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Pocket Rocket


Kiwi

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The cold doesn't bother it, but a stout wind certainly does. If you are going lightweight, I would reccomend it. You might have to rig a sort of wind break for it in windy conditions. That sucker can boil water pretty fast too, but wind certainly seems to be its downfall. For reference, I had it at -25*C and it started to get 'spurty' but I would think that most 'non-expedition stoves' would do this as well. If i were in any colder conditions, I would want something more substantial as it is a pretty important piece of gear. My 2 Cents.

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if its butt ass cold out or very windy you'd be much much much better off with a wisperlight. otherwise it's pretty sweet above or around freezing. interesting tidbit about the titanium. i'll continue to use my ti pot regardless. it works fine in snowcave temps which is nice for alpine routes

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I've used mine in a variety of conditions, and as long as you keep the canister protected from the cold in some form and use some type of windscreen, it works well- unfortunately, the canisters don't last too long if you're using it quite a bit (in cold weather, for example).

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the canisters don't last too long if you're using it quite a bit (in cold weather, for example).

No they don't last too long in the cold. That said I've never ran out on trips shorter than 3 days - 1 canister has always been enough (which leads to a plethora of half used canisters - Solution - Markhill Gas Lantern $30 bucks)

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I have one. I've made a windscreen for it out of the bottom of a roasting tray and a thermal insulator for the stove out of closed cell foam and duct tape. I also have a heat conductor made from 1/4" copper tube. I'll try and post a pitcture of it at some point.

 

Work pretty well in Cascades type winter temps. Very light and compact compared to an XGK.

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Yeah, the MSR windscreen works great for the Pocket Rocket with the added bonus of helping to keep the canister warm (dangerous, but what isn't?). A windscreen made of 4 layers of aluminum foil works almost as good and is much lighter.

 

One problem with the little stove is its tippiness when cooking in a tent( dangerous, etc.) on a foam pad . A solution for this problem is setting the stove on a ziplock baggie 1/4 full of instant rice. Push the stove down onto the rice bag to create an indentation for the canister. This works great until you've eaten all the rice.

 

Definitely a good stove.

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Almost all gas stoves are a little tippy just because putting the fuel cell under the burner makes them too tall. I've used a gas stove with the fuel off to the side on a tube but this is even worse in the cold as you get no reheating from the flame.

 

Adding a foam insulating jacket makes tipping worse. The bag 'o rice idea is a good one.

 

Obviously adding a copper heat conductor is a very stupid thing to do. Don't do it, watch TV instead.

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FYI - You can buy the Whisperlite aluminum windscreen for a couple o bucks at Second Ascent. They also have the Markill cannister stoves there. They are about half the price of the MSR (devil = $20) and only weigh a little bit more.
Cool. Looks like I'll have to check out Second Ascent.

 

WhisperLite is white gas, right? I've never used white gas before. I don't even know what priming means.

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The cold doesn't bother it, but a stout wind certainly does.

snow peak gigapower is a great little stove and has an awesome windscreen that you can buy for it. heavy if you're counting grams, but imho it's worth its weight if you're fighting wind.

 

I second this. I tested the coleman F1, the MSR and one other superlight canister stove against the gigapower in wind (ok, blowing on them hard) and the gigapower was FAR superior to the rest. It wasn't even close. It's worth the extra $ as far as I am concerned.

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