" Does the weekender's heat exchanger ring make a difference in boil times? It seems like the most convenient beginner setup for what I need, especially since I could cook for a few people if needed."
–It totally does, boiling water much faster than a non HE pot on another Crux and using the same fuel. Folks here on BPL have figured out that the increased efficiency does not save more fuel than the HE ring added to the pot adds in gram-weight on short trips, but I have to tell you: I love this and other HE pots for the faster boil times.
Anecdote Break: just this past summer, we got caught in one heck of a rain storm while on the River Trail below Thousand Island Lake. It was a cool/cold rain, with wind and heavy enough that the trails flooded as we tromped through 3-4" flowing water. Everybody was real wet below the waist(we packed rain gear for above the waist) and. on a break, I noticed that a few of the guys were looking cold. They were certainly feeling a bit intimidated on their first day of their first-ever High Sierra trip, as a few hours of 45-degree rain will do, and muttering to one another as we hunkered next to trees during a particularly hard part of the storm. I noted a few blue lips.
So, I crouched down, whipped out the Crux Weekender, dumped about 800 ml of water into the pot, lit it up…bang, instant fire a la' canister stoves and in the cold, windy rain I had a boil inside 2 minutes. I dumped in some coconut water drink mix, created hot "tea" and served all six of us in nothing flat.
It was just a quick sip, really, but hot "tea" is certainly good for the soul, and electrolytes are good, too! The hot felt good in the hands and in the belly. We chased that with some nuts and a bite of jerky. With the cold weather, the pot was cool practically as soon as I dumped the tea and it was raining hard enough that I just held it out to "rinse". I had the whole stove put away and we were back on trail after a 10 minute break. Any canister stove would fire like that, but the HE pot boils the water faster. I like faster.
With the .9l pot, you can cook for two, easily. If you're cooking "4 servings", you're just a tad shy and will need either a 1 liter pot or to do two boils. Of course, if you're doing Mountain House foods, you can cut back the water to avoid the "soup effect and then the .9 is fine.
