MSR's Pocket Rocket Stove

When backpacking, weight adds up.. and ounce here, and ounce there.. it all adds up into pounds. As you get older, one day you are suddenly hit by a startling truth of the universe, "Pounds SUCK"!

We aren't UltraLight packers by any stretch of the imagination, but we do know how much we're comfortable carrying and how space we have to carry it in. These two factors make a LOT of the decisions for backpackers, but we also want something that's going to be rugged and WORK. We started asking around about stoves and a friend of ours said he REALLY wanted to try a Pocket Rocket stove, so of course we HAD to buy one to get one before he did ;)

We respect this guy, and he has (literally) more stoves than any other human we know... when he talks gear, we listen.

We own a lot of packing stoves.. multi-fuel stoves, specific fuel stoves, etc... but when it comes to feather weight stoves, we choose the Pocket Rocket by MSR hands down!

Why carry a bulky, heavy, stove when you don't have to? Why settle for "Alcohol stoves" that don't do the job? Why smell gasoline when you don't have to? The Pocket rocket answers all these questions.. "You don't have to put up with it".

If you're a backpacker, you'll love the small size and weight savings.. if you're a day hiker or an ultra-light trekker you'll REALLY love the small size and weight savings ;)

Ours has been used in the rain, dropped, banged around in the pack, sat on (it'll fit in your back pocket if you wear cargo pants), etc, and it works flawlessly.

The Down Side:
You have to buy the butane canisters for these stoves. The canisters easily last an entire weekend and are VERY light weight (unbelievably so), but they cost about 3-5 bux each.

The small pot holding surface means that the stove has to be LEVEL and STABLE or the pots slide off... But that's a price we're willing to pay for the savings in weight and space. Actually this "sliding" is no worse than any other small packing stove.

Would WE Buy It?:
If our pocket Rocket got crushed tomorrow, I'd be out buying another one right away. For packing and hiking "It's da stuff!"

Technical Specs:
Weight without fuel canister is 3 ounces (yeah, three OUNCES)
Size = approx. 4 inches tall by 2" X 2"
Fuel is MSR IsoPro/Butane
Average burn time for us on a canister of fuel is a bit over 1 hour on high, longer on lower settings. (we cook twice a day on Weekend outings and the canisters always hold us fine)
It'll boil water at 3000 feet in about 4 minutes.

OTHER:
Prices depend on where you purchase of course, but average prices are between 35-40 bux.

Campmor has em (of course)


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