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Reviews > Cook Gear > Cook Sets > GSI Bugaboo 6-Piece Teflon Mess Kit > Owner Review by Kirez ReynoldsOwner Review: GSI Outdoors Bugaboo 6-piece mess kitJune 29, 2006 Backpacker Bio Name: Kirez Reynolds Age: 32 Gender: Male Height: 5'10", 1.77 m Weight: 195 lbs, 91 kg Email address: gorillasoph [at] gmail [dot] com City, State, Country: Tomsk, Siberia, Russian Federation Backpacking Background I started overnight backpacking when I was nine, living on a ranch in Arizona. In the U.S. I've backpacked throughout Arizona, California, Nevada, upstate New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia. I have multi-day and multi-week trekking experience in Israel, Egypt, Yugoslavia, Norway, Korea, Russia and southwest Asia. I am currently living out of my backpack in Siberia. I pack heavy: typical pack weight for me is 45-60 lbs (20-28 kg). Product information GSI Outdoors Bugaboo 6-piece mess kit Manufacturer: GSI Outdoors URL: http://www.gsioutdoors.com/ Year of manufacture: 2002 Dimensions: 3.5" thick, 8.25" in diameter (8.9 cm thick, 21 cm in diameter) Listed weight: 1 lb. 3 oz. (539 g) Actual Weight: See list below for weights of individual components; measured weights exceed the listed weights. Mess Kit without blue plastic mug and bowl weighs 1 lb. 2 oz, 515 g MSRP: $27.50 US Product description The GSI Outdoors "Bugaboo" 6-piece hard anodized Teflon mess kit consists of the following:
Field Conditions Hugely varied. Mountains of West Virginia, beaches of Southern California, mountains of Arizona, the Grand Canyon, kitchens in Boston, Venice Beach, Bel Air, Moscow, Baku, Seoul, Yosemite and Death Valley, California, etc.. Elevations ranging from below sea level to 14,000 feet (4000 meters), temperatures ranging from –31 Fahrenheit (- 35 Celsius) to 85 Fahrenheit (30 Celsius). Wind conditions that detriment stove performance are not relevant to mess kit performance. The jewels of my backpacking endeavors are the well-prepared meals. A tender, juicy beef stew, grilled mushrooms, sumptuous cheese in a french onion soup, shrimp sauteed with coconut, curry sauce, eggs and noodles… enjoyed, sheltered from the wind, on a rocky escarpment with your boots off in the midst of an exhausting trek… If you don't think your mess kit is important equipment, I forbid you to read further! Durability and Functionality of Materials I've used this GSI Outdoors mess kit for 4 years. I'm a chronic equipment destroyer, and it's still in good condition. The light weight and proper materials of the pans are indisputable: hard-anodized aluminum coated with Teflon. I've also proven its versatility: cooking for an Azerbaijani family, who had 6 wretched frying pans in their kitchen. I tried their three "best" before I risked offending their kitchen and made them all huevos rancheros in my mess kit. Teflon coating is a godsend wherever I find myself. The saucepan holds all the mess kit's contents: the DiamondBack Gripper, the bowl, the mug -- with room enough for me to stash utensils, spices and napkins. The frying pan lid then fits over these contents and thus closes the mess kit. This lid doubles as a second pan. GSI Outdoors calls it a frying pan due to its size and shape: compare its 750 mL / 26.5 oz volume to the saucepan's 1.0 L / 35.3 oz volume. The pans' heat transfer is efficient and valuable… I used this mess kit in Korea's worst winter storm of the last 40 years to grill potstickers – Fast! When planning my meal prep, I can worry about organizing all the other meal components – cooking time is so fast as to be negligible. And if I need to prepare biscuits or blini for a whole platoon, I want fast-cooking pans like these. The bottom of the saucepan (and the frying pan lid) has a sharp spiral groove etched onto it, like the groove on a vinyl LP. I cannot find a functional purpose for this groove, except it provides a great gripping surface (irrelevant when cooking). But it also improves the aesthetics – in part by disguising the scars of trail life, which I think would be more salient on a flat, smooth surface. It may also enhance the rigidity and thus protect the flatness, whereas a dented, thin surface would not sit flat on some stoves / burners. I cannot find any negative aspect of this design. At first it was a curiosity to me: always grabbing my attention and giving me pause to wonder at it. In our later stages of intimacy, I have come to adore this groove. If my mess kit were ever to depart, I'd miss this seemingly inconsequential feature and hope to find it in a replacement. The DiamondBack Gripper The DiamondBack Gripper is a hinged, glossy black steel handle which slides onto a small hasp, located on the side of both the saucepan and the frying pan lid. Its metal frame has diamond-shaped holes cut into it – hence the name -- probably designed to save weight while retaining strength. When I grab the gripper, tightening the hinged, levered halves of the handle, it closes on the hasp – but not tightly. It still rattles, and in the case of the frying pan lid, can fall off. The DiamondBack Gripper fits neatly inside the kit, even after I added other equipment; but most importantly, it keeps a solid grip on the saucepan. I had to test this to be comfortable with the kit before I could use it! The slight shaking disturbed me. Imagine the fear of losing a meal on the ground or in a fire! The gripper will not drop the saucepan. The frying pan lid, however, can be dropped: it does NOT have the same lip as the saucepan (because it must fit inside the saucepan's lip to act as a lid) and the gripper WILL drop it with mild shaking. Caution! The Bowl and Mug The blue plastic "Cascadian" bowl is perfectly shaped (a rare virtue in a bowl) and the mug does not compound the detraction of plastic with bad design: it is well-shaped and with zero extraneous weight. I replaced these in 2005 with titanium mugs and aluminum bowls, however. The blue plastic dishes are lightweight, non-breakable, and thus practical. (My titanium dishes, meanwhile, look like prize-fighters who were involuntarily retired.) The Mesh Bag I'm still using the mesh bag the kit came with: it's lightweight (27g, 0.95 oz), easy to identify as the mess kit, and surprisingly durable. The bag is U-shaped and about 3.5" / 8.9 cm wide, with a radius of 9" / 22 cm. A sturdier bag might hold the kit together more firmly and more quietly and prevent the possible intrusion of dirt, but would weigh significantly more. When I upgrade to another mess kit in some distant future, I'll keep the mesh bag as yet another laundry bag! It will only hold about 3 grapefruit, of course. Note to GSI Outdoors One final note for GSI Outdoors: I had to scrutinize the hasp on the side of the pan, then conduct internet searches, to learn what mess kit I owned. While I despise the over-branding and over-labeling of many products, GSI Outdoors needs to beef up its branding and marketing effort. The quality of the product deserves it. Conclusion I will upgrade to a mess kit that features a more solid gripper and a frying pan lid that locks in place and thus doesn't rattle or fall open, when or if such a mess kit becomes available on the market. Until then, the GSI Outdoors Bugaboo performs beautifully: I love its light weight, easy-cleaning Teflon surface, fast heat-transfer, and outstanding durability. It's a supremely practical mess kit for the lightweight, multi-day backpacker who, well… eats. Pros
Cons
Read more reviews of GSI Outdoors gear Read more gear reviews by Kirez Reynolds Reviews > Cook Gear > Cook Sets > GSI Bugaboo 6-Piece Teflon Mess Kit > Owner Review by Kirez Reynolds | |||