JETBOIL STOVE ROCKS!!

“Buddur... who's "Al" since we're all giving and taking credit for stuff here? WHO'S AL????!?

LOLOLOLolololol”

“Some Further Comment on the Design Posted: Mar 10, 2004 8:05 PM Reply

Posted by: Aushiker Posts: 314 / Registered: Feb, 2002
This was posted by Roger Caffin - http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/ on BackpackGearTest.org @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BackpackGearTest/ and I thought it might be of interest here. His comments follow:

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The JetBoil outfit consists of a couple of things (imho):

* The stove is basically a standard propane/butane gas stove with EN417 screw fitting and Lindahl valve. It has a plastic shroud, piezo ignition and a good radiation shield between the burner and the cartridge. The inclusion of this radiation shield is good for summer but means that use of the stove in winter conditions is likely to be unsatisfactory. I don't think you can remove the shield to let the burner warm up the cartridge, so the butane may never vaporise under very cold conditions. The plastic shroud is basically non-functional and extra weight. The burner looks stock - it has to be to burn the fuel.

* A special pot with a heat exchanger welded to the base and an insulated sleeve (aka pot cozy) around it. The pot cozy is not worth much except as a way of stopping you from burning your fingers. I know from experience that a shiny pot surface will lose very little heat, so the cozy is just cosmetic. The heat exchanger is really their claim to fame. It consists of radial fins (ie like spokes of a wheel) designed to give a larger heat capture area, exactly the same as the finned heat exchanger on the CPU chip inside your PC. Also pretty much the same as the heat exchanger MSR sells. However, my gut feeling is that the added efficiency of these fins is going to be low: they are too thin. Of course, if you made them fatter they would add a lot of weight.

* A marketing claim of a 90 second boil time compared with the industry standard of 3.5 -4 minutes. Well, ho hum. First of all, the only independent test I know about found that the boil time was still about 4 minutes, Second, as I may have said before, who cares about the flat-out boil time anyhow? I want a stove which can *simmer* my stew. I don't care if it takes 2 minutes or 4 minutes to boil a litre of water (although 10 minutes with alcohol is TOO long).

The use of the little 100 gm cartridge is just for marketing to claim that the whole unit is small. I would not use such a cartridge in practice as the fuel to carttridge weight ratio is very poor. Go for the 220 g one, or even the 450 g one for very long trips.

Any claim that you need to use only THEIR cartridge is misleading. The EN417 standard requires complete interchangability. Anyhow, having opened up countless brands of cartridges and inspected the Lindahl valve inside, I firmly believe there is only factory in the world making this assembly! And I wonder who fills their cartridges anyhow - I am sure they do NOT.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with the stove. I am sure it works, just like any other gas stove. If you like the looks, fine. Just don't believe any of the hype. But hey - they got a lot of market buzz at the Utah show before the stove was tested. My equal money prediction is that they may survive a year or so, then disappear.

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Regards
Andrew”

“I don't believe I'll be investing in a JetBoil outfit any time soon. My Pepsi can stove will bring 16 oz. of 50 degree water to a rolling boil in 5.5 min., 33 degree water in 6.5 min with 1 oz. of fuel at a cost of $0.062. My entire cook kit, sans fuel, weighs about 5.5 oz. The JetBoil does not fill a need for me, but it may indeed be the answer to somebody else's prayers.”

“For those who boil a lot of water like me, this stove works well. Like I said, I can get 1 liter of water with 1/4 oz. of fuel.

When I go backpacking, I go for a week. One 8oz. canister will boil 32 liters of water and thats at 4600 feet where I live. Normaly when I go to the Winds, I have to take two canisters. One canister should last me a week now.

A pepsi stove just won't cut it at high altitude and in very windy conditions.

The reason they make the small canister is because it will fit in the cup along with the stove when packed away. I'm tellin you guys, It's a nice little setup.”

“Bought Luke a Jetboil stove tonight from EMS (ordered it online tonight).

How does everyone like theirs?”

“so it's not a surprise?

lol”

“Haha, no, cause he doesn't have room to keep stuff over there (limited storing space) and I don't wanna bring it on the plane (I fear for customs and international sh\t as it is) so I'm just going to store it here til he gets back since he won't be using it before then anyways. But I wanted to get it before I'm broke again (just got graduation money).”

“i love mine. they work well. a few of the scout troops have bought them from me and they are reporting back that they work great..especially with the Enertia meals.”

“Awesome, thanks, bink!”

“But I bought a hand operated GSI Vortex blender instead...gotta love frozen marguaritas on the river in the summer! ooh lala”

“I handled one in Atlanta weekend before last.
I didn't like the heatexchanger being permanmently attached to the cup part.
Did seem fairly light.

I thing I'll wait for the 2.0 version. Let them get all the bugs worked out.”

“Of Course Pennsy has one. Ask him about his eyebrows.”

“JETBOIL on sale through 5/31 at EMS

The online sale starts today and the sale in EMS stores starts Wednesday 5/26.”

“WHAT? It figures.. I bought it YESTERDAY.”

“Pennsy seems pretty happy with his.”

“yes! I have successfully transferred my chitty timeing on purchases to Scorchfire!

the voodoo dolls must've worked!”

“ya jerk”

“Now if only you could do that with your spelling, you'd be all set!

But seriously folks, how does this thing hold up in colder temps? I'm going to need to pick something up for winter camping, as the soda can stove is just not going to cut it below 40 degrees...”

“I'm digging my Jetboil. This past weekend, I considered taking my pepsi stove to save weight. The pepsi stove setup: stove, base, 8oz fuel, and titanium tea kettle, weighted only 2oz less than the Jetboil set-up, including the fule cannister. For 2 oz, I'll stick with the Jetboil any day.

Phantom Soul - it's still a canister stove with iso butane, and while it can probably be managed in cold temps, I'll still be using white gas when the temps drop below 30.”

“Well I think Luke will like the stove... (I think I will too, hehe).”

“Ok, so is it compatable with the MSR canister?”

“PhantomSoul - I have used my Pepsi stove into the 20's. Just don't put it on anything that will rob it of all its heat (through conductive loss), like a sheet of ice. Get it off the frozen ground with a little bit of wood or something and you won't have a problem.”

“bump - is it compatable with MSR canisters?”

“I better respond before hutchy's bump turns into a right hook. ;o)

Yes, it is compatable with the MSR canisters. But, the jetboil canister is more convenient because it is smaller, lighter, and it fits inside the pot while still being connected to the stove.”

“Looks cool but man, I gotta be able to use a windscreen..”

“Thanks Pennsy.

FYI, I'm left handed. ;-P”

“Are lefties just plain weird and out of synch with the rest of the world or are they smarter and more closely tied into the universe?”

“the latter”

“How did I know you'd say that. dhutch? ;-)”

“Pennsy, ever Jetboil I have seen are using the Giga cannisters. So a small MSR canister should work also.”

“ewker-the small MSR cannisters will work, but they won't nest inside the pot. They have the "jetpower fuel" that works as well and it will nest inside the pot”