pocket rocket vs whisperlite

[swantekkie]

I have recently been looking at backpacking stoves and was wondering about the pros and cons of the MSR pocket roocket vs the whisperlite. I am trying to keep my pack as lite as possible so i figured the pocket rocket would be good, but the canister only lasts around an hour. Also the whisperlite seems to have alot more stability. Thoughts?

[troglobil]

prepare to hear all about alcohol stoves.

[troglobil]

I have the whisperlight. weight with the 11oz fuel botttle is not to bad. It is a little bulkier than pocket rocket. It gives you all the enjoyment of the preburn warming of the stove. You don't have to guess how much fuel you have left, and can usually buy it by the ounce at resupplies. The 1 hour burn time seems kinda low? But then again, I know nothing about the pocket rocket. Both will boil water quickly. Simmering with whisperlight can be a little tricky, it tends to go out at low idle.

[rafe]

My Whisperlite is 18 years old and has been with me for 3/4 of the AT and dozens of hikes besides. It's never let me down.

That said, I'm aware that it's much heavier than necessary for thru-hiker's needs, let alone for a section-hiker's needs. You're looking at 11 oz for the burner and pump, another 2.8 to 4 oz for the fuel bottle. After that, the weight of the fuel itself is almost insignificant, because no stove is more efficient (and gas is far more efficient than alcohol, in terms of energy content.) [FWIW, the Simmerlite will shave 3 oz off the weight of the Whisperlite.]

A pocket rocket plus an empty "100 gram" canister weighs 6.5 oz. The fuel in that canister, under ideal conditions, will boil about 15 pints of water.

An alcohol stove can weigh well under one ounce, but you need to budget about .75 oz of fuel weight for each pint of water boiled, and maybe another .75 oz for the fuel bottle.

The "right" stove depends on your cooking habits on the trail and the frequency of fuel re-supply. It also depends on the season -- white gas stoves are well-suited for winter hiking, while canisters stoves are less so.

The Whisperlite gives the most "freedom" for cooking, but at a cost in weight carried. With alcohol stoves, you need to seriously budget fuel consumption and minutes of flame. You can't regulate the height of the flame, nor can you turn the stove "off." It's a whole different approach to the camp cooking.

[swantekkie]

ya im looking more for amount of burn time, plus weight, and seeing as i wont be doing too much extreme cold camping the wisperlite seems like it should do the trick. How much burn time on average do u get from the 11oz canister?

[rafe]

ya im looking more for amount of burn time, plus weight, and seeing as i wont be doing too much extreme cold camping the wisperlite seems like it should do the trick. How much burn time on average do u get from the 11oz canister?

MSR claims 15 quarts with 11 oz of fuel. When mine was new, I got 3.5 hours of burn time, at a "normal" setting, with 16 oz of fuel, in a "controlled" test at home. In fact, there was still some fuel left at the end of that test. (I cut the test short so I could turn off the stove and go to bed.)

If I were looking to buy a white gas stove for the AT, I'd get the Simmerlite and the 11 oz bottle. Whisperlites were the stove of choice for many years on the trail, but folks nowadays are a lot more weight-conscious.

[swantekkie]

Is the simmerlite alot lighter than the whisperlite?

[troglobil]

no. According to MSR website.
whisper light min weight ....11 oz
simmer light min weight ....8.5 oz
simmerlite simmers better

[Peaks]

Getting back to the original question, each stove has it's place.

Whisperlite, or simmerlite are gas stove. Coleman fuel, or unleaded gas is readily available. However, they can flare up, especially when lighting. So, keep them away from anything flamible, like tents.

Canister stoves may not work when it's below freezing. Canisters usually available only from outfitters. And then there is the problem of knowing how much fuel is left in a canister, so bring along a spare. But, other than that, they are pretty fool proof.

To each their own.

[TJ aka Teej]

...other than that, they are pretty fool proof.

So that's why I use a Pocket Pocket! And although I try to keep track of boils with sharpie tic marks on the can, I still always carry a spare.

[rafe]

So that's why I use a Pocket Pocket! And although I try to keep track of boils with sharpie tic marks on the can, I still always carry a spare.

There's a market for a 1 oz portable electronic scale, doncha think? Does anyone know where to get those stick-on thingies that change color and show the fuel level?

I'm thinking.. one could take along a soda can stove and a few oz. of alcohol as a backup.

[Roland]

~~~
Canister stoves may not work when it's below freezing. ~~~

I used to think so too, although I've never used one. Then someone posted this link on VFTT.

[ARambler]

I now use the Simmerlite. I don't know why MSR still makes the Whisperlite. I guess MSR just wants a slightly cheaper stove. Ditto on the smallest fuel bottle. When I needed a lot of fuel in AK, I also carried a 24 oz Pepsi bottle with extra fuel, then transfered it to my Ti bottle. The Simmerlite is very good at boiling water in harsh conditions. I'm sure my fellow dinosaurs died out because of an interruption in their Mountain House supply... it couldn't have been our white gas stoves.

Although the Simmerlite simmers pretty well, the butane stoves are probably better if you simmer a lot. If you want to fire it up several times a day for that second cup of coffee, the butane is also better. If you just want to bring 2 cups of water to a boil in the summer, you might want to go to the dark side, CH3CH2OH.
Rambler

[rafe]

Although the Simmerlite simmers pretty well, the butane stoves are probably better if you simmer a lot. If you want to fire it up several times a day for that second cup of coffee, the butane is also better. If you just want to bring 2 cups of water to a boil in the summer, you might want to go to the dark side, CH3CH2OH.
Rambler

I remember hearing, 2nd or 3rd-hand, very long ago, a statement attributed to Warren Doyle. Something to the effect of, "if you need to light your stove more than once each day, you won't make it to Katahdin."

Consciously or subconsciously, I got to where I use my stove exactly once each day, for dinner. But I'm wondering also if that was because of the stoves I used -- white gas and later, a Zip stove. And now that I'm considering switching to canister (or CH3CH2OH) I wonder if that may change again. Especially with the canister, given how easy they are to start up and shut down.

[Toolshed]

Swantekkie -
My first stove was a Phoenix Backpacker (white gas stove in a square metal box) . After that I upgraded to a Whisperlite which was the backpacking standard (well OK, Svea123 was as well) and then in 1992 I got a Whisperlite International.

The Whisperlite has been my standard all season stove up until 2001 when I started playing with Alcohol and made Pepsi can stoves - I used to do a lot of winter camping and a white gas stove is required in bitter subzero cold cold. I finally broke down and got a PR 2 years ago as I was a little tired of alcohol stoves and I was starting to take my little one out with me and wanted a lighter stove that still boiled 4 quarts quickly.

I still use my Whisperlite for winter camping and anytime that I am cooking for more than 2. I have the luxury of having the pocket rocket for warm weather use, but if I could only have one stove, it would be the Whisperlite.
BTW, you can simmer with it but it is a clunky process, Clamp down on the stove leg with your pot gripper (if the stove is hot) then you need only flip the fuel bottle over (using the gas line as a pivot ) for about 15 seconds, so the gas intake line (inside the bottle) draws air from the top of the bottle and bleeds it out, then pivot the bottle back over and relight the stove, which should not need priming since it will still be very hot.

BTW, It seems there are 2 kinds of people in the - Those that have problems with Whisperlites and those that don't. Other than the old style fuel pump cracking in subzero weather in the ADKs, I have never had a problem.

Finally, since I can boil a huge pot of water within about 4 minutes (after priming) I have had a few backpackers in the past ask me if I could spare some hot water for them for soup/coffee/tea, while they were waiting for their Alcohol stoves to heat 2 cups or their dinner.
The Whisperlite does have its place.....

[magic_game03]

tip 1: save your money and buy a jetboil
tip 2: fuel time=amateur time. a 4oz canister should last about a week, 8oz about 20 days, 16oz canister lasted me 700 miles back in '04. (you can doubt it but I have a trail journal to back it up; rockfish gap,va - kent,ct)
tip 3: buy 4 season fuel, it burns hotter and therefore you get fuel efficiency over weight of fuel.

[swantekkie]

toolshed, you sound like u have done alot of research, i trust ur judgment. I'll probly go with the whisperlite

[fiddlehead]

One important thing you should know about the whisperlite: it is anything but quiet. and lite. It is one of the loudest and heaviest stoves out there. I don't know why they call it what they do.

[swantekkie]

does anyone recommend the jet boil group cooking system, its looks pretty efficiant

[Peaks]

One important thing you should know about the whisperlite: it is anything but quiet. and lite. It is one of the loudest and heaviest stoves out there. I don't know why they call it what they do.

Compared with other stoves on the market when Whisperlite first came out, it was certainly lighter and quieter than stoves like the Svea.