Reviews > Health & Safety > Emergency and Survival Gear > Coleman Exponent XtremeCat Heater > Jodi Cornelius > Long Term Report

Date: February 7, 2006

My Background: I have been backpacking for 3 years now and before that I car camped quite a bit. I consider myself somewhat new to backpacking and was on my way towards becoming a lightweight packer. However I found that I miss my little "luxuries" and am now trying to simply get to a comfortable 40 lb/18 kg. I tend to use a Hennessey Hammock since my only tent is a bivy tent. I prefer the hammock to a tent as the hammock leaves me swinging gently in the breeze with no hard spot from rocks on the ground.

Field Testing: For more in-depth descriptions of this heater, please check out my Initial Report and my Field Report. During this testing time I have been lighting it and testing to see if the catalytic action part of the heater starts working the way customer service said it would. So far, I still notice that one side is hotter than the other side but it still puts out a fair amount of heat.  However, at this time it still hasn't evened out.  I have nothing to compare this heater to so I'm not sure if it's as warm as it's supposed to be but I'm somewhat happy with the amount of heat that it puts out - it is enough to warm cold hands which is good.

During this test I lit the heater approximately 25 to 30 times, leaving it to run anywhere from a half hour to just over 2 hours and it appears to be working okay. I find I still need to hold the knob for longer than the 10 seconds that the manual states. These times still seem to be diminishing though it has continued longer than I had hoped but it still lights and puts out some warmth so I'm not concerning myself with this "defect".  After all these "test" runs and uses on the trail, I went through just over 2 canisters which is what I expected per Coleman's specs.

Temperatures ranged from the low 30s F (-1 C) to a low of  0 F (-18 C). This heater was used in altitudes ranging from 1640 ft (500 m) to 2480 ft (756 m) which didn't seem to affect the lighting of the heater.  The heater lit at 18 F (-8 C) but it didn't like it.  Took me several tries to finally get it going.  At 0 F (-18 C) it wouldn't even come close to cooperating.  I was a little disappointed at that but not surprised.  I don't like working in temperatures that low :-).  Other than that, it has operated as I have come to expect.

The only thing that would have made this test "perfect" would have been to have a second XtremeCat heater available so I could compare mine to another one to know if mine is comparable or if the "defect" makes it burn less warm than another that doesn't have these difficulties.  But since that wasn't available, my experiences are determined by actual usage and as I have stated - it's warm but not the same warmth all the way around.   However, I will still continue using the heater as it does help when hands are cold.

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Reviews > Health & Safety > Emergency and Survival Gear > Coleman Exponent XtremeCat Heater > Jodi Cornelius > Long Term Report