MSR stoves Reactor..experiences? worth it?

[bignslow]

I have both, and while I haven't used the reactor outdoors extensively, I was fairly displeased with the jetboil in mild winter conditions (tailgating at a football game). This tends to lend some credibility to my experiences:
http://www.trailspace.com/articles/2007/01/17/integrated-canister-stove-showdown.html

 

[DayTrip]

I have both, and while I haven't used the reactor outdoors extensively, I was fairly displeased with the jetboil in mild winter conditions (tailgating at a football game). This tends to lend some credibility to my experiences:
http://www.trailspace.com/articles/2007/01/17/integrated-canister-stove-showdown.html

Do you have a Jetboil with the variable control like the Sumo or one of the "standard" water boiling styles? I don't know much about any of these stoves but apparently this makes a difference. Why I have no idea - maybe with the variable valve you can control volume of gas as it is affected by temperature?? When I bought mine the Jetboil specs and a few of the reviews I read made a clear differentiation between the two for cold weather purposes/boiling snow for water. I guess the full blast water boiling versions like the one in review you cited do not work/work well in colder weather.

 

[Yury]

I have had remarkable luck with a hanging pot shield on a Pocket Rocket that encircles the pot with about 1/2" of air gap. The shield hangs below the pot bottom but ends roughly above the fuel valve so there is minimal heat reflected back toward the tank. I find that it allows the stove to operate in breezy conditions and fuel usage is lower. I have seen a consistent 30% decrease in fuel usage for 3 seasons usage.

peakbagger, do you have a picture of your wind shield by any chance?
Is it DIY or bought in store shield?

 

[peakbagger]

It is home made out of the remnants of alcohol stove set up. The shield is aluminum flashing, it has loose lock seam, natural tension of the flashing keeps it locked under use, otherwise it can be collapsed to a smaller diameter to stow on the pot. The height of the shield is the height of the pot. The hooks are stainless steel Tig wire from a welding supply store. The hooks are permanently crimped to the pot support wings. It is hard to see but the centerline of the fuel valve is just slightly below the shield. It works well in breezy conditions and I can turn the flame way down compared to the same stove without the shield which I think is the major part of the fuel savings . Despite the shield not extending up the height of the pot it works great, the flame is redirected under the pot and up the sides plus its keeps the breeze from blowing out the flame. I reliably get 13 days of two meals a day with it. It does require some care on adjusting the flame as the shield is just hanging on the hooks, its easy to knock it loose but I rapidly got used to it. As you can see getting the holes in the shield to get the pot to hang correctly required a bit or trial and error. Best piece of homemade gear I have ever made, I was going to make a version 2 but finished sectioning the AT before I did.

 

[hikerbrian]

One more data point from this past weekend (my annual Presi-traverse-attempt-and-punt). Friday night it was about 5 degrees and blowing like hell, enough that spindrift was blowing under and into the vestibule of my tent where I was trying to use the stove. I set up the Reactor in my little bowl with a little bit of liquid water to get the canister warm-ish (water was actually very close to freezing and started to crystalize pretty quickly; I took the canister straight from my pack) and it lit up instantly. This was a canister that was about half full. I got snow melting right away, and the stove performed really well. It felt very predictable in the enclosed confines of my vestibule. No flare ups. I added a couple tablespoons of warm water from the pot to the bowl periodically to keep the canister warm. The speed at which it converted snow to boiling water was astonishing. For my tentmate and I, we went through about 8 oz of fuel total for Friday night and Saturday morning. That was for melting snow to boiling water for about 8 L of water total. The performance of the stove did not diminish - it was blazing hot right until the last sip of fuel was consumed and the stove went out. I switched to another canister and the stove was running again in less than 90 seconds.

From here on out, I plan to use the Reactor for pretty much all of my Winter trips. I'm sufficiently impressed. Maybe in the minus 20 range the Whisperlite will remain my go-to. I'll do that experiment in the future.

 

[alexmtn]

... From here on out, I plan to use the Reactor for pretty much all of my Winter trips. I'm sufficiently impressed. Maybe in the minus 20 range the Whisperlite will remain my go-to. I'll do that experiment in the future.

Brian, I don't see the logic in cutting back to the WhisperLite @minus 20. As it gets colder, Reactor boil times will increase commensurately because:

- The starting temperature of the water/snow is lower. Boil time for the Reactor is just under 3 minutes for 1L at room temperature. At minus 10 (the coldest temp at which I've ever used my Reactor to date), I found it to be in the 6 minute range.

- The heat drain from the surrounding air competes more intensely with the burner's heat input.

The WhisperLite is susceptible to these same factors, and additionally is drastically more susceptible to diminished heat transfer from burner to pot because of wind interference. As temps drop, both stoves will require additional time to boil, but the time gap between them will widen. Are you thinking of additional factors that could sway this, or is it simply a policy of not wanting to rely on 'the new guy' until you've actually had the opportunity to observe the predicted performance?

Sorry to learn that aborted winter traverses are becoming your tradition, but there's solace in knowing that you're deriving lots of pleasure from the backpacking/camping/stove play, independently of whether the summit are achieved!

Alex

 

[hikerbrian]

Hi Alex, the main factor is the consideration that if it's very cold I may need to frequently change out the water in my water bowl to keep the canister warm. I can imagine at some temperature that becomes more of a hassle than it's worth, as the water in the water bath would cool very quickly with cold ambient temps. But honestly I sort of doubt that'll be an issue. So far, the water bath just doesn't cool all that quickly. Secondarily, yes, I only very slowly develop trust for new gear. I've used my Whisperlite down to -25, so I know it can perform in that critical arena.

Here's a picture from Valley Way this past Friday. Sinking in thigh- to hip-deep (sometimes waste deep) with snowshoes on while climbing uphill slowed us down quite a bit - 7 hrs to get to Madison Spring Hut, when in past attempts we'd already knocked off Madison, Adams, and Jefferson by then. Though even if we'd been fast, winds were gusting near the century mark all three days of our planned itinerary. Per usual, completing this traverse wasn't really up to us. We put ourselves in the best possible position for completion, and then we listened to what the mountains were telling us. No regrets here.

 

[alexmtn]

I know what you mean about the conditions - a friend and I broke out the Twinway to Guyot on Monday. Lots of work and a frigid (zero-ish), windy evening after making the inevitable call at sunset to backtrack rather than punch on to the Twins. Still a pleasure, though -- the breakable crust and nose-deep spruce traps do come with a fun factor, and I really enjoy the route finding that the Guyot area entails. Had we opted to bivy rather than backtrack, my trusty Reactor was of course at the ready.

Alex