Cookset advice – fuel efficiency of JetBoil worth the extra weight?

[Richard Knight]

Hi BPL,

I used the JetBoil Flash on my SOBO thru-hike of the AT last year, and it worked great. Certainly it wasn’t the lightest option, but it was super convenient, fast, and I made coffee every morning and the French press attachment was a breeze.

This September I’d like to finish the northern section of the Long Trail (anyone want to join?!?). I’m looking into changing my cookset, and am considering the MSR PocketRocket and some type of titanium pot/large mug. This would save me about half a pound (JetBoil + coffee press, 14.9 ounces, versus PocketRocket 3.2 oz, Snow Peak 700ml 4.8 oz, and some type of coffee filter 1.0 oz, minus weight savings by using Snow Peak AS my mug [1.8 oz], 7.2 ounces).

So great, I’d save 8 ounces. However, how much consideration should I take into account regarding fuel efficiency? Maybe I’d be burning through canister fuel faster and thus have to carry more. Does anyone have an idea as to just how much more fuel efficient the JetBoil is versus the setup I could switch to? And hey, maybe the JetBoil isn’t THAT much more efficient than I think. Just wondering your thoughts!

Check out my draft LT itinerary and gear list, let me know if you have any advice/thoughts!  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KY3CedsBEHk7mfYJZv6BCRxK_iJmQiWOWxpTMRbbqmU/edit?usp=sharing

[Gary Dunckel]

Well, The Jetboil’s efficiency isn’t due to that heavy burner, but rather the cup with its integrated heat exchanger. Last summer we figured out how to modify a Jetboil Sol cup so that a BRS-3000T stove (.9 oz.) would work with it. My titanium Sol version comes in at 13.9 oz, complete with a 4 oz. fuel canister. It has the same fuel efficiency as the stock JB setup (4-5 grams per 2-cup boil). The thing here is that only certain burners will work with the Jetboil cups, most notably that BRS-3000T. However, there are other brands that have a heat exchanger pot, Olicamp for one. You would have to figure out for yourself which stove will work with which pot.

[Link .]

.Best Backpacking Stove System – Trail Designs Caldera vs. JetBoil.

[Jim C]

Hikin’ Jim (no relation) wrote about this on Adventures in Stoving.

If you do decide to go with a on-top stove, I think there are plenty of better choices than the PocketRocket.

[Ken Thompson]

“If you do decide to go with a on-top stove, I think there are plenty of better choices than the PocketRocket.” +1

The aforementioned BRS 3000T for instance works great with a small mug.   You should consider adding in a windscreen to your set up. You should be able to get about 16 boils out of a 110 canister.

I think the only reason why the Pocket Rocket is so popular is that it is sold everywhere. Which does not mean that it is good. Only that it meets a price point being offered by a major brand who offers a huge range of outdoor equipment, Cascade Designs.

[David Thomas]

There are clearly trips where the weight of the heat exchanger pots saves more weight in fuel.  Four day trip, four people, melting snow for water?  Obviously.  I always bring a (large) HX pot for those trips.

There are clearly trips where the HX weight isn’t worth the total pounds-miles.  A solo overnight.  Bring 4 to 8 ounces more pot/Jet-Boil but save only 15 grams over fuel over a few boils.

And note “pounds-miles”.  The HX pot is carried the whole length of a trip.  The “saved” fuel is not being carried (just like the fuel you use) for, on average, half the trip, if you’ve planned your fuel supplies perfectly.  So for to reduce your average pac weight, the HX needs to save twice its weight in fuel.  That’s certainly a longer journey with a larger group.

OTOH, the HX pot gives you several things in addition to fuel weight savings.  It gives you fuel cost savings (you buy the pot once, but you burn fuel on every trip).  It makes your meal and hot drinks sooner and that is a big plus on a winter trip.   If you start with a full canister by default, and the HX would leave you with extra fuel at your next resupply, maybe you indulge in the luxury of more hot drinks and a hot shower occasionally.  I do.

And HX pots have downsides apart from their higher weight.  They are more fragile and you can’t start the stove without water in the pot.  I would be concerned about frying in a HX pan without water constantly absorbing the heat from the HX/pot weld so it is less versatile in that way.

Other brands of pots have a french press attachment.  I think my OliCamp does.  I know I got a French Press attachment for a non-JetBoil pot.

[Ken Thompson]

The Jetboil French Press fits perfectly on the Snow Peak 700.

[Jerry Adams]

I don’t get all the Pocket Rocket hate.  I used one for years without problem.  I think they all have about the same efficiency.  They all need a windscreen.  It weighs maybe 1 or 1.5 ounces more than the lightest stoves.  I’m talking plain stoves, not HX versions.  (Okay, maybe hate is too strong a word : )

Isn’t the BRS 3000T the one that has a high failure rate initially?  You should really disassemble it and make sure there isn’t manufacturing residue in it?

If I had to buy a stove, I might buy the BRS 3000T because I don’t mind disassembling it.  If I had a Pocket Rocket already, I’d just stay with that.

There’s an advantage to a design that’s been around for a long time like the Pocket Rocket, although that doesn’t mean they couldn’t start manufacturing it differently such that they have problems.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Be aware, I have purchased four BRS 3000 T: 1/4 had junk in the valve and the rest were great.  More importantly, 2/4 had to be screwed down onto the canister extremely tight in order to engage the valve.

[Brad Rogers]

I always preferred the Snow Peak Gigapower over the Pocket Rocket back when I regularly used canister stoves.

That being said I have a hard time making the math work to make a canister stove much less a jetboil more weight efficient than a Caldera Cone.  Now I don’t boil a ton of water and if you boil lots of water it takes fewer and fewer days to make it worthwile, but for me it is well over two weeks.

 

[Ken Thompson]

The Pocket Rocket didn’t do well in Roger’s CO testing. The pot supports aren’t the best. I too am a Snow Peak fan. Since the OP is considering the PR it is good to know alternatives.

I totally agree with Brad and the cone route. Plus it’s silent. I like that.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I’ve gone stoveless a lot lately, most recently because my stove blew up. I can add instant coffee to a protein shake. I can even add instant coffee to my breakfast. Just dump it right in and mix it up. Tastes okay. Most food taste okay cold. People sort of joked about Gossamer Gear’s product to cook your dinner in your crotch, but actually I’ve been doing a version of that for a long time, making stuff in a ziploc and stashing it in my bra or in a part of my pack where the sun will heat it up. Pasta is about the only thing you really have to cook. Other things can be soaked. Instant potatoes are instant even with cold water. Being freed from the requirement of a stove is quite liberating. It gives you options. Perhaps now I can select the absolute lightest stove option possible and plan just one or two hot meals instead of being a slave to the stove for every meal. Or maybe just use fuel to do a final heat-up after soaking things for a few hours. Sometimes now I will share the stove with my partner. He’ll heat up a little extra water for me and then I don’t have to carry the whole stove, nor do I have to burden him/us with fuel for two since I’m not heating all my meals or making hot coffee every day.

[Cameron M]

My own conclusion is that a BRS 3000 T paired with my .5oz DIY windscreen and a 110 g canister is the most weight efficient setup if I need 16 65cl boils. If I need a few more boils, I throw in a few Esbits. If I need much less, then Esbit only. I just don’t understand the Jetboil fantasy.

[Roger Caffin]

I have several BRS-3000T stoves and they have all worked very well.

I don’t like the Pocket Rocket for two reasons: the flame is very concentrated, burning whatever is being cooked, and the long thin pot supports are too weak and bendy. i guess MSR get a cheap price from Asia for it.

Stoveless? No coffee or hot dinner? In cold weather?

My 2c
Cheers

[Paul S]

What about a beer keg setup. The 750mL pot, pot lid, and cozy are 1.55oz, pot stand is 1.20oz, and Esbit stove 0.21oz

[Dena Kelley]

I’ve been a Pocket Rocket user for years with no problems. I only use it to boil water, not to “cook”- I use freeze dried meals, so I don’t have the problems that Roger reported. I haven’t had problems with the pot supports – I use a 750ml Ti pot and it’s worked just fine. I have gone out with friends that have a Jetboil and they do boil slightly faster than me- obviously things are going to be dependent on ambient temp and wind but if they boil in 120 seconds, I generally boil by 140 seconds. Not much difference. I think the Jetboil system is more fussy, though. Perhaps on longer outings than the weekenders I generally do I might want one due to the better efficiency, but so far the Pocket Rocket has served me well.

[Jim C]

Perhaps I came across as too negative towards the Pocket Rocket. If you’ve already got one, there needn’t be any reason to be unhappy with it. But I wouldn’t recommend it for someone buying their first top mount canister stove, since there are many choices out there that are either smaller, lighter, less expensive, more stable, better at simmering/cooking, or some combination of those. MSR’s own Micro Rocket ticks all those boxes, except “less expensive”.

[Paul McLaughlin]

My take is , if you have a stove you have used and liked, stick with it. The difference in weight between any combination of canister-top stove and pot and another just isn’t worth much effort. Yes, the jetboil is more efficient because of the HX pot and the partially effective windscreen action of its configuration, Yes, it also weighs more. So maybe a nice Kovea and an olicamp pot ends up saving you a couple ounces. And if you don’t have a stove why not get the setup that is lightest? But if you have the Jetboil, and you’ve been happy, I say stick with it if it works for you.

[Stephen Parks]

I dug out some testing data from last year.  All runs are 2 cups water, ~74F air temp, Primus Power Gas fuel, no lid.  Kit weights include empty canister weight, and the weights with the Friskies/Fosters pot include a foil windscreen and lid and cap – the lid wasn’t used during the trials, but I do use it on the trail.

BRS-3000T set quite low (very quiet) and my Friskies/Fosters pot w/ Al foil windscreen:
35F to 197F, 11:34, .20oz fuel = .13 g/LC [grams of fuel per (liter of water times Celcius degrees of water temperature change)]

BRS-3000T set to medium (making some noise, but not roaring, and flames not extending past the bottom of the can) and my Friskies/Fosters pot w/Al foil windscreen (6.78oz):
34F to 199F, 6:49, .24oz fuel = .16g/LC

BRS-3000T set to medium with bare Jetboil Sol Ti pot and spacer ring w/o windscreen (8.7oz):
41F to 197F, 5:35, .17oz fuel = .12g/LC

Jetboil Sol Ti burner set to max and bare pot w/o windscreen (10.92oz):
39F to 205F, 1:52, .17oz fuel = .11g/LC

My conclusions are that using the jetboil pot with the BRS-3000T is only worth the weight if it allows you to extend a canister enough to avoid a second canister or larger canister.  Stepping up to the jetboil burner is only worth the weight if the fast boil time is worth it to you.

On the Wonderland Trail last and Goat Rocks last year I used the Friskies/Fosters pot with the BRS-3000T  on “medium” and one 4oz. MSR canister lasted me 13 days, heating 3-4 cups per day for food, and there was one, maybe two, heatings for a hot water bottle during the trip.  Weather was mostly warm, and wind wasn’t an issue, so this was really best case.  It was so perfect though – I ran out of fuel at the end of the last heating of the last day.

[Author]

Posts