Jetboil Personal Cooking System

Bottom Line: I used to be a lightweight alcohol stove freak! I had an alcohol stove and pot stand that weighed under 2 ounces. I also thought my setup was the one of the best because I kept it all under 15 ounces with enough fuel to boil 16 cups of water (~ 3.78 liters). I believed my alcohol stove was far superior even after I met people with the Jetboil Personal Cooking System (PCS) and saw how easy it was. I just couldn t admit to myself that all the extra weight was worth the speed and that cup it comes with. I was so wrong.

MY TEST - I finally decided to give into using the Jetboil this summer when I went on a ~230 mile trip in the Sierras hiking the John Muir Trail from north to south. I hiked this with my brother and we decided to carry only one of each of the community type items: filter, camera, stove, and maps. I did not have an additional pot to fit my alcohol system, but I could use my pot with the Jetboil as long as my brother boiled the water for me. I told my brother that he had to carry that monstrosity. We carried the Jetboil the entire length and cooked at elevations from 8,400 feet to 11,000 feet and in temperatures from 40 degrees to 75 degrees F.

THE SPECS ~ because what I ve measured does not quite equal the Jetboil.com website. This is what you can expect.

Weight: ~ 15 ounces (with fuel 100g)
Cup Weight: ~ 8 ounces
Volume: 1 liter (4.2 cups)
Boil Time 2 cups: 2 minutes 4 minutes (depending on full canister, temperature, etc)
Water Boiled on 1 Jetpower Canister: 11-13 liters (around 50 cups)
Calculated Efficiency: 75%

Additional Items We Carried
Pot Support & Stabilizer 2 ounces (~$20)
Jetpower Fuel 3.53 fluid ounces or ~ 7 ounces ($3.5)

USING THE JETBOIL

Using the Jetboil is as easy as screwing in a light bulb, pouring water, turning a knob, and pushing a button.

The Jetboil is a self-contained unit system, which means you can store all the necessary items for the Jetboil s operation inside the Jetboil cup. The only items that are not in the Neoprene cozy cup are your spork/spoon, and the water you use. Even with the additional canister stabilizer and pot support we carried, all the items still fit into a size a little smaller than a Nalgene bottle.

After unpacking the fuel canister (which is unscrewed each packing), the pot stabilizer (used if you want to boil water in a pot and not the Jetboil cup), and the burner base you are ready to cook.

Fill your cup up to the desired level with water. Jetboil does not suggest boiling over 2 cups of water and that is why they only show the 1 cup and 2 cup marks. I will cover my recommendations for water later. I fill the cup up with water first because there is no need to waste fuel doing this after you ve ignited the fuel.

Remove the fuel canister cap (you should always put this back on after use) and screw in the burner base. You do not need to tighten so much that it is difficult to detached. Place the system on a flat surface or into the canister stabilizer. Now, you simply turn the fuel control valve about way (you ll hear the fuel) and push the igniter button. You should know where the igniter button is before you turn on the fuel. It is off to the side, so you won t be able to see them at the same time. You might have to push the button a couple times. If it take more, though this is rare, turn off the fuel and retry. If you cannot ignite, you might have too little fuel, it might be too cold, or you might have damaged the ignition. Troubleshoot using the directions Jetboil provides you with each stove. Jetboil tells you to not over tighten, however, sometimes you do not get the right burn or no ignition unless you tighten the canister enough you are going to have to figure your own system out.

The cup has a plastic cover you must remove from the bottom, which protects the exhaust vents and heat transfer fins (accordion looking metal pieces). This cover also allows you to eat out of the cup right after you boiled your water if attached without burning your hands. The newer Jetboils have tabs the keep the cup from falling off, however, the one we were using was older and you could just pull it off easily. You can either get used to pulling off the cup using more force or cut the tabs with a pocketknife. It will not affect the function.

After the ignition, place your cup on the burner lining up the slots in the cup with the slots in the burner. Practice this before your first ignition. You can then turn the cup to lock it into the burner or just be careful not to bump it. We did not lock the cup into place as the exhaust vents sometimes expanded and it was difficult to remove the burner just after the heat was extinguished.

We always placed the lid on top of the cup while boiling to prevent debris from entering and to just help with heat retention a little bit.

HOW WE USED IT - The Jetboil can be used for a medium simmer (better with pot and pot supporter) and even cooking liquid foods, however, we never used the Jetboil to heat anything other than water. We would prepare the water for dehydrated or freeze dried meals, coffee (consumed from the cup after steeping), and oatmeal (poured into the boiling water). Jetboil does not recommend cooking low moisture foods.

We always used the stove on max fuel output even though you can turn down the valve to simmer meals. Though I have not done this myself, others on the trail with Jetboils said that it is the best simmering canister system out there. Liquid fuel stoves were more popular for simmering and baking than the Jetboil.

We carried freeze dried meals in ziplock bags to reduced space, but did carry one Mountain House 2 serving bag to cook our food in after we added the contents of the ziplock and the boiling water. We used Mountain House meals, so the directions were exactly the same. We would wash our bags out at night (use water to get most of the left over food off the sides and drink it more hydration and calories!!) and carry them in our bear vaults.

I still carried my pot for coffee and oatmeal and it even helped out a hiker that did not have a pot but did have noodles he wanted to cook that night. I guess he saw my pot lying there and told us about how he forgot his. He required 3 cups of water, so - against Jetboil s legal disclaimer to not boil more than 2 cups of water due to potential boilovers we boiled the water in about 8 minutes.

Over a period of the last 7 days and a New Jetpower canister we cooked:
6 cups of water at ~ 40 degrees F for breakfast oatmeal
3 cups of water at ~ 45 degrees F and raining for coffee
~20 cups of water at ~ 70 degrees F for dinner meals
~6 cups of water at ~50 degrees F and raining for dinner meals
3 cups of water at ~ 70 degrees F for unprepared hiker with noodles

That s 38 cups of water or about 9 liters of water without even coming close to running out. Before we left the final camping store for civilization, we ran the stove for about another 30 minutes full blast to empty the canister before it began to sputter.

THE GOOD

Measuring Cup - The cup protector is also a measuring cup in US measurements up to a cup in 1/4 cup marks.

Ease of Use - I will never hike with an alcohol stove again because I ve never been so motivated to break out a stove and heat up water than now. Before it was a balancing act with the little stove, the windscreen, the potholders, pouring alcohol, etc. Now, it is just unpack, screw in, and heat water.

Actual Weight is Less than Other Stoves - In comparison with my old alcohol stove, Jetboil is by far lighter. I was doing these calculations in my head as I hiked and hiked (you all know you have a lot of time to think).

7 days of meals (double to quadruple servings) = 13 cups of water. I did not heat up water for breakfast or beverage. I could boil about 2 cups of water using 1 ounce of fuel (slightly greater fluid ounces) so around 6-7 ounces of weight. My alcohol stove weighed 1.6 ounces complete, pot ~ 6 ounces, and cozy ~ 1.2 ounces. The total weight for my old setup for 7 days of cooking would be just shy of 16 ounces. Now with a Jetboil and 16 ounces, I could actually cook closer to 4x the amount of water. That means less worrying about finding alcohol as I only have to resupply about every 3-4 weeks - if I m alone. This does not seem like much, but imagine long distance hikes with just a couple friends where you can go the whole trip without having to worry about leaving the trail and hitting a town? You cannot do that out in the Sierras!

NOTE notice I am talking about many meals and many miles on the trail. See my BAD comments below about weight to burn efficiency.

Easy Packing/Stowing - When packed properly, everything fits. You can even pack in the extras like the stabilizer, pot support, and a french press. The properly packed system is tight, doesn t rattle, and your canister is safe from damage.

Compatibility - Even though Jetboil does not want you to know this, you can use other canister on with this stove like Snowpeak. Other canisters allow for greater fuel load as well if you move up to a larger canister Jetboil does not offer.

Fuel Consumption - The fuel consumption for the Jetboil cannot be matched. Test after test shows the Jetboil uses the least amount of fuel in calm, windy, and even windy conditions where other canister systems had a windscreen. With no additional product, the Jetboil PCS used from 2x to 4x less fuel in windy conditions (backpackinglight.com test). You can only read the tests if you are a member, but trust me, better fuel consumption, better heat transfer, better, better, better.

THE BAD - Not too much

Just 1 or 2 cups? - I m not sure about you, but I ve seen meals that don t just come with requirements for 1 or 2 cups of water. There should be at least 1/2-cup marks inside for better judgment.

Cold Temperatures - The boil times for Jetboil do decrease as the temps drop. I can only say that the fuel consumption is still much better at lower temperatures and makes up for it being par at boil times. Jetboil just does not stand out at lower temperatures, but it is not worse. If you add wind into the equation, the Jetboil will standout again.

Better for Long Distance Hiking - This kind of contradicts my earlier argument that you get more bang for the buck (or burn for the ounces) with the Jetboil. The rule of thumb for the Jetboil is the longer you are out or the more water your boil, the better the return. A 3-4 day trip might not be worth the 1 pound of weight because you really wont need all of the efficiency. You might be better off with another canister stove.

EXTRAS More things you can buy at Jetboil.com
- Additional Cozies in difference colors
- A Companion Cup: why carry two systems when you can just carry another cup that fits on the burner?
- french Press: You can brew your own coffee out there without those coffeebags
- Canister Stabilizer better for cooking on uneven ground
- Pot Support what if your friend or brother brings a pot that is twice the diameter of the Jetboil burner?
-
OVERALL - I recommend this stove for all long distance hikers and for average hikers that don t count ounces.

I ve been camping all my life and I ve always dreaded the setup and cleanup related to cooking. I never dreaded cooking with the Jetboil. I like the 5-8 minute from my pack to boiling water time. I like the cup you can eat out of if you don t have freeze dried cooking packs. I like the clean up if you eat out of your cup (stir water around and drink). If you boil water in it within 24 hours, I don t worry too much about bad things growing in there.

The price is a little higher than most canister systems at around $100 with the extras we took. If you add on a titanium pot for other canister systems, you might be saving money buying this.

My experience in the Sierras made a believer out of me. I resisted, however, I saw the light eventually.

THEIR AWARDS
America's Best - Reader's Digest
Editor's Choice - Backpacker
The Gear of the Year - Outside
Coolest Inventions - Time
Best of What's New - Popular Science

Check out REI's page for demos