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Brunton Raptor
September 20, 2005
Personal Biographical Information
Name: Michael Herman
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 11'' (1.8 m)
Weight: 185 lb (84 kg)
Email: Backpackman (at) mailbolt (dot) com
Location: Northwest Indiana
Backpacking Background
I stated camping with my family in the car and the RV when I was real young. I
did a lot of camping with the Boy Scouts and then did my first backpacking trip
(three days) with my dad when I was 13. From then on I took a backpacking trip
once a year until high school where I started going more often. Now in college I
do many outdoor activities with the outing club. I backpack often as well as
other activities such as
caving, adventure racing, kayaking and climbing; however, backpacking is my
primary activity. My backpacking style is packing light but not ultralight
(yet); however, I do not skimp on eating well. I continually want to find ways
to get better meals on the trail while not adding much weight. I also don't want
to shortchange myself with low living conditions just to save a couple of ounces
(grams); I want to find other
ways to reduce weight while staying comfortable.
Product Information
Product: Raptor
Manufacturer: Brunton
Year of Manufacture: 2005
Manufacture Suggested Retail Price:
URL: http://www.Brunton.com
Listed Weight: 5 oz (152g)
Measured Weight: 5.4 oz (153 g) for the stove only 1 oz (28 g) for the
case.
Description: Butane canister stove with piezo ignition. Outputs 11,000 BTUs and
has a burn time of 90 min on high.
Long Term Report
Since my field report I have used this stove on 2 trips, both one week long and
cooking for three people. The first trip was to southern Ohio. The temperatures
during dinner were approximately 70 F (21 C) and the elevation was under 1000 ft
(305 m). On this trip I brought a hollow aluminum cylinder about 1 in (2.5 cm)
long with a diameter of 2.5 in (6.3 cm). During the trip I put the cylinder on
top of the stove and put my pot on the cylinder. This increased the distance
between the flame from the Brunton Raptor and my pot, which allowed me to simmer
foods with more control. As said in my field report, I thought that simmering
foods on the Brunton Raptor was difficult; although, the method I used on this
trip allowed me to simmer foods to my liking, and those that I was cooking for.
On this trip I cooked dinners that were obtained from backpacking magazines and
none of the food was dehydrated; therefore, this food required a lot of
simmering.
My second trip since my field report was to West Virginia. The temperatures at
dinnertime were around 65 F (18 C) and the elevation was from 3000 ft (915 m) to
4000 ft (1220 m). Every meal in this trip was dehydrated (dehydrated at home)
and would first require boiling the water. I would add the dehydrated food to
the boiling water and then remove the pot form the stove while the food soaked.
When the food was well hydrated I liked to warm it up again on the stove. I did
not bring the cylinder as I did last time; instead, I held the pot about 1 in
(2.5 cm) from the flame for 5 minutes. This was tiring, and boring; however,
this method worked effectively in warming up the food. During some nights of
this trip it was windy during dinnertime. With the Brunton Raptor I didn’t have
any problems cooking in the wind.
Since my field report I still have not had much luck with starting the stove
with the piezo-ignition on the first try; although, it has always started after
a half dozen to a dozen pushes of the starter. I would feel confident that if I
didn’t have matches and I had this stove that I could still eat a warm dinner.
Likes and Dislikes
Likes:
The stove is compact.
The pot is stable on the stove.
The stove operates nicely in the wind.
Dislikes:
Simmering is not as easy as I would like.
The starter takes many tries for it to work.
Read more reviews of Brunton gear
Read more gear reviews by Michael Herman
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