View Full Version : Jet Boil Durability
I am wicked itchy to pull the trigger on buying a Jet Boil. I have talked to several people who say, "I'm getting one," but no one who actually has one. I worry about durability. Anyone have one? Beaten on it, kicked it, sworn at it? Especially the swearing. I have a box for stuff that seemed like a good idea and was a waste. I know, boils water. I always eat the ingredients before I can get much made.
Nightwalker
02-25-2005, 17:59
The ones that I saw last year on the AT looked clunky and over-tall, if I remember right--but I may not. You'd have to be extremely careful not to knock over supper while you're bumbling around exhausted at the end of the day.
That impression comes from the integrated cup which has just about the opposite width/height ratio that I'd like to see.
However, I could be totally wrong. There is a guy on this site (Jack) who has tons more experience than I do, and he thinks that the Jetboil system is a way-cool thing. Eventually, you're going to have to decide for yourself.
I've made a lot of "interesting" gear decisions over the years, and lots of less experienced hikers have benefitted from that. I give away old stuff all the time, else my 10' X 12' gear closet would explode.
Take a look at the pics on their site:
http://www.jetboil.com/
One thing that you can say, and that is that they certainly are pretty. :D
Jack Tarlin
02-25-2005, 18:09
Regarding Frank's comments:
I don't remember using the phrase way-cool, but I think the Jetboil concept is fascinating and unique. However, I want to make it plain that I've never owned or used one, and except for seeing several in use, I have NO personal experience with this product.
That being said, the folks that I did see with the JB were all delighted with it, and I will indeed be trying one out this summer, and field-testing it for the company. I'll report back here on what I thought of it.
Nightwalker
02-25-2005, 18:46
Regarding Frank's comments:
I don't remember using the phrase way-cool, but I think the Jetboil concept is fascinating and unique. However, I want to make it plain that I've never owned or used one, and except for seeing several in use, I have NO personal experience with this product.
That being said, the folks that I did see with the JB were all delighted with it, and I will indeed be trying one out this summer, and field-testing it for the company. I'll report back here on what I thought of it.
Sorry, I wasn't trying to put words into your mouth. I was merely trying to say that different--and non-rabid--hikers can have different but valid opinions, and that he would eventually have to decide for himself. Thus the link to the site.
Here's another link, to the backpackgeartest.org section dealing with the jetboil. I'd like to look at it in depth sometime, but I haven't yet had the chance.
http://tinyurl.com/yueso
:D
Kerosene
02-25-2005, 19:13
I don't remember using the phrase way-cool, but I think the Jetboil concept is fascinating and unique."Fascinating and unique" is equivalent to "way-cool" for us older guys who live in university towns. :D
I met Stomp (or Stomper, I forget) at Fontana Hilton last month. He had completed a SOBO thru around Christmas and was noodling his way north for a while. He had a Jetboil and HAD to show it to me. Raved about it. It had many heat exhanged fins to aid in heat transfer.
Nightwalker
02-25-2005, 19:48
"Fascinating and unique" is equivalent to "way-cool" for us older guys who live in university towns. :D
The silly problem is that I'm much closer to older guy than younger...
Way-cool/bomberlicious/I'm always five steps behind. Anyone got anything negative to add to my impression of the Jet Boil? The reviews at geartest are impressive and very thorough. They just didn't address the idiot-proof issue. If I knew how to edit I'd change that to less than positive. Let me rephrase-anyone buy one that wished they hadn't?
I met Stomp (or Stomper, I forget) at Fontana Hilton last month. He had completed a SOBO thru around Christmas and was noodling his way north for a while. He had a Jetboil and HAD to show it to me. Raved about it. It had many heat exhanged fins to aid in heat transfer.
SGT Rock
02-25-2005, 21:42
Just a thought, if you compare a good canister stove like the Pocket Rocket and a nice aluminum or ti pot with the Jet Boil system, you'll see that it adds about 6-8 ounces to save 0.16 ounces of fuel a boil. Seems like a poor weight trade off IMO. I have also looked at one in the local outfitters and I have some other reservations about the system such as durability, actual performance, and the stability from height.
To key in on performance, I'll try to find the site, but if I remember correctly, when scientifically tested in a head to head against some other canister stoves, the average time to boil and fuel efficiency isn't really that dramatically different.
SGT Rock
02-25-2005, 22:22
OK here is the chart:
http://jerryrig.com/img.php?450
from this page: http://thehowzone.com/how/Jetboil/8
In a 16 oz test, the following results:
Stove:............Time to 212.5F:..........Fuel consumed:
JetBoil..............Average 2:54.............Average 0.173 ounces
Pocket Rocket...Average 3:44..............Average 0.260 ounces
Snow Peak........Average 3:52..............Average 0.283 ounces
There are a lot of tests out there, but I used this one because it compared all three in a series of tests with the same standards. So by adding all those extra parts you save a minute or less and 0.083 to 0.110 ounces. It just doesn't seem that much more effective when looked at objectively.
Youngblood
02-26-2005, 07:07
Sarge,
I haven't looked at them as much as you have, but the savings might be more dramatic than these tests indicate. (BTW, hasn't MSR or someone had a heat exchanger available for many years that fit onto some of their pots?) What I found when I worked out my stove system was that little things that didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference in fair weather conditions, made a huge difference in more severe weather. In my case with my low powered tea candle tin burners, they made the difference in it being a viable stove system for my southeastern winter camping.
I do agree with you about pot stability and also see that as a concern on some of the one piece burner/pot stand alcohol stoves that are currently popular. There are several things that a stove system should do and not dumping the pot is one of them. I often cook on the ground, it is not always level and sometimes the dirt may be a little soft as well. I'd be interested in hearing what the folks that have used them thought about them... the little second hand information I've heard was that they were amazingly fuel efficient on the trail.
Youngblood
siouxdog
02-26-2005, 08:48
i've used every stove imaginable and without a doubt my favorite is the jetboil. i only boil water for meals so it is perfect for me. i've had mine 2 yrs or so now and have had no problems. the only time i hike without it is when temps are in the teens at which point i take my bruton optimus. hope this helps
SGT Rock
02-26-2005, 09:17
Sarge,
I haven't looked at them as much as you have, but the savings might be more dramatic than these tests indicate. (BTW, hasn't MSR or someone had a heat exchanger available for many years that fit onto some of their pots?) What I found when I worked out my stove system was that little things that didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference in fair weather conditions, made a huge difference in more severe weather. In my case with my low powered tea candle tin burners, they made the difference in it being a viable stove system for my southeastern winter camping.
I do agree with you about pot stability and also see that as a concern on some of the one piece burner/pot stand alcohol stoves that are currently popular. There are several things that a stove system should do and not dumping the pot is one of them. I often cook on the ground, it is not always level and sometimes the dirt may be a little soft as well. I'd be interested in hearing what the folks that have used them thought about them... the little second hand information I've heard was that they were amazingly fuel efficient on the trail.
Youngblood
Perhaps, but there was a report by a WhiteBlazer that couldn't get a JetBoil to boil at cold temps. I couldn't say with confidence why unless I tested them at the temp.
BUT, let me go on by saying this, even if the stove performance were saved twice the amount, or lets even say three times the amount of fuel at colder temperatures, that would mean it saves a whole .24 to .33 ounces per boil (very unrealistic numbers, by this test it only saves 70% over the worst performer), it still does this by adding many ounces of base weight. If you use weight efficiency as a standard, the trade off is still negated by the added weight.
Example: Take an MSR Pocket Rocket, a 4 ounce container, a Evernew 900ml pot with a cozy, and a scripto lighter to make all the functions of a Jetboil, you come out at 17 ounces. A JetBoil PCS with the smaller canister designed for the same length of time is 22.2 ounces, so 5.2 ounces higher. Both stoves should last about two weeks for a trip (at 2 cups of water heated per day), so the average weight carried for the MSR system over two weeks would be about 15 ounces, and the average weight of someone carrying the JetBoil would be 20.6 ounces, or an average of 5.6 ounces more per day.
So the JetBoil is a cool idea, it is a neat system, it does save weight, and it does make you pot boil a little faster, and it does satisfy the gadget head tendency that lives in a lot of us. But the fuel savings aren't that great and the cost to the hiker really is adding almost 6 ounces of weight to your pack. Some of you may think this isn't that big of a deal, and that is fine, gear decisions are often made for reasons more than efficiency of weight, but I feel that this is a main selling point of the JetBoil system and the reality doesn't quite meet the advertising.
SGT Rock
02-26-2005, 09:45
To add something to what I just said, if you are in cold/windy weather, you normally can't add a windscreen to a canister stove, but lately I have seen some "Heat Reflectors" sold in an outfitters for one of the canister stove models, since I couldn't find it on Google, I thought I might throw out this homemade version I did find: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/00041.html
Or an even "cleaner" system from the Zen Stove site (a very cool site BTW): http://home.comcast.net/~agmann/stove/Canister.htm
Again, I haven't tested it, but I would guess using such a thing would get you very close in performance to the JetBoil in fuel performance increase.
bulldog49
02-26-2005, 14:55
To add something to what I just said, if you are in cold/windy weather, you normally can't add a windscreen to a canister stove, but lately I have seen some "Heat Reflectors" sold in an outfitters for one of the canister stove models, since I couldn't find it on Google, I thought I might throw out this homemade version I did find: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/00041.html
Or an even "cleaner" system from the Zen Stove site (a very cool site BTW): http://home.comcast.net/~agmann/stove/Canister.htm
Again, I haven't tested it, but I would guess using such a thing would get you very close in performance to the JetBoil in fuel performance increase.
There is no problem using a wind screen with a canister stove as long as you leave an opening on the leeward side. Prevents the wind from affecting the flame and directs most of the excess heat up the side of the pot.
tlbj6142
02-26-2005, 18:35
The other issue with the jeboil is that it can only boil 0.5L (despite the 1L capicity). Which means its not a good option for multi-user stove unless you boil water separately for both. Also means you may be restricted to boil-in-bag method for all your cooking needs. IOW, you can't cook 2 lipton meals at once inside the pot, unlike other canister stove/pot combos.
BTW, www.backpackinglight.com has an excellent write-up on the jetboil and recently on many (8+) canister stoves. They are a great read, several articles require membership. They compare stoves in wind, cold temps (10F), behind a 3/4 windscreen, compare fuel consumption, etc.
The other issue with the jeboil is that it can only boil 0.5L (despite the 1L capicity). Okay, I give up.
Why can it only boil 0.5 L in its 1.0 L pot?
tlbj6142
02-26-2005, 18:41
Lawyers. Seriously, the manufacture recomends only boiling 0.5L max. Now, www.backpackinglight.com (http://www.backpackinglight.com) claims you can do 0.8L without issue.
Here is the quote from bpl.com
Jetboil recommends that the one-liter cooking cup be used to boil only a maximum of two cups of water (a limitation put in place by what we perceive to be the Jetboil Legal Advisory Group, or Jet-LAG). We found, in our testing, such a limitation to be ridiculous, and we were able to repeatedly boil up to 0.8L of water in the cup with no splashing or spillage. But, you'll have to be your own judge as to what capacity you think the pot can handle. Suffice it to say that it's somewhere between 0.5 and 1.0 liters.
I read a review that said it foamed up when adding "flavor packets." Anything that foams at the mouth can't be all that bad. The reviewer did heat more by watching closely. Solo rig. Saw a double kit. Will it take abuse is the 55.95 question.
Plodder
I've used mine for about 300 meals so far and have no durability issues..It's very easy to use, you can pick it up with your bare hands , the exposed metal doesn't get very hot either. I've used 3 different types of fuel canisters with excellent results..You can use a postal scales to guestimate your remaining fuel.
It won't be the lightest...but it's still the best in my book!
That's it? Water bubbles when it boils? I have news for backpackinglight.com, water bubbles when it boils if you use a cannister, alcohol, wood, or nuclear power.
But you are right. It is always the lawyers. CAUTION: Do not swallow these ginsu knifes. Swallowing knives might cause internal bleeding.
Plodder
I've used mine for about 300 meals so far and have no durability issues..It's very easy to use, you can pick it up with your bare hands , the exposed metal doesn't get very hot either. I've used 3 different types of fuel canisters with excellent results..You can use a postal scales to guestimate your remaining fuel.
It won't be the lightest...but it's still the best in my book!
Thanks. Just what I hoped to hear. 300 so far... trigger pulled
tlbj6142
02-27-2005, 10:11
That's it? Water bubbles when it boils? I have news for backpackinglight.com, water bubbles when it boils if you use a cannister, alcohol, wood, or nuclear power.I assume you mean JetBoil not bpl.com.
I also think (IMO) that since the pot size is fixed (unlike other canister setups), Jetboil knows folks will add stuff (food) to their water. So, by limiting you to boiling 0.5L they know there will be room in the pot for meal without it overflowing. Seems sort of obvious to me, but apparently not to JetBoil's laywers.