Lightweight stove choice?

I have a Dragonfly now, which I LOVE, but it's a tad on the heavy side for a long weekend, so I am looking for something lighter to shave a few ounces. The Dragon (which is what I call it...sounds like one when you run it), is a tank and awesome, and I have no intentions on getting rid of it, but was wondering what experiences others have had with ultralight stoves.

Specificially I am looking at the Pocket Rocket, Brunton Crux, and Gigapower. All are right around 3 ounces, and with the small cannister at 6.8 ounces, it'd help shave over a pound off the pack. Does anyone have any experiences with any of them? Reliability? Ease of maintenance? Problems?

Thanks in advance.

LS,

That North Star brand one at the Augusta EMS does have the piezo ignition on it for $29.95, weighed like 6. something ozs.

Got an interview set up for tomorrow AM too.

oh and i PM'd ya.

Charly

For three season use the Pocketrocket is great. I have it and it works wonderfully until it gets cold that is. To be expected with a canister stoves. For a good 4 season stove that will never sputter out in the cold I recommend the MSR Simmerlite. Works great and weight half that of the dragonfly (I have the Dragonfly as well and I understand how heavy it is). Not great at simmering surprisingly, but works well anyway

My Pocket Rocket burns like a flame thrower. I've had it for about 4 years now and it's still going strong. The pot holders are a little flimsy so don't count on cooking with pots larger than 1.5 litres, if you're going for lightweight than this won't be a problem anyways.

Don't even think about using it in the Winter though. (I know, I know, warm the cannisters, keep them in your jacket and all that, but for the Winter I rely on my friends and their white gas stoves.)


-Shayne

I have about 4 years of section hiking on the AT with a pocket rocket. About 4 weeks a year plus other trips. The stove has worked great, although early on I rigged up a partial heat shield that is very similiar to the heatshield used on the "hanging version" of the pocket rocket that MSR sells. Without the shield, it is not very good in breezy conditions and the fuel consumption goes way up. With the shield, I get about 13 to 14 days of use from one standard cannister for two hot meals per day. The pot holders are good for solo pots but anything much bigger and the stove gets tippy.

The jet boil is intriguing, but I dont like the proportions of the pot.

I would not use any cannister stove for year round as the performance degrades when its much under 40 degrees although different brands of gas perfomr differently. The cold weather performance also degrades as the cannister gets less full.

For three seasons I use an alcohol stove made from soda cans. The fuel lasts a long time and the stove and windscreen only weigh a few ounces. Sure, it takes a bit longer to boil water, but who cares?

-percious

After section hiking the better part of 5 years with my pepsi can stoves (and an esbit stove on occasion)as a 3-season replacements for my Whisperlite, I recently broke down and purchased an MSR Pocket Rocket while it was on sale at REI. I then luckily also found a slightly dented snowpeak Ti cookset at the bargain cave in Cabella's. Total setup was $45.

I have played with the stove and cookset outside in the past month and a half and also boiled a few quarts in the basement just gauging cook time in 55 degree temps.

I must say I am pretty pleased with the performance and weight during my preliminary tests. I am looking forward to using it as my son goes on more overnights, it can boil water a bit faster than the pepsi can stove and more easily accomodate 2 people .

Thanks for the tip Peakbagr, I hadn't really thought about the wind factor, so I will need to think about jury rigging a windscreen (or just using my W-lite, if it is high enough).

The Pocket Rocket and a rigged up windshield work great in 3.5 seasons. A small matter, but I like the hard-shell plastic carrier it stows into. No fear of twisting the burner or ripping your pack. I use a pot with swing-away "potholder" handles and keep a grip on the pot when it's heating just to be sure it stays put on the ultra-small burner arms. For the .5 season, use one of the blowtorch models.

I also have the Pocket Rocket for 3 seasons. I really have no complaints about it. Like others have said, it's best with a windscreen, but it's fine without.
I can easily fit it into my .8L pot and can leave the stove case (1oz ) at home.

Just a note: A number of people have suggested the Pocket Rocket. If you are shocked easily, do NOT gogle on this if you are interested in doing further research. While some may want to take the more popular Pocket Rocket whild hiking, others may not.

The MSR Pocket Rocket does have well deserved following in the Ultra Light class. I have tested many stoves over the years and here you will find several comments.

In summary, I prefer the MSR WindPro for its detached Iso canister, greater pot stability and superior wind resistance. This allows the proper use of a wind shield. MSR does not recommend the use of a wind shield with the Pocket Rocket because the canister heats up which can cause a dangerous condition. The 3 extra ounces going from the Pocket Rocket to the WindPro is a small weight to carry.

i too love my pocket rocket.

mt brasslite alcohol stove is 1.4 ounces and can't break, no moving parts. i used it a few weeks ago on monadnock in 20 degree temps and boiled water. all good for three seasons. super duper light! not as fast as the jet boil.....but way more reliable and lighter.

for winter i have replaced my old dragonfly deafener with a simmerlite i got cheap.

One more enthusiastic vote for the Pocket Rocket. I LOVE that thing. Easy set up, compact, light and boils water quickly. Brian and I each carry a stove in the summer, his is a pepsi can stove and mine the PR and I can say, the ease of use is worth the weight of the fuel canister, plus no guess work how much alcohol we will need for the meal.

sli74

Guinness said:

The MSR Pocket Rocket does have well deserved following in the Ultra Light class. ...In summary, I prefer the MSR WindPro for its detached Iso canister, greater pot stability and superior wind resistance. This allows the proper use of a wind shield...The 3 extra ounces going from the Pocket Rocket to the WindPro is a small weight to carry.

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Guinness makes a good point. I've experienced pretty bad fuel efficiency with the Superfly (which is the slightly larger version of the Pocket Rocket) in windy conditions. On a quick overnighter, this isn't such a big problem. But on a multi-day trip when it means carrying extra fuel canisters, the weight savings of the smaller attached stove is quickly offset by the weight of extra canisters. If I were in the market for a new stove, I would get a detached Iso canister version.

My vote is split.
Like Percious, I use my "Pepsi Can" stoves for many hikes, I've made several models and tested a couple of my own designs.
However, I received a Pocket Rocket as a gift and absolutely love it. I carry it and my titanium pot even on winter dayhikes because it's so light and compact; the canisters nest in the Titan pot too. I've used it in very cold temps (well below freezing out in my garage...) and haven't seen any lessening of it's performance.
The downside: the pot supports are flimsy and the serrations on them are very smooth and rounded, not gripping the pot well, so it takes a little care to use.
I haven't run into maintenance problems yet, but always have an alternative to boil water with (solid fuel) instead of worrying about field maintenance.

Love the Esbit - weighs a couple of ounces, fits in a pot with fuel, safe, clean fuel, fuel is easy to light and is a great fire starter. Great stove for one pot meals, boil only meals. Probably lacking in power for doing a lot of snow melting. Also, I have only been able to find fuel at Campmor.

I have to give a vote to the Pocket Rocket’s big brother the SuperFly. Although I usually carry waterproof matches for safety reasons, I like the SuperFly’s autostart for its convenience and reliability. I have also used it at Crag Camp when the temps were in the teens with no ill effects.

Halite said:

Guinness makes a good point.

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Now that I think about it, I second Guinness' point about the Windpro. I have had my Pocket Rocket while camping next to the ocean in some pretty breezy conditions and it took a LONG time to boil water for my oatmeal. A windscreen would definitely help and I'd carry a little extra weight if it meant my stove doesn't blow up in my face!

For those who have used a windscreen with the PocketRocket how did you rig it up so the cannister didn't overheat?


-Shayne

Here is an odd question, yet I going to ask it anyway. Why can they not make a stove that uses both a canister and white gas? Or do they? If I look at the MSR SimmerLite and the WindPro, they look like the exact same stove except for the fuel. Admittedly I am not an expert on stoves, so there might be some physics at work that would prevent this switchover from taking place. Yet to an untrained observer, it looks like all they would have to do is switch the apparatus that attaches to the fuel canister/bottle. Please explain, with some degree of civility if you don’t mind.

After seeing the Windpro a year ago I asked myself the exact same thing. ???


-Shayne