MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe Issues

[Scott B]

Hello,

I searched the forums and interwebs, and didn’t find answers to my questions, so…

1. The pot supports are loose, and slip down as I try to set my pot on them. I am sure this problem is not unique- anybody have a solution?

2. The piezo quit working, and this stove is almost new- <20 days of use. Is there a way to repair this?

I am wondering if I should return the stove, or if these are common problems, and might occur in a new stove, just keep it and live with the issues.

Thanks

[Ryan Jordan]

I have 100+ days of use on my MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe and the piezo still works fine. If yours crapped out after less than 20, that’s a defect, I’d send it back.

Regarding the pot supports – which part is loose – the rivet (A) or the hex bolt (B)?

If it’s the rivet, send it back. That’s a defect.

If it’s the hex bolt, you can tighten it with a 3mm Allen wrench.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Do verify that the pot support arms are completely rotated into the proper position.  I found that the PocketRocket arms are a bit complex to position correctly.  That being said, the arms are designed to be “over centered”, meaning applying more load should keep them locked in place.  As Ryan stated, if the hex screw “b” is loose, you should be able to tighten it back up.  Other than that, the PocketRocket Deluxe has one of the better designed pot support arms.  My 2 cents.

[Ken Larson]

I had one arm that was loose compared to the other two. No tightening would correct the looseness,  so I inserted another washer on top of the MSR washer and that solved the looseness.

[Scott B]

Thanks guys; I tried tightening the hex bolts, but they are already tight.

I will try to exchange it for a new one.

[Todd T]

The piezo quit working, and this stove is almost new- <20 days of use.

20 whole days?  Sounds like you got a good one!

[Jerry Adams]

I’ve used my PRDeluxe one year.  Maybe 70 nights.

I got it for testing BGT.  One of the other tester’s piezo didn’t work.  He fixed it by unscrewing the burner, lift up, put back making sure the wire from the burner goes over the wire from the piezo.  The two wires can come undone.

A couple months ago I had the same problem, easily fixed.

A week ago it stopped working, I did the fix, but it didn’t work so I lighted with lighter.  Next day it worked.

Hmmm… I think maybe I’m going back to the Soto Windmaster, very similar functionality.  The piezo hasn’t broken.  I used it for 6 years without problem (maybe 300 nights).

The pot stands are sort of weird on the PRDeluxe, but after I figured it out they’ve been fine.

The pot stands on the Soto are not quite as wide as the PRD – the pot on top is a bit tippy.  There’s another pot stand for the Soto, but it didn’t fit in my pot.

[Ken Larson]

Jerry….. “He fixed it by unscrewing the burner, lift up, put back making sure the wire from the burner goes over the wire from the piezo. The two wires can come undone.”

When you say “unscrewing the burner” do I assume it is the the item the red arrow is pointing to unscrews without the use of tools by just turning it counterclockwise ?

[Roger Caffin]

Probably not. That normally means unscrewing the burner column from the valve base. Probably an M10 or M12 thread. The burner head does not normally want to come off the column.

Cheers

[Jerry Adams]

just grab it with your hands, unscrew CCW like a normal screw, the part identified with red arrow, it’s almost 2 inches in diameter

it’s big enough diameter you can put enough torque without any tool

by the way, whenever anyone says you have to routinely take apart your stove to get it to work, one could consider that a reliability flaw that makes that unacceptable

on the other hand, this is just the piezo so it’s easy enough to just use lighter

[Roger Caffin]

whenever anyone says you have to routinely take apart your stove to get it to work, one could consider that a reliability flaw
True enough for upright canister stoves.
Not true for remote inverted canister stoves because dirt found in some brands of canisters can block the jet, which then needs cleaning. That is a problem with the gas used to fill the canister. Ease of access to the jet then becomes important.

Cheers

[Garrett H]

Piezo elements should last, theoretically, a hundred or more years.  For example, here is a video where engineers tested a common backyard grill ignitor.  After 110,000 ignitions, the spring broke.  They replaced it, and the piezo kept working.  Ultimately, the testers gave up trying to make it fail.    A backyard grill ignitor doesn’t go in and out of storage, move around, and deal with the rigors of backpacking use, but if the lighter on your stove fails, it has to be a design flaw, alteration of the unit through use, or a manufacturing issue.  For a company like MSR, I would expect it to work.

I want to second the observation that the SOTO Windmaster is a beast. I have no idea how it ignores crosswinds the way it does. I’ve been on trips where everyone used my Windmaster or they wouldn’t have had a hot meal. And the SOTO piezo has never failed (now I’ve done it…).

[Jerry Adams]

I go back and forth between soto windmaster and msr pr deluxe.  I find them equally good.

A problem with soto is the pot supports are mounted to the burner cup, so they get red hot.  For my 3 armed support, the material oxidized.  There’s just barely enough metal to hold it in place but it didn’t fail.  I switched to 4 armed support and it seems okay – a little thicker metal so it withstands being red hot.

The pot supports on the PRD are aesthetically displeasing.  You have to rotate and then pull down.  It just seems like it might fail, especially if I’m not careful rotating and pulling.  But it’s never failed.

[Jerry Adams]

you are tempting karma garrett.  Your piezo will fail on the next trip : )

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Both the Pocket Rocket Deluxe and the Soto WindMaster are very good stove though each have some quirks.

The pot support arms on the PRD can be bent surprising easy. To verify this, open and deploy the arms to fully open and place the stove inverted on a table top.  The burner cup should be parallel the the table top. If it tilts at all, then an arm is tweaked.  You can fix this by tapping on the arm stop at the base of the pot support arm to straighten out the stop.  PRD piezo are known to fail.

Pot supports on the Soto WindMaster will oxidize over time (3 flex and 4 flex).  This causes two things to happen: it makes it harder to mount the pot support arms and once mounted, they are very sticky and often do not clamp well.  This gives you a false sense of positive positioning. Cleaning it up with a little steel wool helps.  My piezo on the Soto still works great.

 

my 2 cents

[Jerry Adams]

Soto windmaster 3 arm oxidized

There’s still enough good metal to keep it from failing but it seems close, so I switched to 4 arm support

I haven’t noticed that damage on the 4 arm.  I think the metal is a little thicker.  Since it’s thicker, it conducts heat away better so it doesn’t get as hot.  My theory.

Bottom line, both PRD and soto are good stoves

 

[bradmacmt]

The Piezo on my Soto failed within a couple trips. I found the pot support too fiddly, and it didn’t work with a MYOG windscreen. I’ve stuck with the PRD and, while it has its quirks, is a good enough stove.

[Jerry Adams]

the soto 4 arm didn’t fit inside my MYOG windscreen either

so I hacksawed the arms to make them shorter so they’d fit

I’ve done 100s of nights with both SOTO and PRD and the piezo never failed

once some spec of something got between the sparker and the burner so the piezo quit working but I just blew it off.

the piezo on the PRD failed after I unscrewed the burner, but when I tried again, making sure the wire fit into the tube, then it worked

I can see how some people would read about failures, then conclude that wasn’t the right product

If the piezo ever failed, I’d just use the BIC lighter.  Not catastrophic.

[Garrett H]

I appreciate notes from others who have deployed the SOTO in the field.  (So many people blah blah blah but never actually used the thing they talk about).

I think the SOTO arms are one of the things I love as they can go wide for my Optimus Xpress HE, or stay small for a nesting cup.

But I’ll tell you, how those arms attach always bothers me. It’s only a matter of time before a full pot of water goes tumbling because they aren’t securely locked on. Thank you for confirming my suspicion. I think we should get on SOTO’s case about that. Whatever their design choice, someone has to do better QA during their testing (for example, they could send all of us stoves ((I smile)).

And you’re right. I know that piezo is going to fail. I just guaranteed it. It’s just that I’m often out in colder temperatures. Taking my gloves off to manage a lighter on my MSR when I’m trying to have coffee in the AM makes me grumpy. What if I lost the lighter? What if, etc.? So, I do like the built-in igniters (assuming they actually work).

 

[Jerry Adams]

If you get a stove without a piezo then you have to use a BIC every time

My piezos have worked for 100s of nights without problem, so on all of those nights I didn’t need to worry about the BIC

I think there are other stoves besides Soto or PRD that have less reliable piezos

[bradmacmt]

Here’s a shot of my PRD and windscreen. It’s not a design that will work with the Soto – that stove requires something completely different than what I’ve made.

 

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