MSR Reactor Stove

"I bought this to boil water on backcountry adventures with my kids. This thing boils water so fast it is scary! The biggest problem I have had is when I was out in the backcountry with a larger group, I ended up boiling everyone's water! This system is so fast, it is hard to believe. If you are going to be out in the cold it is a good idea to keep the fuel canisters in the tent or even in a sleeping bag because the reactor does need good pressure from the fuel canister to work properly. My favorite piece of gear."

"I originally purchased the Jetboil Personal Cooking System and later added on a Jetboil 1.5L pot to carry along with it. After much debate, I decided to purchase the MSR Reactor and now will never look back. There are already many reviews on this product, so I'll focus on comparing/contrasting it with the Jetboil because that seems to be the next best product.



Things that concerned me most: weight, boil time, resistance to wind, compactness.



Weight: This whole setup (less fuel) weighs in at 18.2 oz. The Jetboil Personal Cooking System (PCS) is 15 oz. At first, it seems like the Jetboil wins in this, but not for me.



Consider these facts: The PCS can only boil 1/2 liter of water at a time, about half of the cup (that's the recommended amount based on the markings on the inside of the PCS). The MSR can boil 1 liter at a time, which is 2/3 of the canister (again, based on the max fill line inside the canister).



To boil as much water as you can with the MSR, you need the Jetboil 1.5L pot as well. This is an added 12 oz. You also need the extra stand and whatnot to go with the 1.5L pot, which is another 2.1 oz.



Thus, you can either go out on the trail with an 18.2 oz. MSR system that will cook either enough for you or for a group of a few people or you have to decide whether to bring just the Jetboil PCS or the entire Jetboil system with larger 1.5L pot (29.1 oz. total for everything, over 33% heavier!).



Boil Time: The PCS boils 1/2 liter of water in 2 minutes. That's 4 minutes per liter! The MSR can boil 1 liter in under 3 and without having to dump out the water and start again halfway through to get a full liter. Even if you use the Jetboil 1.5L pot to boil a liter of water, it still comes in at about 3.5 minutes.



Wind resistance: The MSR is golden here. While cooking, the flames never see the wind whatsoever. With the PCS, there is a lot of space for the wind to get through and I've had trouble keeping it lit in windy conditions. With the MSR, I have never had trouble for a second. It is completely isolated from the wind.



Compactness: Both systems allow all the pieces to fit into the pot. The MSR is a little bigger than the PCS because it holds more water, however. Technically the PCS wins because it's a little smaller, but if you're carrying around the PCS and the 1.5L pot, the Jetboil system takes up WAY more space.



Other Considerations: Jetboil has the neoprene cozy, which is nice as you can hold it in your hands and use it as a handwarmer when there is hot water in the Jetboil. It also lights with a built in igniter, but that is prone to breaking and you should carry around a spare regardless. The MSR requires a separate lighter (but who doesn't carry around a spare anyways?) and it has a built in handle.



I don't like the Jetboil's rubber-type top. It warped on my PCS and on the 1.5L pot, so now the tops are very hard to get on the Jetboil products and they don't sit evenly on the table. The MSR has a clear, hard plastic top that doesn't warp and doesn't require the same type of seal that Jetboil requires. This is very much in favor of the MSR.



One thing I really liked about the PCS is that the burner attaches to the bottom, so you can actually hold the Jetboil up in the air while it is cooking. If you knock it over, it all falls over as one piece and can be righted again with no issues. It can also hang if you buy the separate hanging kit. This doesn't apply to the 1.5L pot. I really wish the MSR had this feature. Also, given the design of the MSR, you can't really use separate cooking pots on it but, with the additional kit, you can set up the Jetboil to allow it to be used like a regular burner to use regular pots and pans on it.



Basically I ended up trading in my Jetboil PCS + 1.5L pot + necessary accessories for the cheaper (total price), smaller, and more compact MSR system. For me, I'll take the MSR every time unless I have an absolute need to use third party pots and pans to cook on it, and even in that case I just whip out my backup 1.9 oz. Snow Peak LiteMax Stove."

"Pros:1. It's extremely fast, I boil a lot of water so this is a huge win for me. Subjectively, it takes around 1/3 less time to boil water versus the JetBoil. This is due to the more powerful burner and larger surface area on the burner interface.2. It packs small, and as it's wider than a JetBoil, you can pack a 220g (7.8oz) gas cylinder inside it, whereas the JetBoil can only contain a 110g (3.9oz) cylinder internally (so I always packed an additional large 450g (15.9oz) cylinder).3. It comes with a small packing cloth which stops the insides getting scratched when the burner unit is packed inside (yes, you could easily make this yourself, but it's a nice thought to provide one).4. The whole unit it the typical good quality you'd expect from MSR.5. It's wider than the JetBoil, and that makes it easier to clean.Cons:1. It's more expensive than the JetBoil ([$]using REI prices in April 2010).2. Simmering is difficult, if not impossible. The burner is so powerful it seems to have only two settings, off and "supernova"!3. No piezo ignition! It's a pain to use matches or a lighter.4. Bigger burner means it goes through gas faster, though as you can pack a larger cylinder internally it may not be an issue.5. It is slightly larger than the JetBoil, the diameter is larger but it is shorter.6. It has a fold-out handle, the JetBoil is insulated so you can simply pick it up with your bare hands even when hot.7. As the diameter of the pot is wider than the JetBoil, it is slightly more difficult to pour into narrow containers.[@]"

"The bottom line is that this is a great stove with amazing speed and a big enough pot to be useful (bigger than the Primus EtaExpress, which would be difficult to melt snow with thanks to its tiny size). However, I have two complaints. First of all is the lack of a Piezo lighter. It would be easy to add a piezo and would make this stove even quicker to use. Also, when shopping for this stove, all the first generation examples of this stove I saw had the heat exchanger fins cast into the base of the pot and looked extremely durable. The newest versions (including the one I got) have the exchanger fins spot-welded in place and look like over time the welds will crack and cause the fins to separate from the base and lose effectiveness. This is a major jump down in build quality and I can only hope I never have to utilize the warranty, let alone, have this thing fail me on a mountain somewhere and cause me to use a lot more fuel than planned.



Tip: In terms of cartridge fuel effectiveness in cold weather, the more propane and the less standard butane it has, the better. All fuel cartridges are NOT the same. Boiling points (and thus effective lowest temperature) for various fuel components are as follows: Butane = 31; Isobutane = 11; Propane = -43. So, what happens with a mixture canister at low temperatures is the propane boils off and feeds through the regulator to be burned first, leaving just the isobutane or the butane in liquid or low-pressure gas form. If it's cold enough, you are left with nothing. In other words, you want a canister with a higher mixture of propane and less butane.

Here are the various mixture percentages Butane/Isobutane/Propane:

Primus: 70/10/20

MSR: 0/80/20

SnowPeak: 0/65/35

Jetboil: ?/?/?



So, Snowpeak canisters are inherently better for cold conditions when you expect to see temperatures below freezing. Combine these with your Reactor and you'll have a very useful stove at altitude!"

"I'm not one who normally writes reviews on products, having said that, I felt compelled to write a review on this exceptionally designed stove. From start to finish I can have a hot meal, i.e. Mountain House DEHY, in less than 10 minutes!!! Thats from initial lighting to fork in mouth.. I have consistently seen the stove boil 16 ounces in 1.5 minutes!!!! The design, materials, and construction of this stove are superb.. It's rare when a product performs as advertised, over & over & over & over, this product does just that.. It's packabilty and simplicity make it easy to use store. Two thumbs up!!!!"

"When this stove came out in 2007 is was supposed to be the holy grail of stoves. Let's just say it is and it isn't. I used this stove to melt snow in the middle of winter on 5 ft of snow at the top of 9,000ft peak in Logan, UT. I don't know any other stove that could have melted that snow as quick or as efficiently. There were 5 of us and we all just used this one stove for all our meals. The wind didn't affect it and neither did the cold. We didn't have to mess with liquid gas and we could use the stove with gloves on. This stove would also work just fine in groups for backpacking. The only downside is that it's just too much for solo trips unless you need an extreme snow melting machine. Everything else about the stove is more advanced than any other stove out there. Let's pray for a soloist version in the future to complement this amazing, american made stove for groups."

"My experience with the MSR Reactor has been wonderful. Many friends jumped onboard the Jet boil bandwagon and I held out a few years hoping there would be something better in the next generation or through competition. Well I think MSR finally did it and as is often the case, the second version appears better than the first. Don’t get me wrong, both Jet boil and MSR products are sound, assuming I only need to melt snow or boil water, or otherwise prepare simple heated meals. I am most attracted to the idea of integrating the pot and stove and feel that MSR has advanced the art. For my high-altitude excursions over 5000 meters, I still use separate liquid stove and a pot. But for my other outings the Reactor has proved perfect. The size is right and with the larger canister it feels darn steady. It lights quick and heats fast. It would be nice to have an integrated igniter, but I think of such as gravy and would not bet on it always working."

"I have been very impressed with this stove. My first meal with this stove was at over 6000 ft, temps in the 20s, and the wind blowing hard. The result: absolutely no drama and a pot of boiling water in less than five minutes. I'm not the type to obsess over boil times, so I didn't have the stopwatch out, but it was fast enough. When packed up, the stove is a bit heavier and bulkier than the jetboil, but I like the robustness of this stove. When it is cold and windy, I want reliable and sturdy and will sacrifice a few ounces. I feel confident this stove will provide reliable service for many years."

"This stove replaced a Peak 1 stove I purchased in the Army twenty years ago. It finally died while backpaking in the Grand Tetons. I wanted to stay with the canister type fuel and was going to buy either a whisperlite or Jetboil system. I settled on purchasing this while playing with it in the Salt Lake City REI (huge and awesome). I am glad I did. The replacement stove I had just purchased a week earlier (another Coleman Peak-1 Style foldable stove) just wasn't cutting it - it took too long to boil a quart of water. This stove consistently boiled water (hyper-boiled is more like it) in 2.5 minutes! Even in windy conditions, it performed AWESOME. I love how everything packs into the stove and easily slipped in my rucksack. Now I just need a waterproof, windproof lighter."

"This thing might be cool in fair weather, but its not a mountaineers tool. THE CONS: The hype about the pressure regulator making the fuel run more efficiently is total bull. If the canister is sitting in snow, the stove quickly weakens to a whimpy simmer which make snow melt times pathetic. When they say not to use it in a tent, they arent kidding either, mine belches a 24 inch fireball every time I light it. Dont set the the pot down in the snow or the integrated heat exchanger will be packed with snow. Dont boil over either, the exchanger funnels water (or in my case hot coco) down into the heating element. No auto igniter on these puppies, which might be nice when you dont have a lighter handy. Finally, the actual stove assembly cant be set in the snow either. Getting snow in the element or in the IsoPro fitting makes the stove inoperable. Oh, and Iso is expensive!THE PROS: In warm weather, the stove rages! Mine boils a quart of water in under a minute. The pot is nice and big too. I can fit two Tasty-Bites in mine at a hard boil. The little pac-towl is handy, and the rubber knob on the lid can handle a fair bit of pack crushing. Overall the Reactor is useful for fair weather camping, but when the snow flies, leave it at home."