Jetboil OK for thru-hike?

[MrHappy]

So I have a jet-boil and I love the thing, because I do a lot of weekend-winter-camping in very cold temperatures, and the jet boil melts snow better than any MSR stoves i've tried (quite a few). Anyways, It is rather bulky, as are the fuel canisters, though not terribly heavy. Do you guys think it's suitable for a thru-hike? I'm planning on starting in January, and only cooking for the first few months when the warm food will be good for me, and then switching to all cold foods for the final months.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

If you decide to use the Jet-Boil, you might want to take a look at Sarbar's freezer bag cooking site.

[Wonder]

I started with a Jet-Boil this year, and I love the way it works...........but it was way too hevey for me. Switched to a basic alachol stove and I love it! Light weight, and easy to use....but pratice with it first, or you'll blow through your fuel in 2 days(Opps)
Oh, and as a side note........I love the freezer bag cooking. My mom sent me recipes from there and they were way tasty! Only draw back.......people staring you down as they eat their thousandth ramen or lipton!

[the_iceman]

If you are starting early you probably want to stick with the Jetboil over the alcohol stoves. Alcohol stoves do not do so well in the cold. I am planning a Feb. 07 start and I am taking my Jetboil over alcohol or my MSR Whiper-lite for weight, convenience, and the clean burn.

Considering the Jetboil is a cup, pot, dish, and is all self contained it in not very bulky. It is not as light as an alcohol stove that is for sure but to me well worth the few extra ounces. Sometimes you have to consider “quality-of-life” on the trail when you look at options.

[RITBlake]

Carried a jetboil the entire time during my sobo thru hike. This thing was a workhorse that never misfired once. The jetboil can take a beating. Plus it was nice to have dinner ready in a matter of minutes.

[WhoAh]

I looked at the jetboil but am also considering the Wind Pro for the first part of my hike and switching to my Tin Man stove after the Smokies. Anyone else contemplating the Wind Pro? Don't hear too much about it on these forums.....

[SGT Rock]

Never heard of it. Got a link?

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

http://www.msrcorp.com/stoves/windpro.asp

[SGT Rock]

Ohhh, remote canister.

I have never used a remote canister gas stove like that.

One stove I have looked at is the Coleman Exponent F1 Ultralight. Without all that fancy extra stuff of the JetBoil they came in close to the JetBoil performance over on BPL tests. I figure if you can get similar performance with a more "normal" pot it would be worth looking into.

[WhoAh]

Just did some weighing of my "kitchen" including the WindPro stove, gas canister, wind screen, Ti spork, Ti Pot, cozy, lighter, Ti mug, carrying bag - and the total came to just shy of 26 oz. Gotta figure out where to shave a couple of oz off of this - might just need to re-look at my TinMan stove....

The canister is a 4 oz one, and I am not sure yet just how many meals this will actually make - need to do a little more testing to figure that out. So far I like this stove, especially the remote canister bit as it makes the stove a whole lot stabler.

[bigcranky]

The remote canister style has one potential advantage -- in very cold weather, the canister can be turned upside down to feed liquid fuel to the stove. This eliminates the major problem with canister stoves not performing well in cold weather as the fuel stops evaporating.

There is an article on Backpackinglight about this topic. Interesting read (members only, sorry).

http://tinyurl.com/ebpkv

[Stonewall]

There is an article on Backpackinglight about this topic. Interesting read (members only, sorry).

http://tinyurl.com/ebpkv

Copy and paste my friend, copy and paste

[neo]

So I have a jet-boil and I love the thing, because I do a lot of weekend-winter-camping in very cold temperatures, and the jet boil melts snow better than any MSR stoves i've tried (quite a few). Anyways, It is rather bulky, as are the fuel canisters, though not terribly heavy. Do you guys think it's suitable for a thru-hike? I'm planning on starting in January, and only cooking for the first few months when the warm food will be good for me, and then switching to all cold foods for the final months.

i use mine every were i go,i even stayed at the president of jet boils house last year on my section hike neo

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/...imageuser=3462

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/...imageuser=3462

[WhoAh]

Copy and paste my friend, copy and paste

Yes, please.....

[Ridge]

As long as you don't have to depend on finding cannisters at the trailheads, OK. The negatives I've heard about most of these type stoves are their performance in cold weather, heavy, and expensive fuel. Positives, cooks fast, low maintenance. I eliminated my stove worry on the trail, and thats fuel and clogging, cold weather, and elevation. I use a Sierra Zip woodburner. Had an alcohol and multifuel stove, haven't used either in years.

[QHShowoman]

Although I don't own one (I prefer the tinman alcohol stove (solo) or the MSR pocketrocket (when I am cooking for 2-3 people), the MSR Windpro stoves are definitely workhorses. They are the backpacking stoves the store I work at rents out and they are easy to use and can definitely take a beating!

[Johnny Swank]

Another alcohol user with a good review of the windpro. We use our alky stove 90% of the time, but the windpro when car camping or some other situation where you need more fine control.

Took a one burner propane stove on the river, mainly because of fuel availabilty. What a complete pain in the butt! I was ready to pitch that thing overboard by the end,

[NICKTHEGREEK]

The remote canister style has one potential advantage -- in very cold weather, the canister can be turned upside down to feed liquid fuel to the stove. This eliminates the major problem with canister stoves not performing well in cold weather as the fuel stops evaporating.

There is an article on Backpackinglight about this topic. Interesting read (members only, sorry).

http://tinyurl.com/ebpkv

I use a similar design, the snowpeak gigapower BF, that has a low profile and very wide stable pot supports. It rocks with a outback oven, no danger of overheating the canister. I have a jetboil but have stopped using it, I'm just into doing real cooking even on overnight trips.

[neo]

As long as you don't have to depend on finding cannisters at the trailheads, OK. The negatives I've heard about most of these type stoves are their performance in cold weather, heavy, and expensive fuel. Positives, cooks fast, low maintenance. I eliminated my stove worry on the trail, and thats fuel and clogging, cold weather, and elevation. I use a Sierra Zip woodburner. Had an alcohol and multifuel stove, haven't used either in years.

i have used mine down to 17 degrees neo

[neo]

As long as you don't have to depend on finding cannisters at the trailheads, OK. The negatives I've heard about most of these type stoves are their performance in cold weather, heavy, and expensive fuel. Positives, cooks fast, low maintenance. I eliminated my stove worry on the trail, and thats fuel and clogging, cold weather, and elevation. I use a Sierra Zip woodburner. Had an alcohol and multifuel stove, haven't used either in years.

i have a sierra zip stove to,they are pretty awesome neo