Jetboil Personal Cooking System

Field Report – June 8, 2004

 

Tester Information:

 

Name: Jason Boyle
Age:  26
Gender: Male
Height: 5’ 6”/ 1.68 m
Weight: 170 lb/ 77 kg
Email address: c4jc”at” hotmail “dot” com
City, State, Country: Waldorf, Maryland, U.S.

Product Information:

 

Manufacturer: Jetboil

Model: Jetboil Personal Cooking System

Year of Manufacture: 2004

URL: www.jetboil.com

Listed weight: 14 oz (397 g)

Measured weight: total of all pieces 14 oz (397 g)

Burner Base 6 oz (170 g)

Cooking Cup and Cozy 6.5 oz (184 g)

Companion Cup and lid together 1.5 oz  (43 g)

            Full Jetpower Fuel Canister 6.25 oz (177 g)

MSRP: $79.00 US Dollars

 

Other Stoves Used:

 

Coleman 533 Dual Fuel One Burner Stove

MSR Whisperlite Shakerjet stove

 

Summary:

 

            The Jetboil Personal Cooking system has worked superbly. It is easy to use, quickly boils water, and eliminates the need for an extra pot for the solo hiker.  The cozy eliminates the need for any other type of potholder and the lid helps keep liquids and food hot.  The small Jetpower fuel canister could have a wider base to make the stove more stable and more pot choices would be a nice addition.  The only feature that is not up to par is the stated boil time of ninety seconds; otherwise this is a great lightweight stove.

 

Field Test Conditions:

 

            The stove has been tested at the following places over the past two months:  the Appalachian Trail in Maryland, The C & O Canal, and Shenandoah National Park.  The approximate elevation of the tests was sea level to 2200 feet (671 m).  Temperatures ranged from the 55 F (13 C) to 80 F (27 C).  Weather conditions ranged from light misty rain to beautiful sunny days. 

 

Field Test Results:

 

            This was my first experience with canister stoves and I am extremely pleased with how the Jetboil Personal Cooking System has performed.  It is easily the most convenient stove that I have used.  Screw in the fuel canister, turn on the gas, push the electric ignition button and poof the stove is lit and ready to go.  No pumping, no priming cup to fill or overfill as the case may be, just a simple fuel canister and a push button start.

            Another great feature is the provided cooking cup.  It eliminates the need to carry multiple pots because it is integrated into the Jetboil system, and the system will only work with the provided cup.

            I have had no problems cooking with the stove.  I expected to burn my meals to the bottom of the cooking cup since the flame is concentrated into a small area, but with the adjustability of the flame; I was able to simmer my meals and not burn my dinners.  The cup, cozy, and heat exchanger fins trap heat into the cup so well that I actually have had to simmer very little.  After letting my food simmer for just a minute or two, I turn the stove off and let the latent heat cook the food.

            Cleaning the cup has been a little tricky.  The cup is tall and has a small diameter so it is hard for me to get my hand all the way to the bottom of the cup to get the remaining food particles out.  There is nothing on the Jetboil website or on the included instructions that recommend against washing the cup in a dishwasher so I peel off the cozy and put it in the dishwasher with the other dishes.  This has worked fine.

            The initial information on the stove said that it could boil 2 cups of water in ninety seconds.  I have been unable to replicate that in the field or in testing at home.  For the at home testing please see my table in my initial report.  The fastest boil time I had in the field was 3 minutes and 49 seconds. This is pretty fast in my opinion.  I have found that if I start the stove and get the water on, it is boiling by the time I am ready to use it. 

            The efficiency of the stove with Jetpower stove seems to be as advertised.  I was able to boil ten quarts of water on one 3.53 fl oz (100 g) canister.  Two quarts less than the advertised twelve, but I also spent some time simmering and cooking, not just boiling water.  I am satisfied with getting ten quarts of water boiled out of the one fuel canister. 

            The stove’s performance diminishes drastically when approaching the end of the fuel canister.  I was able to tell a distinct sound change in the stove.  The stove normally sounds nice and robust, but the closer I got to the end of the fuel canister the stove became quieter and quieter until it finally quit on me.  The time to boil water also increased.  It took close to fourteen minutes to boil three and a half cups of water (the amount of water it takes to fill my coffee press) near the end, where it had been taking closer to five minutes before the decline in performance.

            I am still operating on the fuel supplied by Jetboil for the test.  I have only boiled two quarts worth of water on my second Jetpower canister.  Once it is used up, I will test other manufactured canister fuels to see how they compare with the Jetpower mixture.  Jetboil specifically recommends against this, but I am a rebel, and yes I tore the tag that says “do not remove” off of my mattress!

            The durability of the stove has been superb. I have yanked the cozy on and off of the cup to wash the cup and it has always gone back on easily and shows no signs of wear.  I have not taken any special precautions when packing the stove in my pack and it shows no signs of use. 

 

Lessons Learned:

           

            After the C & O Canal trip, the cup was not completely dry when I placed all of the components in the cup for storage.  It took me a day to get around to unloading my gear, and when I opened the lid to the cup to remove the contents and wash it, there was a nice ring of rust around the bottom of the cup.  At first I thought the cup had rusted somehow, but upon further inspection the rust came from the Jetpower fuel canister.  The metal ring around the bottom of the canister had rusted from the contact with the moisture.  This is good information to know as the compactness of the stove is affected if I am not able to store the fuel inside the cup unless it is completely dry.  I was not able to completely remove the rust ring from the cup.

 

Improvements:

 

            The stove is top heavy and would be hard to use if a flat space was not available to cook on.  I also would like more options to interchange cooking apparatus.  Specifically, I would like to be able to use my frying pan.  I have not used my frying pan with the stove because I don’t want to have to hold it the whole time.  I am unable to set it on the burner because the piezo electric lighter rises above the burner ring.  The nipple/slide attachment of the cup to the burner is still tricky.  I have almost spilled water trying to remove the cup from the burner, there has to be an easier way to integrate these two parts.  I have not come with any ideas yet, but I am working on it.

 

Website:

 

            I paid another visit to the Jetboil website to refresh myself on its features and noticed they have made some changes.  The published boil time of ninety seconds for two cups of water has been replaced by a two-minute boil time.  (I have not been able to replicate this boil time either)  The instructions have also been updated to include procedures for lighting the stove WITHOUT the cup attached, where previously they had said to attach the cup to the stove and then light it.  They also included procedures for boiling more than two cups of water and updated all of the warnings that go along with boiling more than two cups of water.

 

Long Term Test Plans:

 

            I will continue to take the stove with me on all my traipsing this summer.  I have a couple of weeklong backpacking trips planned.  One will be on the Appalachian Trail in Central and Southern Virginia.  The other keeps changing but will be either in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, or in the Adirondacks of New York.  I also go camping monthly with my scout troop. 

 

I will continue to look over the major themes of convenience, cooking speed, fuel canister life, and durability.

 

Thanks again to BackpackGearTest and Jetboil for the opportunity to participate in this test.