Need advice on cooking systems.

[Brooks2009]

First off thanks once again to all who have given their two cents on my previous gear questions. In the last month or so I have gone from completely ungeared to purchasing nearly all of the backpacking cornerstones based upon your suggestions and my research. This is what I have so far, in order of what I bought first:

Boots: Vasque Breeze GTX ---------------(2 lb, 10 oz)
Tent: Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2 ---------(3 lb, 6 oz... for a 2 person tent, oww!)
Pack: Osprey Aether 70 -------------------(4 lb, 9 oz)
Bag: Big Agnes Lost Ranger 15 degree --(2 lb, 12 oz)
Pad: Thermarest ProLite4 -----------------(1 lb, 8 oz)

Cooking System: ????????

Word on the street is Jetboil is where its at. The Jetboil Personal Cooking System looks pretty legit from what I can tell, though I've never used something like this before. Any others I should consider? Pro's/Con's of Jetboil? Thanks for the help.

[sofaking]

your boot weight doesn't matter in terms of your carry weight, although some here may want to differ. a lot of folks use the jet-boil, a lot of folks that are seriously concerned with weight use alcohol stoves. be warned, these people are fanatics, but they know their stuff. check out the homemade gear forum, don't be scared.

[Two Speed]

Speaking as an alky fanatic I'd offer the opinion that the JetBoil's heavy, but fast, kinda like a backpacker's microwave. If ya really feel the need for speed the JetBoil's where it's at. If you're the kind that can multi-task, attend to minor camp chores while keeping an eye on a alky stove the speed advantage of the JetBoil isn't really all that much of an advantage IMHO.

Suggestion: before laying out the bucks for a JetBoil build a few alky stoves and try 'em out. If you find an alky stove that meets your needs you just saved some bucks that you can use to upgrade another part of your hiking gear.

[TFin04]

I use both an alcohol stove and a MSR Pocket Rocket depending on the trip. For short trips (weekend or so), the alcohol stove is my fav. I can cook for two days on about 2.5 oz of fuel, and the stove I use is just an empty tealight candle tin. I have tried the pepsi can stoves, some wick stoves and the 'supercat.' The tealight is just as efficient, much easier to use and easy to put out as well.

For longer hikes, it is worth it for me to carry the canister stove and a canister. It takes up more room, but when I carry my larger pack it's not too big of a deal. It is less hassle, overall.

Before you guy buy a stove I would recommend just finding a tea light tin or something like it, pour some denatured alcohol or yellow heet in there and give it a try. All the other fancy do-dads didn't do anythign different than a basic tealight stove does.

I'd love to use a wood stove but the size isn't ideal and the smutting of the pots isn't something I like.

[Mags]

Shameless plug for an article I wrote about stoves:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...ht=stoves+mags

[jesse]

a lot depends on how you plan to prepare your food. If you are eating dehydrated food from a freezer bag, all you have to do is boil water, anything will do. I mostly use a cannister stove, similar to the 'pocket rocket. I can't remember the brand, bought it used online.

[Wags]

Suggestion: before laying out the bucks for a JetBoil build a few alky stoves and try 'em out. If you find an alky stove that meets your needs you just saved some bucks that you can use to upgrade another part of your hiking gear.

i was literally moments away from buying a canister stove when i got this same piece of advice. i'm very pleased w/ my homemade alcohol stove and am glad i didn't waste the money on the canister

[TFin04]

i was literally moments away from buying a canister stove when i got this same piece of advice. i'm very pleased w/ my homemade alcohol stove and am glad i didn't waste the money on the canister

That's a good point. I think I paid more for my canister stove than this entire cook system:

My alcohol cook kit consists of:

- REI Non Stick .9 liter titanium pot
- REI Folding cup/bowl (doesn't get much use, but good for mixing sauce and what not)
- Tea light stove
- Hardware cloth pot stand
- Box of matches
- Aluminum foil wind screen
- 2 cut down Wendy's Spork
- 2 regular bandanas for napkins

That all fits inside the pot and then gets put into the stuff sack that comes with the pot. I keep my fuel in a 4oz bottle outside my pack.

[Farr Away]

When I first got into backpacking, the tab for the gear was adding up awfully fast. I was very happy to come across the idea and plans for an alcohol stove. I figured at least that would let me put off buying a stove too right then. Three years later, I'm still using that alcohol stove; it does what I need it to.

[Two Speed]

i was literally moments away from buying a canister stove when i got this same piece of advice. i'm very pleased w/ my homemade alcohol stove and am glad i didn't waste the money on the canister

Good that you saw the light, but if a particular hiker purchases and uses a cannister stove it isn't a waste for that individual. They just decided to use a different system.

However, it's always good tactics to explore the low cost option first.

[Bob S]

All stoves and types of fuel work ok, it’s more about what you like and are willing to deal with.

[SGT Rock]

Yep, get a cheap pot and make an alcohol stove to start with. You can always trade up later if you want, but if you are satisfied you save money to spend on something else.

[peakbagger]

A very important thing to do up front before the trip is practice on a few meals cooking with alcohol before you start hiking. The learning curve tends to be steeper with alcohol than with a cannister stove as you need to figure out how much fuel to heat up up enough water to preapre the meal without the stove running out or the pot boiling over. I used to hike with someone who switched to alcohol while I kept a pocket rocket with a homemade windscreen. After awhile, it became obvious that each one had its advantages and disadvantages. The MSR was real handy for long simmering and heating large amounts of water, the alcohol stove weighed less. My friend tended to gravitate to simpler meals.

[Hooch]

Knowing what I know now, which isn't a lot compared to others around here, about stoves and having used both an MSR Pocket Rocket and a Caldera Cone alcohol stove system, my Cone wins hands down. I bought my Caldera Cone from AntiGravity Gear and absolutely love it! To increase its efficacy, cut a double sheet of aluminum foil as big as the base of the cone and put it on the ground under the cone. This will reflect more hear back up to the pot and reduce cook/boil times. As long as all you need to do is heat/boil water, the Caldera Cone is great. It's the Jetboil of the alky stove crowd, I read one person as being quoted. They're right.

[JayMosier]

I once made a stove with a tuna fish can, a HI-C can cardboard and wax. Roll the cardboard up and place it in the tuna can, the top of the cardboard must be flush with the top of the can. Then fill the can with melted wax (parafin, dont use any perfumed wax)

Remove one end (call it the bottom end0 of the HI-C can and cut a hole bout the size of dime every quarter around the top end, the holes must be just below the top end not in the top itself.

to use, light the wax in the tuna can and place the HI-C can over it

[bigcranky]

The Jetboil is certainly "legit," if that's a concern. It's a complete system - stove, pot, wind screen, lid, cozy. It's kind of expensive for what you get, in my opinion, but it certainly works well enough. Lots of hikers like the system. Canister stoves are very fast, very convenient, and easy to use.

Note that buying into a canister stove means buying into a never-ending stream of fossil-fuel canisters. Canister fuel is pretty expensive per boil.

You might try an alcohol stove to start and see if you like it. Alky stoves are cheap (free if you make your own), light, and easy to use, but they take a long time to heat water.

[Appalachian Tater]

If you bear bag your jetboil and it falls it will dent and the ignition will screw up. If you use a SuperCat you just undent it (or not) and keep on going. And yes, as bigcranky points out, a SuperCat or pop can stove is much more environmentally-friendly upfront and over the long-haul.

[hopefulhiker]

I pondered on the stove question a lot... Before my hike the choice was between the jetboil and the MSR pocket rocket with titan kettle... In Damascus I dropped the Jetboil and used an alcohol stove made by Sgt Rock for the rest of the trip. From experience, if I were to do it all over again I would start out with the alcohol stove and titan kettle.. It saved a significant amount of weight.
You can use the yellow bottle of HEET for fuel at service stations.. There are a lot threads on this on Whiteblaze...

[Bare Bear]

I have three stoves in my Spare Hiker Crap Box.
I use my homemade denatured alcohol stove nearly always. I have yogied a cup or two of hot water when someone was already heating with their fancy expensive stove.........they are nice but Weight Is Everything, Everthing Is Weight.

[Blissful]

I like the pocket rocket, Snow peak canister (works better than MSR) and Snowpeak cookset. Used it throughout my hike.

Cons to the alcohol stove (IMO). I thought the alcohol stove made my Ramen taste weird. I dislike that I can't control the flame limiting what you can do cooking wise, it can make burn marks on picnic tables and shelter floors if it flares up or if it doesn't flare up you can hardly see the flame.