MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe

Only

4/17/25

Bought a MSR pocket rocket stove “Deluxe ”  several yrs ago to prepare vegetarian-only, low sodium meals while camping in remote places. It was purchased from the MSR web site. “Deluxe”  at that time,  meant a hard plastic,  orange, triangle-shaped, foldable, iso-butane canister holder-stabilizer, titanium  1.2 L cup as cook  pot and eating vessel,  plastic, vented lid for the cup, small hold-the-cup pliers; plastic bowl; small, mesh carry bag. Although the “Deluxe”  kit was pricey, there are cheaper options too.

More recent designs have different options. The “Deluxe” seems to have a clever design and everything nests into the cook- cup.

These types of stoves are ALL fragile and must be handled with care. Every portable, small stove is fragile, a fire-risk, or presents challenges when trying to obtain fuel.

The stove itself is delicate and requires careful assembly, transport, supervision, and  turn for flame regulation; the titanium cup heats up fast but is hot to touch; no handles.  My stove has considerable metal, which can also be hot.  The stove part has a robust red twister, making it easy for my clumsy fingers to screw it into the fuel canister. I never use the plastic bowl, ditched it and mesh bag.

The stove has three little “legs” that hold your cook pot but can be carefully folded to make the cooled stove smaller.  The “legs” are easily damaged and can become loose, as they are screwed into place. Tightly wedge the stove in your pack; if it jostles around, it’s damaged.

I do use it A LOT and very careful with it. It is quite versatile and I have toasted tortillas on the stove.  I really like hot coffee in the morning, and use this item. For me, there is little personal danger using it but I am really careful and little to dispose; cleans easily ,and cools off in a decent time.

I find even at altitude, I get a good light and fast boil. I do not, however, like to haul the iso-butane canisters, they are also challenging to recycle, may be dicey or over-priced  to purchase; and, never know how much fuel left.  A small 8 oz. fuel canister fits into the cup. It’s really easy to clean and titanium cup dishwasher safe.

It all seemed suitable and  folds up for easy transport.  I must pack a lighter, shorter spork, food of course; carefully assemble stove, and buy fuel; but this serves me well. This cook-ware is  in a separate small dry bag.  The stove  is small enough to easily carry but “tippy” and requires constant oversight. I ALWAYS use a silicone pinch mitt type pot holder, hold the cook pot with the  enclosed  silver-colored pliers, and have safety equipment close.

Experimenting new recipes at home frequently.

In all, I recommend the stove.

an upright canister stove for inclement weather

Likes:

• powerful burner
• wind resistant
• compact enough

Dislikes:

• I can always do w/o a piezo, I’m not a huge fan
• pot support metal is bendable with not much hand strength, I haven’t had any issues with it, but it’s notable

Incredible burner, functional igniter, poorly manufactured and flimsy pot supports

The MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe has the best burner of any stove in this category that I’ve encountered. It is super powerful and simmers excellently too. Because of this amazing burner I wanted to love the stove, but the supports have given me fits. The first one that I bought had two supports that were perfectly straight and one that was leaning at a pretty good angle. I took it back to REI to snag one with straight supports and noted that even the display model had leaning pot supports. I exchanged anyway and took a new one home only to find that none of the three pot supports were straight up and down. So I just bent them into place which was way too easy. That metal is super flimsy. A few trips later, I woke up in the morning to find one of the three supports irreparably bent to hell. I have no idea how I did it, whether I stepped on it or it fell over or what, but it was unusable at that point. I returned it. I’m hoping they solve the pot-supports on this stove because the burner is so great. If/when they do, I’ll buy another.