Like the Jetboil Flash cooking system, the MSR is also built to fold into itself. The pot is large enough to store the burner and the gas canister. Below the pot are fins that work as heat exchanges to improve the efficiency of the heating system. Unlike the Jetboil pot, the MSR pot can be used with any stove. Pros The reactor pot covers the stove’s burner but it really doesn’t attach to the stove tightly. This means you cannot hang the MSR Reactor while cooking. It also means you cannot cook on the go. The major cons of the Jetboil compared to the MSR reactor are basically efficiency and wind. The Jetboil kits are very sensitive to wind and the influence of strong winds has a direct impact on their performance.

However if your basement is subject to water migration and wet floors after it rains, consider storing your fuel in a water tight, plastic container away from the ground. Can You Store Jetboil Fuel in a Closet? As such, I’ve done a crude calculation of each stove’s “centre of gravity”. A low value indicates better stability, a high value indicates a greater chance of the stove tipping over. However, the MSR stoves are regulated to always operate at lower pressure, regardless of how pressurised the canister is. That means they will maintain similar boiling speeds whether the canister is full or half empty.

WindBurners and Reactors are regulated at 12-15psi, so they’ll provide you with pretty much the same boil time for the lifetime of the canister. On a windy day, with a half full canister most of the competition will struggle to boil water. Each test was conducted twice, and the results below are the average of those two tests. Manufacturer years later, Jetboil has five such stove designs and there are as many other companies now making similar products. Propane will boil to a gas at temps as low as -44°F, but butane is good only down to 31°F. In freezing temps, a canister will burn off the propane and isobutene first and the butane just sits in the canister as a liquid. Many Boy Scout troops see this in winter camping when using the two burner “Colman” type stoves with the green fuel bottles and the stove stops working because the valve froze up. Well it didn’t freeze up, the propane is just been burnt off. Use a propane tank from a home grill and the stove will work all day, and night, long till the propane tank is empty.

I have used many of outdoor cooking devices but the MSR Reactor has stolen my heart. It is my favorite integrated stove of all times. First, it’s light weight. One would think that simply because it has a higher capacity makes it much heavier. It weighs a meager 15.1 ounces. The heaviest Jetboil device on the other hand weighs slightly above 11 ounces. Since then, MSR vs Jetboil has been a stiff competition as both manufacturers have gone to great heights to outdo each other. Both of them have come up with better versions of their initial concepts over the years. A battle that has greatly benefited the user by providing better outdoor cooking experience. Finally, the stove set up (e.g. stove model, windshield, heat reflector, heat exchangers on the pots) is a much bigger factor than the canister type. The Jetboil comes with an adaptor which would allow you to use a wide range of pot and pans. The MSR on the other hand can only work with its pot and no other pots. When it comes to this flexibility, the Jetboil wins. I was surprised to find that the MSR stoves appeared to perform poorly in the tests because they have a very good reputation and, personally, the MSR WindBurner is the System Stove I choose to use most often.

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Plus, I’ve included details of some little known adaptors that will allow you to use any gas cylinder on your camping stove and three stoves that will take more than type of canister.

A lot has changed, and there’s still room for improvement. The future is even brighter as we look forward to more advanced economic cooking devices. Why the comparison? If you would like to use the jet boil Flash 2 stove introduced around 2019 you will need to have the "Flash 2 adapter kit" which is available in our store. You cannot leave Jetboil fuel canisters in a hot car. Temperatures inside a car experiencing direct solar gain, especially near the dashboard, can easily exceed the manufacture’s recommended storage limit of 120F°/50C°. This can cause the pressure inside the canister to increase to the point that it bends its metal body outwards, usually on its convex underside, and eventually to the point of failure, potentially causing shrapnel related damage to the car’s interior, and the escape of the gas, potentially causing toxicity to a person locally inhaling it, while surveying their car’s damage. Escaped gas also has the potential to ignite, if mixed at the right concentration with the car interior’s air. Will Freezing Temperatures Hurt Jetboil Fuel?

The official line from MSR is that the LowDown works with all MSR canister-fuel stoves and stove systems (excluding the old-school SuperFly stove) and all fuel canisters with an EN 417 threaded connection. As most modern stoves come with this connection it’s hard to see why it wouldn’t also work with a range of other brands’ stoves. Solid build