Light Weight Stove Review, but there is only one Contender, the MSR Reactor.

I've used every stove there is and the MSR Reactor is the fastest, quietest, most practical, and smartest cooking system ever.

And you can quote me on that.  In fact if you've hiked the Te Araroa or the PCT last year, you probably heard me boasting about it.

MSR Reactor, the greatest cocking system there is.  Rector is pictured on a survey stand, high over lake Hawaea on the South Island of New Zealand with Mount Cook visible in the range Behind.  Mt. Cook and the King of Cook stoves!

I'm a huge fan of having Tea while hiking in the wilderness. That and good, warm, food at least two times a day.  A reliable practical stove is essential.  For years I used a DragonFly by MSR, but I got tired of all the noise.  To arrive deep in the wilderness, to set up camp and not be able to hear anything if the stove is going just seems silly to me now!

The only competitor of the Reactor for practicality and durablity might be the Tin Can versions I saw in NZ.

So a few years ago I purchased a Whisper Light.  I was doing a lot of mountaineering at the time and the power of white gas is indeed alluring. I thought I was purchasing a quite and light stove with MSR reliability. Now I love MSR but the name Whisper Light is an oxymoron as it is neither Light nor Quiet! So I returned it and got an MSR Reactor.

The jet boil is a tiny bit lighter than the Reactor, but look at all the crappy plastic pieces to break.  And if you run out of fuel, the pan is of no value with it's plastic parts and cheesy warmer, drink mug feature.

Last year I hiked 5000 miles on 3 continents in scorching hot dessert, freezing, and wet conditions and at altitudes approaching 18000 feet.  This stove has never failed me and in fact is still in service.

The point here isn't the beautiful Yessi Ye or the magnificent Olympic mountains above lake Constance, but the lovely smooth black satin finish of my resin coated MSR Reactor pan, a unique natural finish only available by cooking on wood fires.

One of the reasons I promote the MSR Reactor over its slightly lighter more complicated plastic coated cousin, the Jet Boil, is because it's all metal welded construction and folding metal handle are totally okay with the fire pit.  MSR might not condone this, but my pan has been around the world, literally, used 3 times a day for the last 18 months, dropped, turned red hot in a fire, stuffed in my pack and totally submerged in water, and it still preforms marvelously for me every single time I use it.

Really, the only other stove worth talking about for reliability, simplicity and weight is an aluminum can alcohol stove.  But notice I didn't say fast or performance, nor will you hear me say safe.  My big problem with these stoves is people with no stove experience using them.  You get people that have never worked with flammables or cooked on a camping stove, wielding liquid fuel around an open flame.  Nuts!!  Alcohol stoves are dangerous, a fire risk and they stink.  Forget it, get a Reactor and live large.