Field Report: Jetboil Stove (Personal Cooking System)
06/07/2004
 
Personal Data:

Name: Paul Schilke,
Age: 31,
Sex: Male,
Weight: 165 lbs (75 kg)
Berrien Springs, Michigan USA
Paul AT qtm DOT net (primary)

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 Product Information:
 
Manufacturer: Jetboil
Model: Personal Cooking System
Year of Manufacture: 2004
URL: http://www.jetboil.com
MSRP: $80
 
Weight Listed:       14 ounces (397 grams)
Verified:    12.9 ounces  (366 grams)
Fuel Canister, Full: 5.8 ounces (164 grams)
 
Cooking Cup Capacity:
Listed:        1 quart  (1 liter)
Measured:  34 fl ounces (1 liter)
 
Dimensions of Pot with Sipper Lid and bottom cover in place:
Height: 7 inches (17.8 centimeters)
Width:  4.5 inches (11.4 centimeters)

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Features:
 
Sipper Lid
Cooking Cup with Cozy and Exhaust Vents / Heat Exchangers
Bottom Plastic Cover (doubles as measuring cup)
Burner Base with igniter button, control valve and wind screen

 

Initial Impressions & How it works:

 

Please see initial report

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While cooking Lipton dinners, old fashioned Quaker Oats and instant cheesy potatoes, the stove has performed more or less without flaw.  Well, that is except for the times I've burned oatmeal to the pot (called the "cooking cup" in this report because that is what the manufacturer calls it.)  Although likely due to user error (i.e. failure to use the simmer control properly, inadequate water, not stirring the cooking cup.)  At this point I've decided that it is impossible to for me to leave the lid on the Jetboil stove and not burn oatmeal.  The long term report will provide information on how I resolved the issue of burnt oatmeal, (i.e. I learned how to use the simmer control, added more water, stirred the cooking cup.

 

Recently while enjoying a walk down a shady, shrub and flower lined trail, I sat down to cook a mid-morning breakfast using the Jetboil Personal Cooking System.  I usually don't cook breakfast, let alone stop in mid-hike to prepare it, but prepare it I did.  It was more of an experiment to determine the ease of the Jetboil product, but it was an experiment I enjoyed immensely.  I unpacked the stove and fuel canister from within the cooking cup; then turned my attention to prying off the plastic bottom cover, the inside of which is demarcated in quarter cup (.06 L) intervals.

 

Removing the plastic bottom cover was even more of a chore than as previously documented in my initial report.  A small plastic lip, or burr, seems to have formed around a quarter of an inch of the edge.  This is probably due to melting when the bottom cover was replaced while the cooking cup was still hot. 

 

It is a perfectly plausible thing; that is to replace the cover, given that the bottom cover protects users from burning themselves on the heat exchanger.  The burr should be easy to remove with a bit of fine grained sandpaper.  Nonetheless when the cooking cup is hot the bottom cover goes on easy, when the cup is cool the bottom cover is hard to get off with one hand. At this point I place the cooled cooking cup between my knees and am able to pry it off.

 

Cooking this meal was pretty simple.  A first course of whole oats mixed with raisons, flax seed meal, sunflower seeds, peanut butter and honey was enough to put me on a rocky mountain high.  I followed that up with 2 cups (.5 L) of hot raspberry black tea,  prepared using the Jetboil PCS.  The oatmeal took less than 5 minutes, but I burned it to the pan.  I need to practice using the simmer control or perhaps adding more water to prevent the burning. 

 

The tea was marvelously simple to make.  I boiled the water and placed the tea bag inside, replaced the lid and cut the flame to zero and let it steep for another 2 minutes.  Removing the pot from the burner with one hand was of moderate difficulty but once it was removed the cozy protected my hand from burning on the still hot aluminum pot.  I cradled the hot pot and sipped tea through the sipper lid without burning my lips, savoring the fully brewed tea (One tea bag goes well with 2 cups (.5 L) of water).  I really appreciate the 2 cup mark scored inside the pot. 

 

During field testing of the Jetboil PCS, I cracked my sipper lid in the middle near the breather hole by over torquing the lid during removal.  The crack does not hinder performance.  While the crack is evidence that the product can be damaged through really rough use, it is not at all indicative of poor design or a lack of durability.  I just have to baby the lid from now on.

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I used the Jetboil PCS on two hiking expeditions in Michigan.  One was a weekend trip to Yankee Springs State Park in southwestern Michigan.  The other was on some trails near my house.  The weather was clear and the temperature during use was above 50° F (10° C). 

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Summary:
 
This a great product, convenient and reliable so far.  Storing the stove as one unit is not always workable.  I don't always wash dishes on the trail.  In reality I'll toss the unwashed stove back into my pack without having replaced the fuel canister and burner inside.  I also think the plastic bottom cover could be made of more flexible plastic similar to the Sipper Lid (but given my experience with the lid cracking perhaps I need to rethink this statement.)  My main complaint with the bottom cover is that it is hard to remove.
 
Things I like
 
Cozy
Plastic bottom cover that doubles as a measuring cup
Igniter
Ease of use
2 cup (.5 L) mark scored inside pot
 

Things I don't like
 
mild rust stain because of user error (see initial report)
inflexibility of bottom plastic lid, making it difficult to remove

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Test Plan:
 
I will be testing the stove on 2 separate week long hikes.  I predict the temperature for my test series will range from 50° F (10° C)  to 90° F (32° C)
 
On the hikes I will be cooking whole oats, corn grits, pasta, cheese filled pasta, real eggs, Jell-O, coffee, tea or hot chocolate.  At times I may cook French lentils, TVP, and brown rice; or I might steam some fresh vegetables.  I will try to see how many meals I can get out of the rest of the provided manufacturer's fuel canisters and to test it with canisters from other manufacturers.  I'm especially keen to test a certain canister which provides more than twice the fuel for only a dollar more.

 

I intend to test the use of the cozy for steeping meals and cutting short boil times.  I will try this with oatmeal for sure.
 
Also I intend to try the recipes suggested on the recipes section of the Jetboil website.

 

Furthermore, answers to the questions posed in my test application will be provided with even greater detail than is provided so far in the initial and field reports.

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Backpacking Background:
 
I grew up on a farm and have enjoyed the outdoors for 25 years.  In the past 11 years, I've been on several multi-night backpack expeditions. In 2002, I spent 7.5 months hiking on the Appalachian Trail (AT).  In 2003 I walked the North Country Trail (NCT) through Michigan's Upper Peninsula from Ironwood to Mackinaw City.
 
My hiking style is lightweight but I carry the gear needed to be comfortable. Currently my base pack weight ranges near 20 lb. (9 kg).  When hiking solo I use an 8 x 10 foot (2.44 x 3.05 m) sylnylon tarp.  Other than food, a synthetic sleeping bag continues to be the heaviest item in my pack.