MSR Reactor

[Ade]

Has anyone actually used one of these for real in the alpine and/or cold. While expensive they look promising if they work as advertized. I went and had a look at one and my initial reaction was that they're hardly any lighter than an XGK and you'd have to modify the stove to hang it (as opposed to the Jetboil where the stove and pot lock together).

 

Anyone got any real world feedback?

 

Cheers,

 

Ade

 

[G-spotter]

my initial reaction was that they're hardly any lighter than an XGK

 

isn't the whole deal supposed to be that they are more efficient, not that they are lighter?

[hafilax]

More efficient = less fuel = lighter?

[kurthicks]

I've played with one that a client had for a few days last September. We found the same problems that Ade noted. They are incredibly efficient (anecdotally, since we didn't time it boiling water), but they are more frustrating to use than Jetboils (no ignitor, stove/pot don't lock, etc). We managed to pull the handle off the pot and it took 2 days to get it back on. I think they need to do another revision to fix these simple design flaws.

[hafilax]

Someone posted a quantitative comparison on another message board.

 

http://www.trailspace.com/news/2007/01/17/integrated-canister-stove-showdown.html

[Spencer]

The wife got me one a couple weeks ago and I had three days of use, I did bring my whisper light as a back up however never used it.

Melting snow has never been faster, it's twice as fast as any stove I have used, It's almost too fast, no simmering here.

I did use more fuel than I thought I would, (three of us used two large cans),

I also own a jet-boil, this put it to shame.

Cold didn't affect it, we did have a little problem with it shutting off not sure why.

One major drawback is they worn you many times about carbon monoxide poisoning, this is more real with this stove than any other, I expect someone will die from this stove.I learned after my first use in my vestibule with the door and vents open, and it will never happen again. this puts out more fumes than my old Chevy.

Edited April 6, 2008 by Spencer

[Dane]

I've used mine a couple of times now. Ventilation is a good thing....the designers and owner of the company even stresses about it in person.

 

I have timed boils...amazingly fast. No durability issues yet but I have been careful with mine to this point. I'll know more after the first "hard knock" trip.

 

First stove I have used that makes me think you can actually stay hydrated on an alpine climb if you have snow around. For my own use every bit the stove an XGK is.

 

Also very good on fuel consumption if you heat water and then turn it off. You'll use and waste a lot of fuel if you leave in on since there is virtually no control between off and full on.

 

Annoying there is no lighter attached.

 

(forgot)

There is a hanging kit coming but easy enough to make...and you should take the time to compared to a Jetboil for melting water. Bigger pot and fast boil time on the MSR.

Edited April 7, 2008 by Dane

[Farrgo]

Anyone used one of these at altitude yet?

[tomtom]

[goatboy]

Can't simmer with it, huh?

[genepires]

is that hanging kit made for the reactor or for a different stove? It seems weird that MSR would make a hanging kit for a stove they warn so heavily about cooking without proper ventilation. Hang the stove in the vestibule? or under a tree?

 

 

[kurthicks]

it's a jetboil hanging kit

[mes5421]

Just bought this off the shelf at REI. The thing is no joke: it boils a liter of water in a minute (my estimate, didn't actually use a stopwatch) or so. Insanely fast.

 

I bought this basically as a "weekender" stove for snowy ascents -- think Shasta/Casaval Ridge in February, or Rainier/Ptarmigan Ridge in June. The JetBoil is just too small to shovel snow in, and the Reactor's 1.7-liter pot is wide enough to take in big clumps of snow.

 

I had planned to use this inside my tent with a hanging system, but given the manufacturer's repeated insistence about carbon monoxide (which you can't smell), I guess I'll have to use it outside, which is kind of a bummer. Still, at least I can take comfort knowing that I won't be freezing my ass off for a half-hour at a time brewing up -- I expect this thing to churn out liter after liter. I wish it were still cold and snowy enough that I could give it an alpine test. But so far, it passes the threshold garage test.

[jshamster]

So has anyone used one of these puppies in COLD weather?

I'm talking 20F or less.

I have had very little success with canister stoves of any kind when it is actually cold outside.

[mike1]

So has anyone used one of these puppies in COLD weather?

I'm talking 20F or less.

I have had very little success with canister stoves of any kind when it is actually cold outside.

 

According to R&I:

 

The Reactor’s cold-weather performance, the bane of canister stoves, was also curve-setting. Typically, below-freezing temps cause canister fuel’s vapor pressure to drop and burner output to plummet, often to the point where the stove will no longer function. At 9 degrees F, however, the Reactor’s pressure regulator let it boil a quart of water in 5:25—a time that bests some canister stoves’ warm-weather performances.

[jshamster]

Cool.

Thanks.

[Frikadeller]

Anyone want to borrow my CO meter to see how deadly this thing REALLY is?

 

I would do it my self, but I have no inclination to buy this thing, so it's up to you guys...

 

 

 

[Maxtrax]

I borrowed Reactor to try out this week for 3 days/2 nights of backcountry skiing. Off the bat the performance was awesome. I barely had time to put the lid back on before I needed to add more snow to melt. However as the evening wore on, the air temp got colder (~22F w/ winds steady at 5-10 mph) and the canister got colder due to the gas being used/escaping.

 

After the first ~3L the performance definitely dwindled. I had a second canister already warmed up in my down jacket which I swapped out and had the 4th L boiled for dinner in no time (which made me realize how much the performance had deteriorated on the first canister). I also had made a cozy out of an old closed cell foam pad for the canister to help combat the cold issue - I'm not sure how much good it did.

 

The best might be a windscreen and/or heat exchanger to try and get some warmth back to the canister in use - however this presents another problem, the thing is super-freakin-efficient - it puts out very little ambient heat so a windscreen might not be all that effective and a heat exchanger might be asking too much for a canister explosion.

 

The fuel efficiency wasn't quite as good as I had hoped. We had intended to make a 4 day/3 night trip with 2 people and melting snow for all our water and brought one large and one small canister (8 & 4 oz). Even with the trip ending up shorter than intended we were starting to run low on fuel, we probably would've had enough, but just barely.

 

Despite a few shortcomings I'll be buying a Reactor to add to my quiver of stoves, especially since I don't have a Jetboil or other stove that is good for quick brew-ups. I'll bring 3 big canisters if needed to have snow melted and water boiled that fast - it blew my mind. It put my Whisperlite and my partner's XGK to shame.

[counterfeitfake]

I also had made a cozy out of an old closed cell foam pad for the canister to help combat the cold issue - I'm not sure how much good it did.

 

I believe it won't- the cooling the canister experiences is due to the adiabatic effect of the gas escaping from within, and the inside pressure decreasing. Cooling due to air contact is relatively insignificant. I think a heat exchanger is the way to go, although it sounds kind of scary. People have talked about homemade heat exchangers on this site before.

[Spencer]

Just a update on my MSR Reactor, My Reactor had a meltdown, this was my second time using it, on day two it started sputtering with a full canister, it then shut off, it took a while restart and did with a fireball the size of a basketball, Changed canisters and it did the same thing, I did have a backup and put the reactor away, the problem is unlike my whisperlite international when something goes wrong you can't tear it apart clean it and put it back together. (well I couldn't)

REI did take it back with no problem and I did get replacement.

I expect a Reactor 2 after some bugs are worked out.

Edited April 25, 2008 by Spencer

[fishstick]

I used a Reactor a reasonable amount over the winter, but never in truly cold temperatures.

 

Re: Use in cooler temps.

I agree that performance dwindles as the cartridge cools during use. I found the solution is to place the cartridge in a small very light-weight pot (or other cylindrical shaped object) filled with water to the top of the cartridge's vertical sides. In my case the diameter used just slides over the heat exchanger/pot base for ease of packing. I tried to use a shallower water source, but found it froze solid quickly. I use the system described when nights are known to be below about -6 or -7C.

 

Re: Efficiency for "winter" use.

Assuming the stove is responsible for 100% of water supply and cooking, allow one 220g cartridge per 24hr/2people with no rationing.

 

Re: Speed.

Running side by side with an MSR Dragonfly in -5C conditions (sans water source described above), the Reactor melts and boils 3 X 1.7L pots of water faster than the Dragonfly MELTS 1 X 2.8L. The Reactor makes even an XGK look like a dud.

 

Re: Wrapping cartridge in foam.

Not. The foam will seal in the cold; what's needed is to warm the cartridge. A brief experiment with hand-warmers (actually toe warmers) proved that a water-jacket works vastly better.

 

Re: Reliability.

Thus far it's still going.

 

Re: Overall for mild winter/spring touring etc.

The stove is so fast, so good in the wind (except for lighting) and so easy to use, I've been taking it over white gas alternatives such as the DragonFly. In a sense, this is to stoves what the original Tikka is to headlamps.

 

GB

[mes5421]

Update: I used this on Denali in June 2008 and it worked quite well. [Caveat: it did not get bitterly cold or windy on my trip; rarely did the thermometer dip significantly under zero Fahrenheit]