cartridge, or even...

...propane based backpacking stoves myself. You tie yourself too closely to a single source supplier for your fuel.

For years I've used the brass "Svea" stove which is a 120 year old design made by Optimus. Burns white gas, coleman fuel, or naptha (effectually the same thing) and is a rock solid design that was among the first to climb the Matterhorn a hundred years ago. It's a trifle heavy for backpacking, especially if your trip lasts more than two days when you'll need the additional fuel capacity of aluminum Sigg bottles (available in two sizes at least)

When it came down to getting my son a backpacking stove for his Scouting experience, I set aside my attraction to the Svea and instead got him an MSR "Shakerlite" white gas stove. It has more heat than the Svea, has a manual pump to pump up the attached Sigg cannister and actually weighs out considerably less than the Svea.

I still love my Svea but that MSR would be what I buy today if I were serious about weight in my pack. You can also get these MSR stoves in "multifuel" variety which might be an advantage in a bug-out situation.

Well, I say all this but in attempting to be "more light" I am experimenting with backpacking stoves of the "tunacan" variety. Mostly these burn alcohol which is a nice "sustainable" resource. (some of us are die-hard when it comes to eliminating reliance on petroleum fuel) Do a search under "Tuna Can Backpacking Stove" and you'll come to *many* internet available designs. One of these uses a chopped up soda can.

Of course the disadvantage of these tuna can stoves is that they are not exactly "controllable." You get heat or you don't mostly. Performance wise they're more along the capability of the nesbitt or "heat-tab" stoves that the MREs come with. Good for boiling water for MREs or freeze dried food but just try to fry an egg without burning it in the frypan.

Anyway, no stove solution is the idea solution. Surprisingly, some environmentally sustainable people are going to little "twig burners" which have a battery powered fan and give lots of heat with little or no smoke using only dry twigs (is there such a thing on the eastern seaboard?)

Be sure to carry soap to rub on the bottom of your pans if you go this route.

Best regards,
Joe
 
tangent

tangent

Membership Revoked
The Svea by Optimus is a proven design - it's actually the standard w/ Outward Bound cources - or at least was a few years ago. (Have a older logistics manual from them (Outward Bound) that has a large section on maintaining them - If you look them up and inquire, they will sell these and they are LOADED w/ useful info! - it's an "internal document"...) I recently broke down and bought a NOVA Optimus, and am REALLY IMPRESSED! I would recomend this stove. Very compact, lightweight, multi-fuel and an incredible piece of engineering. It also comes packed, standard, for maintainability. It's arround $120 retail or $90-95 on E-Bay - and WORTH IT!

On the other end of the spectrum, some years ago I bought a Peak one, by Coleman and against recomendations tried to use it indoors... (oops!). Right out of the box, the gasket on the pump failed and it turned into a flame thrower :shkr: - squirting a flame across the room about 15 feet! I was NOT impressed!

I didn't keep that stove...

-t
 
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bobkoi

Member
Jet Boil

I have one thing to say about jet boil: Yippie, skippie! Engineering genius absolutely. Within seconds the liquid is boiling with NO wasted heat. The insulated exterior of the container stays cool and I fiqure that you get about 60 uses with one very small container of fuel. The whole thing packs inside of itself for carry and storage. It even has a very cool french press. With only water and mountain house foods, one could live the life of a vagabond king.:lol:
 
Safecastle

Safecastle

Emergency Essentials Store
I get nothing but rave feedback from those who buy the Jetboil from me. It's not the kind of product you would typically use to heat up a trail meal for a whole family or group, obviously, but for one or two people, it really is quick, easy, and tough to beat.

Speaking of tough to beat, as always, I give super TB2K discounts on these items, as I do with everything in my store. ;)

Gotta email or PM me though--don't make the purchase thru the store.
 
C

cooter

cantankerous old coot
thought I posted last night on this, but its not there

got one of them off of JC, like bobkoi said on the engineering of that little thing,
,
I like mine, as a quote personal stove for a short term trip or BO it really is hard to beat as to speed and effeciency , if you do any reading from others on evaluations on this stove, there are those who walk around doing things while the stove is running and cooking and its being carried in the other hand, you could litterally cook on the run with this thing, and it does heat up quick
as to fuel, while its not a multifuel, you are not limited to just one cannister size, there are others that are larger that have the same thread style mount to the burner, and I took it one step farther, and made a adapter to allow using regular propane canisters if I was desperate

for its size ,performance, ect this little stove is a winner;)
 
Mark D

Mark D

Now running for Emperor.
The .mil guys that I know of, who have the option of using personal purchase items in the field, LOVE the Jetboil. I was blown away by how quickly the thing boiled water for tea upon my first exposure to the thing.

Big thumbs up.
 
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