JetBoil PCS With Pot Support & Stabilizer

I've been using this stove for around a year now and it really is one of the best items in my backpacking arsenal. The main advantage with the Jetboil PCS is how compact it is. Everything is designed to fit compactly within the drinking cup. That includes the burner, fuel unit, pot support, and stabilizer. If you look at the picture on Amazon, the burner on the very bottom fits inside the thermos, the fuel canister sits on top, then you put in the stabilizer and support, and attach the lid. It has a side pouch for holding your utensils. The unit weighs 15 oz without fuel. The Jetboil has a neoprene sleeve and a plastic top, so if you're boiling water for a hot drink, you can take it off the stove, add your mix, and drink it straight out of the cup.

Compactness aside, the second best thing about the stove is that it heats water, FAST. I can't stand using an MSR stove or other traditional stove, having to attach everything, find a level surface, put the pot on, and then wait 10 minutes for my water to boil. It takes an average of less than 3 minutes to boil .5 liters of water. Now, the Jetboil does hold less water since you can only safely put .5 liter in the cup without worrying about overflow, but it's not too much trouble to boil 2 or 3 liters in about 15 minutes.

Purchasers should understand that this is a "Personal" cooking system. It is mainly designed for one person's use, although I frequently use it with up to three fellow hikers without much trouble, as long as you're not boiling water for every person there and just using it for your boiling and food. As you can see below, a standard fuel cannister will burn at max heat for an hour and a half. For three people on a 2 night trip, I typically take one fuel cannister.

Also, the fuel lasts a fairly long time. Canisters are very small and come in two sizes, but make sure you buy the Jetpower Fuel 230 gram - Single by JETBOIL if you want it to fit inside the cup.

The Jetboil is only designed to heat water, not to cook food in, although I have cooked soups in it and other "liquidy" foods, including eggs, with no problems. If you want to cook other foods, you'll need to use the pot support that this unit comes with, and either your own pot, or the Jetboil 1.5 Liter Cooking Pot (this pot comes with a ringed system on the bottom to interlock with jetboil's ring system, to supposedly make for more even cooking).

This unit comes with the pot support and a stabilizer, which lets you put the Jetboil on more uneven surfaces. Although I do use the stabilizer, it's not that important and the unit is fairly stable on it's own. You can pretty much hold the Jetboil in your hand while cooking with it if you wanted to, and I have even cooked with it while freely suspended from the side of a cliff face and had no problems. So if you plan to use the Jetboil with a frying pan a lot, it might be worth it, but otherwise I would recommend saving some money and buying the regular Jetboil Personal Cooking System.

Overall, this is an excellent product and well worth the extra price over more traditional fuel stoves, especially if you're a space/weight freak. My friends are always amazed when I pull this thing out of the thermos pouch of my pack.

Stats:

Weight (w/ no fuel) - 15 ounces
Dimensions - 4.1 x 7.1 inches
Fuel - Butane/propane canister - Jetpower Fuel 230 gram - Single by JETBOIL
Fuel capacity - 225g canister
Average boil time - (0.5 liter of water) 2 min. 42 sec.
Burn time (max flame) - (225g canister) 95 min. 21 sec.
Water boiled per 100g fuel - 11 liters

We've used this a few times and so far it hasn't given us anything but outstanding results. I love how the whole unit stores in the pot - including fuel canister.

Water boils really fast, too.

My only potential complaint is that the pot sticks to the stove, but I'm guessing a lot of that is just "newness." With more use (and Autumn is here - time to hit the trails again!), it should wear in fine.

If you're feeding more than 2 people (we're a family), having a lot of water boiling, fast, is fantastic - particularly on frosty mornings.

Nice unit. Recommended.

And btw, the french press is really cute, too. Does a *great* job. That's not included, but I'd pick it up if you're buying this unit.

System minus base - 5 stars. Base - 3 stars. Small (compact), lightweight, durable, quick to heat, quick to cool down for repacking and so far, fuel efficient. The base, however, will only fit Jetboil fuel cans. Jetboil fuel cans are hard to find in my area, but Coleman are everywhere (and much cheaper than ordering Jetboil). The base of the Coleman is slightly larger than the Jetboil base can handle without modification with a steady hand and a dremmel-type tool (to reshape the prongs). Would highly recommend this unit to any hiker who is concerned about weight. Note - light the unit before you put the cup on or you stand the chance of creating a mini-explosion (as my hiking partner found out with his Jetboil). Haven't used the frying pan/pot adapter yet, but did put a heavier pot on the unit to see how it would hold up under weight and how stable it would be, and believe it'll work as advertised on the trail when the good old BSA personal messkit is used.

Brought this system along to handle light duty cooking and making coffee for the group. I turned into one of the mainstays of the galley area. I purchased the four-season fuel, but did not want to rely on a canister fuel stove in sub freezing temperatures. However, the Jetboil never malfunctioned even in 18 degree F temperatures. It also was able to handle freezing rain better than other stoves in our group. While we had to contend with malfunctioning lighters and bad matches with our other stoves the Jetboil's piezo igniter worked flawlessly. The system heated water faster than any other stove in our group (we had several different types) due to the design of the cooking cup. This is a great stove for basic camp cooking. I highly recommend this product.