MSR Windboiler Stove: Trail Report

> Accompanying me was ace mountain guide, Joycie, without whom this difficult ascent
> would no doubt have been impossible.
Does she contract?

Cheers

Well, she does, but most clients object to carrying her when she gets tired. For whatever reason I seem to actually enjoy it.

She did very well climbing two peaks over 8000’/2400m in elevation each, both “off trail” (although there is a pretty clear “climbers trail”). The saddle connecting the two involves a fairly steep descent down the west face of Mt. Williamson:

She came all the way down and then went back up after we did our side trip to peak 8160+. She did it on her own except for some hand holding.

This was a 7 mi/11 km trip in fairly rough terrain. I was quite impressed that she could do it at age 5.

I did carry her the last couple of km though. All in a days work (and loving every minute of it).

HJ
Adventures in Stoving
Hikin Jim’s Blog

Ah, Jim, you are well on the way to creating one of the most wonderful things in the hiking world: a daughter (or son) who will enjoy hiking with you for the rest of her life. How do I know it's so wonderful? Cuz I have three kids who still enjoy hiking with me, and now their kids are hiking too! Congrats, man! You're doing it right!

Oh yeah, nice stove! ;)

Ah, Jim, you are well on the way to creating one of the most wonderful things in the hiking world: a daughter (or son) who will enjoy hiking with you for the rest of her life. How do I know it’s so wonderful? Cuz I have three kids who still enjoy hiking with me, and now their kids are hiking too! Congrats, man! You’re doing it right!

She’s a really sweet kid, Stephen. I don’t know how *I* wound up with such a sweetheart. And they say there is no God?

You know I spent a lot of time in the backcountry with my dad. Those were special times. There was an intimacy there, of father and son pulling together. Hard times too, like the time we went out on a day hike, f*cked up majorly, and didn’t come back for 3 days. But I remember the good times, and they were so good. All of my best memories of my dad were out on the trail somewhere, up in the Sierra near a stream.

Yeah, I want that for my daughter.

Oh yeah, nice stove!

Stoves give me an excuse to make the hike a little shorter, gives my daughter a break, and gets good hot food for my little girl so she’s not just eating granola bars. Heck, she’s probably seen more stoves than most guys on BPL, and she’s only five!

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin’ Jim’s Blog

And speaking of stoves, I did a quick post on my blog about the MSR Windboiler with a hanging kit.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin’ Jim’s Blog

I’ve updated my blog post with a brief video showing the flame pattern when the gas is turned down low. Have a look if you like: The New MSR Windboiler – Trail Report #1

Based on the testing on two “field” trips and on the testing that I’ve done at home so far, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Windboiler struggles a bit at low flame (see the video on my blog). The flame tends to go out. Note the black spot (gap) in the flame in the photo below. The burner is quite wide. There just isn’t enough gas to propagate a flame across the entire burner when the gas is on low. This limits true simmering (i.e. a very low boil, just barely bubbling).

Now, does this matter? Well, most people who buy an integrated canister stove are looking for speed and convenience. To them, probably it doesn’t matter. To someone who wanted to do more sensitive cooking, it might matter very much, but again I don’t think that’s the typical customer for this type of stove. If you’re looking for heat output, the Windboiler has plenty of that.

Based on the reputation of the Mini-Mo, and I stress reputation (I haven’t tested one), it sounds like the Mini-Mo is the better stove for those who want a very low flame. The Windboiler is probably the better choice for windproofness, but I haven’t run head-to-head tests with a Jetboil. Yet.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin’ Jim’s Blog

I did a quick try with a firesteel on the Windboiler. Not only did it work, but it worked surprisingly well. Details: Lighting the Windboiler.

Next, I tried a hand held piezoelectric ignition.

Results? Not so good. I couldn’t get it to light.

Nothing huge, but interesting stuff. Always nice to know what the options are.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving
Hikin Jim’s Blog

Hey Jim.

Nice report(s). I've never really been a fan of these types of stoves but I have to admit that the simplicity of it and how fast it comes out, lights up, and boils water is pretty nice.

I ended up winning one of these from MSR :) I took it to the coast over near me and it light right up in a stiff breeze and made a hot tea with no problems, and no fiddling around with windscreens or trying to get it lit.

I might be a fan now!

I appreciate the detailed evaluation you are doing with the Windboiler, Jim. This stove looks pretty good overall.

As an aside, I think I had mentioned that we were able to borrow a Windboiler from the local MSR rep for "show and tell" at our meet-up group. I took my scale to the meeting Tuesday night and weighed all the components of the stove, to compare with your results and also MSR's stated weights. Every component was a bit heavier than your stated weights, and this particular complete stove, sans fuel, came in at 482 grams (17.00 ounces). So there might be a considerable variation from stove to stove. But 17.0 oz. is significantly heavier than MSR's stated weight of 15.24 oz., and your observed weight of 16.12 oz.

Also, since my 1.0 L. Reactor weighs 14.3 oz., I really don't see much of an advantage that the Windboiler has (other than maybe the cup, which I probably wouldn't take along). Even without the cup the stove we had still weighed 15.8 oz. However, if the cozy can enhance fuel efficiency, maybe that would favor the Windboiler over the Reactor. I look forward to the results of your fuel consumption tests.

So for now, I think that your lovely little princess wins Best of Show.

I ended up winning one of these from MSR   :)   I took it to the coast over near me and it light right up in a stiff breeze and made a hot tea with no problems, and no fiddling around with windscreens or trying to get it lit.

Dude! Nice score.

Would it be possible for you to try a quick test? Try to simmer with it. My experience is that it has a lot more control than a Reactor, but it won’t get a true simmer (i.e. a very low boil where the water is just barely bubbling). In my Trail Report I go into my experience in detail and show a video of the stove going out spontaneously on low flame.

I’d be SUPER curious if you get the same results that I do. I don’t want to do my final review based on a one-off occurrence. I may have gotten a dud stove or something. It happens.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin’ Jim’s Blog