Is the Jetboil type stove good for anything?

[FishyFolk]

They have a Jetboil clone type stove at a local store here in town. And as I have started this volunteer SAR thing, it could be good to have one.
I understand that they boil water pretty quickly, but are they good for much more than heating water?

I have not cared about having one up til now as time has not been an issue when out and about.

[FishyFolk]

Never mind, went and got one. 35£ including a gas canister. Got a bag of freeze dried venison stew here, so out to do a garden test of boil time...just to irrate myself. I hate those tests, lol

[FishyFolk]

It is a slight breeze outside, but still not impressed.
5 full minutes to wait for a rolling boil...I achieve a faster boil time with a normal pot, a wind shield and a 4.95 butane burner from Aliexpress...I doubt the quallity of this one is much better...
But full points for simplicity of use, and I'll just chuck in a wind screen and see if that helps. Burner and 250 gram butane canister fits inside the kettle, and there is room for a spork in the carry net.
Also it's nbot so on off, so I think I could actually cook something real int it too...

[FishyFolk]

And the venison stew from Trek n'eat....taste nothing, needs some chilli or black pepper me thinks. Else a big portion that fills you up with 1500 cal.

[cranmere]

I recently bought the MSR version, which really does boil a litre of water in 3 minutes. I wanted it because we often camp for one night when on diving weekends etc but rarely need to cook because everyone goes to the pub, so what we want is something that makes our morning coffee quickly and efficiently and it does that very well indeed especially with the coffee press addon.

I never bother with special outdoor packaged food, supermarkets stock a wide range of dried and long life wet pack goods which to me taste far better, have bigger portions and cost a lot less.

[FishyFolk]

The special outdoor food cost an arm and a leg here as well, and I never had it, unless it was given to me by someone. But I have to keep 24hrs worth of food in my go-pack if I get on the call list for the SAR team. And that will likely sit in the pack for months. So I went out to today shopping for that, and got an extra to try out, as it was a brand I've never seen before.

In Norway, sadly we lack the pub culture that you have, so everyone cooks in camp if they are out. This thing will be used for boiling water, but it is nice if it is usable for heating a canned stew or a pasta as well. Mainly it is for a quick heating of something during breaks. But one of the things they require us to carry is a flask of hot water...so it may be overkill to bring this too.

Well, well, I see myself more in a supporting role, in the rear with the gear, dealing with logistics and comms, rather than as actual boots on the ground, and then it is nice to be able to brew up whenever I feel like it...and perhaps have something ready when tired crews come off the field...

[cranmere]

Different needs of course. We bought ours specifically because of the dive weekends. Divers generally aren't bushcrafters and most dive locations in the UK are within relative easy reach of food and beer.

[ian c]

I used to have a jet boil but someone borrowed the stove but left the boiling vessel, it was a brilliant bit of kit when I used it and would always have it in my daysack for when needed, I used to also heat my rations (boil in bag).

[bashabloke]

Have you seen alpkits version of the jetboil? I now have both a genuine jetboil and an alpkit clone, there is not much to choose between them to be fair. The jetboil is margially faster to the boil, but the alpkit version (brukit) is less than half the price.

[FishyFolk]

Have you seen alpkits version of the jetboil? I now have both a genuine jetboil and an alpkit clone, there is not much to choose between them to be fair. The jetboil is margially faster to the boil, but the alpkit version (brukit) is less than half the price.

That is excactly the same as I got. The only difference is the brand name and the color of the lid :-)
Ther eis a lot of this out there. Brands will simply send their purchasers to China or whatever country, buy stuff they think they can sell, and slap their brand name on it.
All the big brands do the same. But because they are a big brand they can demand triple price for it. People think they are paying for quallity with a big, well known brand, but
often that is simply not true.