Gear Smackdown: Backpacking Fuel-Miser Stoves

There are basically 2 backpacking stoves contending for the top spot as “the bestest” at fuel economy/weight, cooking speed, and convenience: the JetBoil Personal Cooking System (PCS), Primus ETAExpress. I haven’t found any thorough, accurate comparisons online and people I backpack with keep hypothesizing and opining about which is better … so instead of arguing on the trail or trying to conduct scientific tests when I’m not a scientist, I’ve decide to write down the known, scientific facts (plus my personal experience with both systems) for comparison.

Note: One other stove might be compared to these but really is apples and oranges: the MSR Reactor. While it is a similar stove, its capacity is almost double of these (2L pot) so its really an official group cooking system and should be compared with the 2L Jetboil Helios.

Summary:

• JetBoil wins for best marketing/branding. Besides, its cuter.
• Primus wins for performance.

Jetboil Facts:

• Weight (for entire cooking system: pot + stove + lid): 15oz
• Max power output: 4500 BTU/h
• Boil time (2 cups/half a liter): 2 minutes, 42 seconds
• Fuel Consumption (a max output): boils 11 liters per 100g fuel

Notes: You can boil about 3 cups max, or .75 liters, at a time in the JB. This is OK for one person, however, the typical freeze-dried backpacking meal calls for 2 cups of boiling water so for more than one person, you will have to boil at least 2x at dinner time. You can use other pots on the JB stove but the heat efficiency drops slightly.  Also, the flame is very focused so frying or simmering requires constant watching, stirring, etc.

So, what makes the Jetboil so popular?  Marketing. Yep, sorry folks, its simply more advertising dollars/brains at work. The Jetboil’s water capacity is such that they can say you “cook dinner in 2 minutes,” but actually, that is technically for just 2 cups, which is half the cooking performance of its competitor, which was tested on a full liter.

Primus ETA Express facts:

• Weight (for entire cooking system: pot + stove + frypan/lid + windscreen): 14.7oz
• Max power output: 8500 BTU/h
• Boil time (4 cups/1 liter): 2 minutes, 30 seconds
• Fuel Consumption (a max output): 14 liters per 100g fuel

Notes: The way this stove was tested adheres to the standards by which all backpacking stoves are tested: by boiling a full liter in typical conditions (no wind, at medium altitude/temperature).  The key in comparing this stove to the JB is that the JB is tested at boiling half the standard amount of water since it cannot in fact hold a full liter. Note that the boil time for a full liter is lower than that for the JB’s half liter. Additionally, the Primus has a broader flame, enabling more even cooking for frying and simmering, and it makes other, larger pots fit stably on the stovetop easier than the JB PCS. What is most curious is the overall fuel efficiency: the Primus has almost double the BTUs, which must mean that at max output, it is probably losing some of its efficiency, however, in total it still adds up to this: the Primus uses less fuel to boil more water than the JB PCS (it can boil 3 more liters on the same amount of fuel), which is the key to its winning position. Additionally, the Primus kit includes a 1 liter pot you can fill to capacity and a small frypan/lid (which is almost too small to use but makes a great bowl/plate).

So, why isn’t this stove more popular?  Crappy marketing in the US. Primus is not an American brand and is actually distributed by a third party vendor. Their target market, where they already have some brand recognition, is definitely not the US. They rarely have endcap displays in American camping stores, they do not have the flashy packaging, and its hard to get a look at their whole product line anywhere. You’ll only see one or two of their products at a given retailer, and this alone makes them less brand-recognizable. They also don’t do a very good job of providing specs on their products so most of this info is second-hand from REI or other user reviews.