Outdoor Adventure USA

I received a Jet Boil Flash system for my B-Day present yesterday. Several of you have these and I was wondering "for backpacking" what other utensils you find necessary? It comes with the 1 liter cup/pot and they also sell a 1.5 and 3.0 liter pot as well as the frying pan. I was thinking the stock frying pan and there fork, knife & spatula combo would be sufficent? Any input would be appreciated.

I have the JetBoil flash system as well. The JetBoil accessories I have are the frying pan and 3 liter pot. The pot works well, I use it quite often to cook canned foods when car camping. You just have to make sure you stir the food regularly so the food at the bottom doesn't burn. The pan though isn't all that great. The heat in the pan is very different over the cooking surface. So for instance, cooking 3 strips bacon in the morning, the middle one is done before the outer two have started cooking.. And when cooking eggs, they seem to stick to the pan even when using a cooking oil. I've basically switched over to a normal teflon pan from REI (has a collapsible handle). The REI pan is a heavier pan and isn't meant for light backpacking, but because it's a heaver pan with a thicker metal base, the heat is more even on the cooking surface. One accessory you want to have with you at all times is a new piezo starter, mine went out on the last trip. The intense heat from the burner seems to wear away at the starter rather quickly. My used starter was about 1/3 of the legth of a new starter, I was very surprised as the jetboil is only about 1.5 yrs old, and I've only used it on maybe a dozen or so trips.

Hope this helps.. and just in case you were wondering.. I really love the JetBoil system! Being able to heat very cold water in the morning in about 2-3 min for coffee is great! And even though most of my camping is car based, I still like to pack light. This has replaced my (actually my parents 30+ year old) coleman stove.

http://shop.jetboil.com/index.php/maintenance-kit.html
http://www.rei.com/product/765752/rei-c ... -frypan-10

And one thing to add.. I first used the JetBoil brand fuel and it works great. on one of my last trips I needed more fuel, but they only had Coleman fuel. The Coleman fuel doesn't seem to act the same as the JetBoil fuel, the flame is a bit different, doesn't seem quite as intense. I can't say it affects the cooking time or had any harmful effects on the burner, but it's just different. I think when I'm out of the Coleman fuel I'll go back to buying the JetBoil fuel. Or maybe I need to take off the tinfoil hat?

SP Jon M3 wrote:I first used the JetBoil brand fuel and it works great. on one of my last trips I needed more fuel, but they only had Coleman fuel. The Coleman fuel doesn't seem to act the same as the JetBoil fuel, the flame is a bit different, doesn't seem quite as intense. I can't say it affects the cooking time or had any harmful effects on the burner, but it's just different. I think when I'm out of the Coleman fuel I'll go back to buying the JetBoil fuel. Or maybe I need to take off the tinfoil hat?

It isn't your tin foil hat...you are correct Jon. However it won't hurt your jetboil to use other fuels in there.

W/o getting to technical ... The difference in temp is due to the blending of the n-C4/i-C4/C3. Different mixtures burn at different temps (different amount of heat released per the same gram of fuel consumed). Each manufacturer has their own specification for blending the fuel together. So there ya go...you can leave the tin foil hat on

SP Jon M3 wrote:I have the JetBoil flash system as well. The JetBoil accessories I have are the frying pan and 3 liter pot. The pot works well, I use it quite often to cook canned foods when car camping. You just have to make sure you stir the food regularly so the food at the bottom doesn't burn. The pan though isn't all that great. The heat in the pan is very different over the cooking surface. So for instance, cooking 3 strips bacon in the morning, the middle one is done before the outer two have started cooking.. And when cooking eggs, they seem to stick to the pan even when using a cooking oil. I've basically switched over to a normal teflon pan from REI (has a collapsible handle). The REI pan is a heavier pan and isn't meant for light backpacking, but because it's a heaver pan with a thicker metal base, the heat is more even on the cooking surface. One accessory you want to have with you at all times is a new piezo starter, mine went out on the last trip. The intense heat from the burner seems to wear away at the starter rather quickly. My used starter was about 1/3 of the legth of a new starter, I was very surprised as the jetboil is only about 1.5 yrs old, and I've only used it on maybe a dozen or so trips.

Hope this helps.. and just in case you were wondering.. I really love the JetBoil system! Being able to heat very cold water in the morning in about 2-3 min for coffee is great! And even though most of my camping is car based, I still like to pack light. This has replaced my (actually my parents 30+ year old) coleman stove.

http://shop.jetboil.com/index.php/maintenance-kit.html
http://www.rei.com/product/765752/rei-c ... -frypan-10

And one thing to add.. I first used the JetBoil brand fuel and it works great. on one of my last trips I needed more fuel, but they only had Coleman fuel. The Coleman fuel doesn't seem to act the same as the JetBoil fuel, the flame is a bit different, doesn't seem quite as intense. I can't say it affects the cooking time or had any harmful effects on the burner, but it's just different. I think when I'm out of the Coleman fuel I'll go back to buying the JetBoil fuel. Or maybe I need to take off the tinfoil hat?

Thanks for the info Jon. I was at REI today and picked up the JetBoil fork, knife and spatula set as well a new Peizo and the Crunchit (drains any remaining fuel so you can crush the canister). It's funny you mention the REI pan because it caught my eye and I liked the solid snap in place handle, it has a good feel. I don't think I'll be cooking any bacon while backpacking for now but you make a good point about heat distribution. I did notice that under windless conditions you can really turn the heat down very low and with the use of a cover this may help more evenly cook the meal. I'll keep the fuel type in mind as well, I would imagine that at altitude the effects would be greatly exasperated.

I keep a Jet Boil system in my FJ at all times...I love it.

We all know my fondness for cooking, so the Jet Boil is perfect for me. I can heat up water for tea or coffee in 60 seconds, and cook Mountain View food in 2 minutes. The unit packs away easily, and has held up pretty well. I'll have to check out the starter - I haven't had any issues, but looks like I might need to take precautionary measures...

I have the 2 Qt pot, frying pan, and cooking utensil assortment - all work very well.

As Shuly said, each of the manufacturers use a different mixture of gases, and they burn at different temps...the Jet Boil brand fuel seems to burn hotter, an it's the same price as most of the others...So, for me, faster is better, so Ill stick to using their fuel, too...

cruiserlarry wrote:I keep a Jet Boil system in my FJ at all times...I love it.

We all know my fondness for cooking, so the Jet Boil is perfect for me. I can heat up water for tea or coffee in 60 seconds, and cook Mountain View food in 2 minutes. The unit packs away easily, and has held up pretty well. I'll have to check out the starter - I haven't had any issues, but looks like I might need to take precautionary measures...

I have the 2 Qt pot, frying pan, and cooking utensil assortment - all work very well.

As Shuly said, each of the manufacturers use a different mixture of gases, and they burn at different temps...the Jet Boil brand fuel seems to burn hotter, an it's the same price as most of the others...So, for me, faster is better, so Ill stick to using their fuel, too...

You can boil water; who knew?

Thanks for the review Larry. So what are your favorite and not so favorite freeze dried meals?

gon2srf wrote:Thanks for the review Larry. So what are your favorite and not so favorite freeze dried meals?

I stay away from any freeze-dried food that features eggs, fruit, or ice cream...I've never had one that tasted even remotely edible. I like most of the Mountain View Asian style meals, the Beef Stroganoff, basically any food that is likely to have the same consistency whether it was freeze-dried or fresh...

So here's the starter for my jetboil after about 1.5 years of use, maybe 12 or so camping trips.



Nad here's a new starter installed:



and a comparison of the two:

I didnt like the plastic utensils JetBoil offers. I went with the "Sea to Summit" Alpha titanium set.

http://m.rei.com/mt/www.rei.com/product ... tensil-set

I haven't found any of the dehydrated meals that agree with me yet, especially at altitude. They give my serious gas and when you're at altitude, for me 8K'+, and exerting yourself it makes it miserable. I'm told the more expensive organic meals are much better in this area. So try some different ones out before taking them up the mountain. I've found mixed berries and nuts, Pringles chips, fruits, chex mix, etc work well. MRE's are good too if you can get them.

OLLIE wrote:I didnt like the plastic utensils JetBoil offers. I went with the "Sea to Summit" Alpha titanium set.

http://m.rei.com/mt/www.rei.com/product ... tensil-set

I haven't found any of the dehydrated meals that agree with me yet, especially at altitude. They give my serious gas and when you're at altitude, for me 8K'+, and exerting yourself it makes it miserable. I'm told the more expensive organic meals are much better in this area. So try some different ones out before taking them up the mountain. I've found mixed berries and nuts, Pringles chips, fruits, chex mix, etc work well. MRE's are good too if you can get them.

Thanks Ollie. Already bought the JetBoil Utensils, they work okay and fold up really small.

Great info on the side effects of freeze dried's. I happen to love Rice Chex and could live on them for weeks.