BRS-3000T stove Spotlite Review

[Adam Kilpatrick]

I had a double take at your Patio altitude, then I saw you are in Boulder. Some people have the life ;-)

5.67 vs 6 grams is pretty hard to rectify against the weight differences of the stoves in real use. That's a lot of required boils (on the same trip) to make up that difference. Personally I'd be more interested in other playoffs eg useability vs weight savings.

At 24grams I have a feeling it will make all my new esbit gear redundant before I've even started with it, certainly for any trip over a few days. Assuming the stove is stable and reliable enough. On the harder trips, saving 5-10 minutes in boil time every day by using gas is a big deal, even if the weight savings are negligible. Hmmmm.

[Roger Caffin]

I wondered about the current price for this stove.
Sales must have been very good, as the price on the Gearbest web site is now down to $10.99 with promo code BRS3000TCM, posted.
Pretty amazing, when you consider what the mainstream gear companies charge for a stove these days.

Cheers

[Mark Parry]

When I go to gearbest, not logged in, this stove shows up in the corner of the site as $10.99 in a "Gadget Deals" corner of the page which scrolls through 4 offers–it is the first offer shown when the site loads.

It is apparently being promoted very heavily to all of their shoppers right now.

[Ken Larson]

GO HERE

[Mark Parry]

My favorite part of that link is "Please note: The stove is not included". I think they mean the isobutane gas canister is not included.

[Gary Dunckel]

Doggone it, they did it again (lowered the price). I had no choice but to order 3 more to get my cost basis down. All my hiking friends will get one next Christmas. I'm sure that since I pulled the trigger again, they'll lower the price to $5.

[Stephen Parks]

Just 35 short days after shipment, my BRS-3000T arrived from Singapore. I have little experience with canister stoves, with my only other one being a Sol Ti, but this thing seems pretty cool. .89oz and tiny. The valve turns smoothly. I heated 2 cups of water on a low flame from 78 to 195 F with .14oz of fuel. It took 8 minutes on this very low flame, but it is fairly quiet when turned down that low.

Let's talk about potential reliability. I see a few important factors:
-threads: aluminum threads. Ok, just treat it gently, don't screw it down hard, and keep an eye on them.
-canister seal: again, don't screw down harder than needed. Could carry a spare.
-valve needle: this is quite simple, I don't see much to go wrong.
-valve seals: double seals give a little margin of safety. I don't know what they are made of, could replace with a known material
-jet: just a hole like any other I presume and could clog. Stuff a bit of filter material in there and make sure you can take it out to clean it in the field.

Am I missing anything here?

It isn't the same performance as my stripped Sol Ti, but with a Foster's pot and windscreen it is over 5 oz less!
Edit: I guess I would need to add a bit of weight for fire starting since there is no built in piezo. My backup mini-Bic now becomes my primary starter.

[Bob Moulder]

OK, I couldn't resist, but the price has skyrocketed to $14.32 with no shipping.

I ordered one just a couple of minutes ago, so let's see how long it takes. :^)

[Mark Parry]

I think it's still $10.99 if you use a promo code, BRS3000TCM. I ordered two yesterday and the deal still shows up on the gearbest gadget deals page.

[Gary Dunckel]

Yes, I bought 3 today at $10.99, with free shipping. You need to sign in (establish an account?) for the coupon code to work. On Feb. 26 I ordered 2 at about $15 each (I didn't know about the code), and I paid $1.99 extra for tracking because I wasn't sure we could trust them. They arrived 21 days later, but I had the hassle of having to drive into Boulder to sign for it at the post office due to the tracking. On March 20 I ordered 3 more at $11.49 each, no tracking, and they arrived in my mail box 28 days later. Both of those shipments came from Rotterdam, Netherlands. Since it looks like we can trust them, I bought 3 more today.

I'm fairly impressed with this little guy. It's not MSR or Snow Peak quality, but it seems adequate. I have gone through one 110 g. fuel canister with one, doing patio tests to see how it did at 30* F, and also to test my Bob Moulder copper strip HX. It seems to be somewhat erratic in a moderate breeze, a bit more so than my SP Giga. I'm thinking that I'll make a 3/4 wrap-around ti windscreen for it, and try for a 0.6 oz. additional weight penalty. I've made some tiny cuben draw string bags for them during the recent rain/snow cold front that just passed through. They're the same weight as the stock bag, but more water resistant. And they're far cooler.

All in all, I think it's a pretty sweet deal at $11. A man can't have too many of these cute little stoves (David, I'm looking at you). They'll make great party favors, or wow some poor starving college kids at a common food prep area in the Glacier Park backcountry.

[Brad Clarke]

I ordered my pair of BRS-3000T stoves on February 26th.

After a bit of a delay due to an out of stock item I had added to my order, it shipped on March 19th and arrived in Canada on March 31st.
It was held hostage by Canada Post/Canada Customs for almost 2 weeks; I finally got it in my hands on April 13th.

My wife was more excited to try the stove out than I was!

Now that I have it, I really like how compact it is.
The stove nests nicely in my GSI Stainless steel cup/pot, along with a 4 oz canister.
One of these will be tagging along with me on some kayaking adventures this year.

[Bob Gross]

Good Grief! That burner is tiny.

This one weighs 25 grams, but the way that it folds up for transport is amazing.

–B.G.–

[Bob Moulder]

Just got mine ( 2 of 'em) today… ordered 4/19, so a little over 2 weeks.

Did a quick test burn and was quite impressed with the flame control and wind resistance.

[Paul Magnanti]

I used it in the field this past weekend if anyone is curious.

http://www.pmags.com/alcohol-stove-alternative-hornet-brs-3000t

Short version: Nice little stove, probably best for solo use. Good alternative to alcohol stoves esp. when there is an open flame ban as well.

[Randy Nelson]

Nice Paul. I hadn't seen the windscreen article before so that was helpful as well. I ordered one a couple of weeks ago for the same purpose. All this rain following the snow has things looking pretty good for avoiding fire bans, and more importantly fires, this season. And a lot more to come it looks like. Let's hope it doesn't dry up a lot as the season goes.

[Paul Magnanti]

Amen to that Randy.

[todd]

Is it just me?

Or does this stove actually get SMALLER and lighter each time I take it out to look at it???? :)

[DGoggins]

In case someone hasn't seen it, Ruta Locura has now made a package with a modified brs-3000T ->

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=103030

Still thinking about the pros and cons vs the stock jetboil. Mainly, burn time and fuel efficiency…

[Mark V.]

Mine just arrived today (It was ordered on April 19th). I am impressed by the small size. It is sized perfectly for my BatchStovez 22oz pot. It is very stable even at a rolling boil.

[DGoggins]

How durable is the BCR pot? Is it as bendable as a fosters beer can or quite a bit more durable?

[Mark V.]

The BCR pot is much more durable than the Fosters can, with much thicker aluminum. It would take some deliberate action to bend it. I think the only thing that the BCR pot has in common with the Fosters can is the relative size. The lid just sets on top, which is great for boiling, but no so good for packing.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

The BCR pot is also anodized so you don't have to worry about leaching of the plastic liner.

[DGoggins]

@Mark

Do you have a small scale so you could do 1-2 test boils to see how many grams it takes to boil 2 cups of cold water? Supposedly you'll want to only turn it on 1/4 of the water to a "medium-low" setting b/c at higher settings there isn't complete gas combustion (you might smell the gas at high settings)

[Mark V.]

OK, I just did two unscientific test boils with the BRS-3000T stove and the BCR 22 oz. pot.
Setting – In my kitchen
Each boil started with two cups cold tap water (no temp as I could not find a thermometer)(I said that this was unscientific)
Fuel – Jet Boil “Jetpower” canister (same canister used for each boil).
First boil start weight – 194 grams (All weights include the fuel canister and stove combined)
First boil end weight – 186 grams
First boil total fuel used – 8 grams
Second boil start weight – 186 grams
Second boil end weight – 180 grams
Second boil total fuel used – 6 grams
Average – 7 grams per boil
Photos of the set up and the flame setting:

[Bob Moulder]

Mark,

Based on my experience with other vessels, I'm pretty sure that if you turned the flame down you would see longer boil times but significantly greater fuel efficiency… more like 5g consistently per boil.

Also, a wider-based pot is more efficient, but you're using what you're using.

In general, if the flame extends beyond the base of the pot a lot of energy is being wasted, so I like to ensure that the tips of the flames don't get anywhere near the edges.

[Author]

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