Lightweight Integrated Canister Fuel Cooking Systems State of the Market Report 2011: Part 2 – Trends, Stove Ratings, and Selections

The original Jetboil Personal Cooking System, introduced back in 2004, was the first integrated canister fuel cooking system. Our in-depth Review of the Jetboil Personal Cooking System reported on its strengths and drawbacks. It's innovative and wonderfully fuel efficient and wind-resistant, but heavy and low in cooking capacity. It has become a hit with conventional backpackers, but its 15 ounce (425 g) weight is simply too heavy for lightweight backpacking, especially for solo use.

In 2009 Roger Caffin published his Evaluation of Heat Exchanger Stoves. He found that fuel savings doesn't come close to offsetting the weight of the heavy integrated stoves he tested, which included the MSR Reactor and Primus Eta Express in this roundup.

Now we have eight integrated canister fuel stoves, and there are notable advancements in heating rate, fuel-efficiency, wind-resistance, cold-resistance, cooking capacity, and weight reduction (read Part 1 for the details of our performance measurements). With Jetboil's spring 2011 introduction of several new integrated canister fuel stoves, plus the recent introduction of the Primus Eta Solo and MSR Reactor, we finally have enough stoves (eight to be exact) to justify a state of the market report in this category. Some of the stoves are quite lightweight, and definitely worth considering for lightweight backpacking and for solo use.

This state of the market report is divided into three parts:

Lightweight Integrated Canister Fuel Cooking Systems State of the Market Report 2011: Part 1 - Overview and Stove Performance Evaluation Provides an overview of the integrated canister fuel stove in relation to the conventional top-mount canister stove. Reports the results of our comparative performance tests (boil time, heating rate, fuel consumption, and gas mileage from a single canister of fuel) for four test conditions (calm, wind, protected from wind, and cold).

Lightweight Integrated Canister Fuel Cooking Systems State of the Market Report 2011: Part 2 – Trends, Stove Ratings, and Selections (this part) Highlights new developments in integrated canister fuel stoves. Presents our ideas for achieving weight efficiency and fully utilizing the advantages of integrated stoves for backpacking. Provides comparative specifications for lightweight (backpackable) integrated canister stoves, rates them according to appropriate criteria, and identifies the standouts for different situations and needs. Lightweight Integrated Canister Fuel Cooking Systems State of the Market Report 2011: Part 3 – Wrap Up and Reviews of All Stoves Included Presents our overall conclusions from the project and provides a review of each of the stoves evaluated.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

• Overview -- Lightweight Integrated Canister Fuel Stoves State of the Market Report 2011
• Introduction to Part 2 - Trends, Stove Ratings, and Selections
• Selection Criteria
• Stoves Included
• Trends
• Cooking Capacity - How Many People Will These Stoves Cook For?
• Evaluation Criteria
• Ratings for Lightweight Integrated Canister Fuel Stoves
  • Standouts
  • Standouts Based on Different Situations and Needs
• What's Good and What's Not So Good
  • Preview of Part 3

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