Jet Boil Abuse

[plodder]

I've read the reviews. I've played with the parts. How rugged is this gadget? Does it take dropping, kicking, or falling on? A friend wants to know about dumping on it, he seems to be tough on stuff. I have seen this for $55 recently- too many in stock or something new due out or less than cherry?

[bearbag hanger]

It's fairly rugged, accept the piezo igniter. I suspect all piezo igniters are a little tender. If you like the jetBoil, first look at the Snow Peak mini cook set:

http://www.rei.com/product/7925109.htm?vcat=REI_SSHP_CAMPING_TOC

or something similar, and a 3.0 oz (or less) stove. There are three or four on the market, I have the Coleman Exponent F1 Ultralight Stove:

http://www.rei.com/product/47604327.htm?vcat=REI_SSHP_CAMPING_TOC

You save about five or six ounces and have a smaller more versatile set up. The time to boil two cups of water will only increase about 10 seconds.

The JetBoil canisters will not work with anything but a JetBoil. The JetBoil can use almost all the other canisters on the market. The JetBoil people designed it that way. Which is about 50% of the reason I don't particularly like the JetBoil.

[grrickar]

I use a Snow Peak 1400 Ti with any size canister and a Optimus (Brunton) Cruz stove that weighs in at 3.1oz. All of it nests inside the 1400 with room to spare. I really like this setup over my white gas Brunton Nova setup. I personally looked into the Jetboil, but I don't think that it would be useful for anything but boiling water due to the narrow width and height of the cup that attaches. I admit I mostly just do boil and eat meals, but it is nice to be able to use different cookware and actually cook food every now and then.

[Rain Man]

Based on how heavy (and rugged?) the Jet-Boil is, I just wonder if it's intended more for alpine expeditions or some such, and not really for AT backpacking. I think of the Jet-Boil as in the ice-pick category, in other words. But I have little experience at backpacking and none at expeditions, so take this with a grain of salt.
:sun
Rain Man

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[Jack Tarlin]

Rain Man:

I also thought about the weight factor, but remember that the Jet Boil is a self-contained cooking system, comprising stove, pot, and fuel. It might seem heavy at first, but if a hiker were to take their present stove, their cookset, and their fuel bottle which alone weighs anywhere from eight to twenty ounces every time they leave town, the "weight factor" is not that significant. Personally, I kind of like the idea of a stove that will have my food ready to eat within minutes....bringing a full liter of water to boil with a lot of stoves, especially many alcohol stoves, can be a pain in the ass, At the end of the day, I want to eat almost immediately, and if I have to pay a weight penalty of a few ounces in order to avoid this inconvenience, I'll happily do it. Also, the stove is incredibly efficient as far as fuel economy, so while it's still probably cheaper in the long run to burn denatured alcohol or white gas, Jetboil certainly seems to be the the most efficient cannister stove presently available. Lastly, being a self-contained unit, (the fuel cannister fits neatly inside the unit when it's not in use) the whole thing is about the size of a Nalgene bottle, which makes for pretty easy and efficient packing.

In any case, I'm witholding judgment til I try it out in the field.

[Valmet]

The jetboil will use other makers cannisters not just theirs. I know this for a fact. Used one with a primus cannister, worked no problems.

[papa john]

The previous poster said that as well, his point was that the JB cannister will NOT work with other stoves.

[MadAussieInLondon]

papa john, my understanding was its a standard EN417 canister specification, and thus could be used by any EN417 using stove...

looking at the JB faq;



Jetboil is compatible with valves made to the EN417 specification, a standard adopted by manufacturers throughout the world. Please note that the product has not been tested with every different type of fuel canister, and we cannot claim safe operation with any canister other than our Jetpower brand of fuel


so JB cannisters would also need a EN417 valvue and thus work in MSR pocket rockets etc.

i highly doubt a JB cannister would not work with a pocketrocket etc.