It all started in 2001 with a simple but powerful idea. Frustrated with heavy vacuum bottles and clunky stoves, Jetboil founders Dwight Aspinwall and Perry Dowst set out to make outdoor cooking easier.
They discovered that the secret to a fast and friendly design lies in increasing heat transfer efficiency. Alternating between lab and mountains, a series of designs were subjected to intense experimental and field testing. The result is a series of products as reliable as they are remarkable; as usable as they are unique.
Santa brought me a Jetboil PCS, (the one man version), a few years ago. At first I thought it a neat idea, but I would stick to my tried and trusted fold up gas stove and mess tins. However, after using it in earnest on my first trip, I became an overnight convert.
It's absolutely brilliant for a quick stop brew up, a get-the-tea-on when you arrive at your campsite, and with a little perseverance, can also cook up some fairly substantial nosh.
Set up is dead easy. Screw on the gas cartridge, fill the pot, clip the pot on to the stove, (no risk of the pot tipping off the stove), turn the knob and press the igniter. In most weather conditions, it's the fastest way to boil water. The insulated pot, with close fitting lid, and the heat transfer fins make it uber easy to brew two full size mugs of tea in three or four minutes. To cook food, you can either stuff two boil in the bag dog food pouches into the pot, or, if Santa is kind, you can use the special Jetboil finned cooking pan or buy the adaptor plate to allow the Jetboil to use ordinary flat based pans.
Disadvantages ? I've not found any disadvantages to the Jetboil that do not also apply to most other gas cartridge stoves. It's no less stable than other screw on stoves, it can cope with all types of food if you use the adaptor plate and ordinary pans, and it's pretty well built. However, it is not cheap to buy. If you hunt around, you can pick one up for around £50. Add on £12 for the adaptor plate. For £62 you can buy two or three ordinary stoves and cooksets.
Offsetting the rather steep purchase price is the fact that you will use less gas - not so much a cost benefit, but you don't have to carry so many cartridges around. It folds up into itself, and the entire unit will fit very neatly into a standard British Army belt pouch. That's stove, gas and cooking pot, all in a unit little larger than a standard can of beer.
I really like the Jetboil. It ALWAYS goes with me, which is more than can be said for any other piece of kit I own. And now that my chums have started to acquire their own, I'm quite envious of the new bright shiny colours.
Definite thumbs up.