Spotlight: ALOCS Kettle

Kettles are cute – I yielded to the temptation with the Trangia set and the Optimus standalone, but the scales then stroke back mercylessly: A Toaks 1350 straight pot with aluminum foil lid weighs in at 95grs and boils water as efficiently. If you stay with aluminum, the aluminum 1 liter pots are around the weight of the kettle or less, depending on volume, and the pots are more versatile – I would never consider to cook anything than plain water in a kettle. So what about decent pasta? For ultralight use, kettles are definitely out…

Well, yeah, they are not the lightest way of going. We use our kettles on day walks, just for the style … :-) Cheers

I DEFINITELY don't need one of these. But I dig the style points too, Roger! It has a great design.

Hi Todd > I DEFINITELY don't need one of these. Since when has that stopped a gear junky from buying something? :-) Cheers

How did you resist making a lighter lid?

I have the Trangia. I use it for base/car camping, never for hiking. I noticed the radial ridges in the bottom. These improve efficiency a bit by acting as a heat exchanger. Looks good, and, Thanks!

> How did you resist making a lighter lid? :-) There are only 24 hours in the day. But otherwise, it makes a kinda cute assembly as it is – and fine for day walks. Cheers

Given how light your bail is, a pan / kettle hybrid might be lighter but functional: would have a lip to pour, bail for easy pouring / proper kettleness :( I wonder why most backpacking manufacturers just make conventional little mini kettles…. * http://www.cascadedesigns.com/msr/cookware/rapid-cooking/titan-kettle/product

Looks really close to the GSI kettle that's been around a few years. http://www.gsioutdoors.com/tea-kettle-hae-1-qt.html

Had a Trangia kettle. I liked it a lot for winter-camping. Lost it somewhere in my girlfriend's apartment though. Haven't seen it for a few years now.

> There is the MSR Titan Kettle* but that is too narrow and made of pointlessly > expensive titanium :( I have one, and it's cute, but I agree it is not optimal. Rugged though. Cheers

> Looks really close to the GSI kettle that's been around a few years. True. I had a GSI kettle at one stage, but it was different. It had a seam around the bottom. That does not matter for boiling water, but you would not want to get any food caught in the seam. This GSI kettle looks identical to the ALOCS, but it may be slightly larger. The larger size could be useful for two people. My suspicion would be that both the ALOCS and the GSI come out of the same factory. Cheers