Planning on going with Brunton crux for first stove-Recommendations for cooking pot?

What kind of cooking will you be doing? For how many people? And will you be camping at really cold places (say below 15F)?

A typical pre-packaged freeze-dried "two-serving" (yeah, right) meal or packet of Jello (drink it hot in the winter) requires 16 oz, which is two cups or 1/2 quart (0.5 liters or 500ml). A cup of coffee, hot chocolate or two packets of instant oatmeal requires 8 oz, which is one cup (0.25 liters or 250ml). Now that you can figure out how much hot water you need, you can decide whether you want to heat it all at once or in multiple batches. With a canister stove it's no big deal to heat 16 oz of water in a 700ml (0.7) pot, then heat more water for hot chocolate or another person's meal. With an alcohol stove, it's easier to heat all your water at once, or at least enough for two meals, because some stoves have to burn out before you can refill, which is inefficient.

If you only boil water, coffee, hot chocolate, Jello or pasta in a pot then you probably don't need non-stick. The next time you boil water, the pot will be clean again. If you're going to actually cook in the pot, then non-stick might be worthwhile. I don't use my non-sticks any more because I like to pack stuff in the pot; doing so will scratch the coating badly. If you want non-stick and put items in the pot, get anodized. Titanium is often a bit lighter than aluminum and much sturdier. It varies, however. My one quart (1.0 liter) Mirro Grease Pot, available at Wal-Mart for about $6, weighs 4.3 oz. A Snow Peak Trek700 Titanium (0.7 liters), which cost about $35, weighs 4.5 oz. The Mirro is holding up fine; the Snow Peak sulks in the gear closet.

Another factor is bottom diameter. A canister stove usually has a more focused flame so you can get by with a narrow-base pot. An alcohol stove typically is more efficient with a wider pot, although they do work with narrow-bottom pots, such as the Heineken 24 oz 'keg' can (1.1 oz).

I generally use a one-quart (1.0 liter) pot because I can heat my water just once. This is more efficient with an alcohol stove and with a shared stove (I don't need to wait in line again). When I'm solo with a canister stove, I usually bring a smaller pot because it's no big deal to heat water in batches. Hope this helps.

I have a Crux, and it's great! I have to agree with the above comments, especially the one about pot diameter. I started out using a tall narrow Ti pot that was 3.75"d, and the flames came up all around the sides because the Crux's burner is so large. The Snow Peak's burner is tiny by comparison and probably wouldn't do that as much. That said, I would recommend a larger diameter pot (Wally World) as mentioned above, or a nice 3 cup, 5"d pot from Antigravitygear for $12.

Eric,
Sounds like you want a canister stove, and will actually be heating food in your pot, not just water, so I suggest the Jetboil PCS.
Stove, 1 liter anodized AL pot, pot lid, integrated windscreen, pot cozy, and 8oz drink cup all for $63 and 420grams. You can cram it in your pack, and it can take a lot of abuse.

If you want to cook a huge group meal occasionally, the stove works with any other companies larger pot. (with an optional pot support)

If the logistics of a hike suggest alcohol or solid fuel instead of canisters, you can leave the canister and stove commponents at home, the light jetboil pot works great with solid fuel tabs and alcohol stoves (you can make a $1 mesh pot support and a $1 pepsi can stove and store them in the pot with a foil lid).

It's a single integrated package for canister, solid, or alcohol fuel cooking, scalable from 1 meal alcohol cooking, up to multi-liter group spagetti feasts. Also melts water well in an alpine environment. You can hold it, even serve from it while ignited, suspend it to cook inside a tent, etc.

If you only have one stove now, this is the one to start with.

$63 here.
http://www.liverugged.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=JBL002&click=23

Hey Brett, thanks for the info and link. Good price for everything so I went with it. Seemed from your recommendation and the reviews like a great first stove. Ordered a couple of meal packages from them too to try. Appreciate the help everyone's giving me. Thanks again, Eric

i couldn't be happier with my brunton crux. i used it on my thru-hike of the pct in 2004 (and all other hikes since), and it performed fantastically. one fuel canister would last forever, for making ramen and mac n' cheese and such. just get it to a boil, and then simmer it very very low to cook for a few minutes. the flame adjustment is great, and it was good to have a reliable and fast stove when cooking in a tarptent vestibule in the rain!

a fuel canister and the stove fits nicely inside an titanium evernew 0.9L pot (rei), and that's perfect for cooking for one person. 1.3L is better for two. the pots are expensive, but clean very easily and are very light.

the crux (2006) is on sale at rei outlet for $39 and change.
http://www.rei.com/REI-Outlet/product/758704

I have the brunton and mostly like it. The one downside is that I have nearly tipped over my pot a number of times because the arms don’t provide the most stable surface. If I was cooking for 1-2 I would most likely go with the SnowPeak.

As far as pots go, I can’t recommend the Evernew .9L enough. A great size for open person. Easily usable for 2-3 if you are just boiling water.

More thoughts details, see my Recommendations about Misc Gear [Stoves, Pots, etc]

I have a JetBoil 1.5 L. pot due to its faster boiling times than my former 1.5 L. aluminum Outback pot.
I use it for all my stoves.

Howsomever I like the VARGO JET- TI burner for canister cooking due to its ruggedness, flame size and light weight.
BUT I use a Primus plastic, folding 3-leg canister stabilizer. Brunton has good stabilizer legs available too.

Eric B.

Speaking of the Brunton, it is a 3 pot-support stove, which is much less stable than a wide 4 leg stove. If you are not getting the Jetboil, I suggest doing some tipping tests with dry-weighted pots in the store before you buy. I prefer the inverted triangle shape of the 4 wide Snowpeak gigapower stove supports. But for someone less clumsy than me; maybe the others are fine..