Cool stuff! What saves me tons of fuel is not bringing your water to a full boil. Just hot enough for coffee and rehydration your food. No sense in having everything too hot to eat or drink. Figured this out really quick on the PCT 🙂

One of the most practical and useful hiking videos I've seen in a very long time -- excellent work! Thank you!

Outstanding evidence-based analysis, thank you sir.

This has academic rigor - I love it. Thank you for doing the work to be precise.

I've watched about 15 vids on this subject today and finally 1 that is actually accurate and told me exactly what I was looking for thanks for all your hard work

Great video Jon. Very helpful to know that low temps are more efficient.

It was interesting to see that the lid didn’t really impact efficiency. I wasn’t expecting that at all. SnowPeak makes a windscreen for their canister stoves. I think in the field, when we account for wind, the low fuel setting efficiency might go down without the windscreen. I use my canister stoves on a low setting for fuel efficiency - if I can hear the “rocket sound,” it’s not low enough. But going that low I also hear the wind blowing the flame around without the windscreen. When I say windscreen, I mean something that protects the flame from the base of the flame upwards. On a canister stove, you never want a windscreen around the canister itself as it can explode. In terms of cold weather testing, you tested the impact of colder water but not the impact of a colder fuel canister. Maybe you can put both a pot of water and the fuel canister in the freezer for an hour to simulate air temps in the 30s. I’m not saying bring the water to ice, just both fuel and water to temps between 30 and 40. Or post a follow-up video come November. The JetBoil to SnowPeak/pot debate is one I’ve also thought about. While, from a weight standpoint on a longer trip, it might be a wash due to the Jetboil’s efficiency, you can fit the small canister and Snow Peak stove in your 750 ml pot, making for a solution that takes up less space in the pack and, overall, something easier to fit in small empty pockets between existing gear. There’s a reason some of these thru-hikers get away with a 40l pack - they go stoveless. Likewise, you can go with a smaller pack when your cook system takes up less space.

This right on. I use a Peak 1 and BSR depending on hike. Some people think that the BSR is inefficient because the unregulated gas valve can be opened way too wide blowing much flame outside the pot. Just moderating this makes huge improvement.

Great video! Just returned from a 6 day, 75 mile section hike on the PCT in Oregon. l have the Jetboil Zip and carried a 110g fuel canister. Because we did not watch your video, my hiking buddy carried a spare 230g canister for backup. By the end of our trip, we were both surprised that we were still using the same 110g canister! I believe we made just under 20 boils for both dinners at night and coffees in the morning. Later, I will see how many more boils we could have got out of that 110g canister. The Jetboil is definitely worth the weight!

get an olicamp or firemaple heat distribution pot. jetboil doesn't own the tech for the heat fin technology, and you can get similar performance as a jetboil with lighter weights, with the added benefit of choosing different stoves that meet your needs better.

Anyone worried about efficiency in the wind just needs to buy an MSR Windburner. Basically works equally well with wind than without wind. Great video!

Wow! Great video. I took out my phone and started taking notes and I don't do that often.

Jon, another truly valuable backpacking video. I really learned a lot thanks to all of your research! I was 1/2 way thru watching and wondering if you were going to mention the Jet Boil and was glad you did. I switched to a JB after seeing how quickly my hiking buddy’s boiled water. Your research proved that it was a good decision even though it weighs more! Nice work!

No reply necessary. Very good video, at last on fuel efficiency rather than boil times. Packed full of sensible ideas. A windscreen is a must, the Jetboil heat exchanger design does provide that too, which is a huge plus. Shopping for a HE pot at this very moment, Thank for the interesting information. Take care Best regards Colin

Would have liked if you also used a windscreen on your tests, they improve the flow of heat towards the cup and also they warm up the canister a bit so I would guess that improves the heat output of the gas in cold weather.

Great advice for those longer distance trails, high elevation and/or cold weather hikes. Thank you! I also advise bringing a sheet of layered aluminum foil to conserve heat during windy days. My JetBoil MicroMo weighs just 12.0 oz. The french press adds 1.3 oz. Still less than 14 oz. I will apply this on my JMT hike in June, where the water is always cold and the elevation is high. Perhaps I will bring a some black felt to lay my clear cnoc water bags on while setting up camp. 😁

Good video Jon, i often wondered if a lower setting would be more effecient, i know on my kitchen stove at home i use a lower setting with a smaller pot, your testing showed that my theory was right. Seen a lot of vids where they cranked up the flame to full bore, where the flame was going up the side of the pot, whenever i asked the reason why, never got a respose. Thanks!

ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT!!!!! THANK YOU!!

Excellent breakdown, much appreciated. JetBoil is the way to go.

If you make a cone using tin foil that starts at the top of your pot going down to the bottom of your pot you can greatly decrease your boil time. It traps heat.

Excellent information! Great math

I use a Bulin kettle that has the Jetboil style thermal bottom. It averages 75 seconds to come to a boil. Much more efficient than a plain bottom pot.

Thank you!

Optimal might lie between? Between Jet-Boil and bare-pot? Caldera-cone, for example (2oz?)? Or maybe just a 5-mil (0.005") titanium foil skirt extending one-inch below the bottom of the pot (0.5oz?)? When the efficiency-improvement is lightweight enough, it becomes a no-brainer?

If you switched your pot to one similar to a jetboil with the fins on the bottom and was a large diameter would help. something like the olicamp pot would make a big difference. you loose a lot of heat when the flame wrapping up the side of the pot

First off good video lots to look at, lots of great information. I always use a lid when boiling water. To be honest I thought that by using the Jet Boils System you'd be going through a lot more fuel, who knew. Myself I'm never in a hurry, whether it takes 2 minutes or 10 minutes to boil water, 10 minutes is totally fine. My life runs by the day not by the minute. I can wait the extra time it takes for a good hot cut of tea. LOL Also I noticed that different canister stoves burn a lot different than others. This too will have a bearing on a test like you performed.

What saves me fuel is using a foil wind screen, even if there’s seemingly no breeze. Of course, with canister stoves I don’t completely enclose the foil screen around it for obvious reasons. And , I always top off partially full/empty canister before each trip so I know I have a full canister.

This is so helpful. Thanks for doing this

Use a wider pot for more efficiency

Thank you for such useful and helpful videos!!!

Don't crank up the volume/burn rate. Burn slower. The heat that flows around the bottom and up the sides does NOT transfer much heat to the pot and is just a waste. Use a good burner with a wind screen not cheap Chinese micro weight burners that don't have as good a air/fuel mix. Yes a lid will help contain the heat especially at or near the boiling temperature of water. But this is especially important when cooking food not just boiling water.

I'd be super interested to know whether cooking in a stainless steel cup was more efficient than titanium.

grams and Fahrenheit. I AM CONFUSED. You should decide to use either metric or imperial. Better to have both units Nice video

Is there any way to refill them like the small propane? Thanks

I wonder if a new canister has higher pressure effecting the burn rate. And in the cold you can carry a water bottle in your jacket or in your sleeping bag at night to warm it up a few degrees.

Great analysis! Now - let’s add an alcohol stove to the mix, eh? ;)

Jetboil all the way!

Thank you for a great video. Appreciate the time and detail. Have you ever watched the Mesner videos on stoves and pots? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q7aKpq2V28uwnH0.html. Long story short, jetboil pots are great, but the stoves themselves are not as good as a Pocket Rocket or Windmaster. A Stash pot heated by a different stove would be the ultimate fuel saver, but also very expensive.

For those who watched the video till the end, did he ever mentioned how to make fuel cans last longer? pls help.

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