I've completed my review of the new MSR MicroRocket.


If you've been following my blog posts as I wrote my review, you'll have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to say, although hopefully the review will tie everything together as well as serve as a summary.


Anyway, have a look if you like: The New MSR MicroRocket -- Completed Review


HJ

Great report. Did the same thing with this that I did with Brian's NeoAir XL: "Hey, Karol, Jim says I have to buy a new stove." Karol: "Jim's parents weren't married, either."

I look at it and say.. hmmm. well, it looks almost as good as the snow peak.. What your thought on this one versus snow peak?

I can't tell you yet - I haven't bought the MicroRocket yet. (I want to get it from the local outfitter, and he hasn't received his shipment yet.)

I've used the Snow Peak, and found it to be an excellent stove - I'm not really sure there's any objective reason that I ended up preferring the Pocket Rocket.

Functionally, I found no difference in the Snow Peak Gigapowwer and the Pocket Rocket. (Both would benefit from a better windscreen - perhaps something welded to the bottom of the SP700 pot or the Titan Kettle, similar to the Jetboil, that would protect the flame without overheating the canister?) Both stoves brought a small (700-900ml) kettle of water to a boil in about the same amount of time; the fuel used wasn't noticeably different in similar conditions. The SP had 4 pot supports, against the PR's 3, but since I was using pots with about the same diameter as the supports, I didn't notice any real difference in stability (and never had a tipover spill with either.) I did notice that the SP folded up more compactly, and you could put a cylinder and stove inside the 700 pot (the one they sell with the stove as a "starter kit"), but you couldn't quite fit the PR and a canister into the Titan kettle. (I'm anxious to see if the MicroRocket fixes that.)

The biggest complaint I read about the PR is that the pot supports are too flimsy. I've never had any problems with this - but I'm not trying to use anything larger than the Titan kettle on it. (The few times I've cooked for a group, using a 1.5 or 2L pot, I used the MSR Superfly with a canister stand for stability; the Superfly has 4 sturdy supports and a large flame pattern - right tool for the job.)

I'd rate the PR and SP Gigapower about dead even for my purposes. After reading Jim's test series on the MicroRocket, my guess is that it doesn't perform any better or worse than the SP Gigapower, and is equally compact. I'll let you know when I've gotten one and had a chance to use it, but I suspect that I'll conclude that, if you already have an SP Giga and aren't having any problems, there wouldn't be any compelling objective reason to replace it with the MicroRocket.

I think that should be my new tag line: "Hikin' Jim, gear b@stard." lol.

HJ

I have quite a number of small upright canister stoves. Here's a few (and yes I have more):
a) Snow Peak GS-100 GigaPower
b) Vargo Jet Ti
c) Markill Hot Rod
d) Optimus Crux
d) MSR SuperFly
e) Monatauk Gnat
f) Soto MicroRegulator
g) MSR PocketRocket
h) MSR MicroRocket

The two I rate as top stoves? The MicroRocket and the GigaPower. Which is the better? Well, it depends. I rate the GigaPower as superior on pot stability, and the GP has a more dispersed flame (although not as nice as say a SuperFly). On the other hand, the MicroRocket is lighter and definitely more compact.

I think it's going to come down to what matters to you as to which is the better stove.

Is the MicroRocket a better stove than the PocketRocket? That's a complete no-brainer: Yes, the MicroRocket is clearly the better stove. The only negative in that comparison against the MicroRocket is that it takes a couple of seconds to rotate the pot supports into place, but in return for those extra seconds, you get a lighter, more durable, more compact stove. A more than fair trade in my opinion.

HJ

You might be interested in my blog post on Windscreens

Not that my opinion is the end all, be all, but if you look about maybe half way down in my The New MSR MicroRocket -- Trail Report #2 you'll see how I ranked five different stoves including the GP, MR, and the PR on pot stability.

See The MicroRocket and Small Mugs/Pots -- What Fits?

See my response to phat, above.

HJ

I'll gladly defer to, and probably reinforce, your findings on any of those points, Jim. My response to Phat was based purely on my own subjective results, over a very limited range of use: mostly warm conditions, boiling a cup and a half of water in a pot clearly designed to match the stove (the SP 700, with the funny little, but surprisingly functional, hooked lid, and the Titan kettle.) Your tests are far more authoritative than my conjectures, simply because your approach is more thorough and comprehensive (for example, you do real cooking), and you conduct more testing than I do - your experience base for making informed judgments and decisions is much broader than mine. (I was just telling Jim what my own gut feeling was, based on no testing of the MR.)

My conjectures about the MicroRocket are based on your reviews; my expectation is that the MR and an MSR 110g fuel canister will fit in the Titan kettle just fine. (As I recall, you didn't have an MSR canister on hand to verify that when you did the test, so I didn't want to say that for sure.)

Thanks again for the great reviews - I'll go look at your windscreen posts later.

I think I'd say it's a no brainer that it's better than the pocket rocket. a for the gigapower, you're right it's a little bit lighter, something like 10 grams lighter than the gigapower, but still has the pocket rocket burner design that I'm not so fond of (I find the gigapower does better if it's windy myself, and it's definatly not as blowtorchy into one spot..) I might consider switching if there were a *significant* weight difference, but I don't think that's really there.

phat, I've always wondered if the Gigapower made a hot spot on the bottom of the pot since the burner is so small. I may have to pick one up sometime.

Duane

I've never found either the GP or PR to discolor the center of the pot itself (my experience is limited to titanium pots.) However, the couple of times I've tried to actually cook in the pot (not just boil water), I did find that if I didn't keep stirring, food in the bottom of the pot scorched worse in the center than the edges; also, trying to cook in a pot with a larger diameter meant that the outer edges of the pot were harder to heat. This was a major factor driving me toward freezer bag cooking.

Both stoves simmered pretty well, except that you still needed to stir to keep food from sticking to the bottom of the uncoated pots I was using.

If I were going to cook "real" food, I'd use the Superfly, which has a "normal" wide flame pattern. I've been out with Scouts who used it successfully to cook eggs and such.

That's about what I found with the PR, concentrated heat, keep stirring. I don't cook much or for very long. Pancakes work out fine. I acquired a used Dragonfly finally in December, I used it last weekend to simmer a stew with stuff brought prepped from home for an hour. Worked great with no attention, I stirred now and then to be sure all ingredients cooked evenly as I had more meat than anything due to my carrots in the garden were froze in the ground. I obtained a Dragon Tamer cap made by Gary at Bluewater Restorations to make the stove run silent, it did a fantastic job. It was the third cap I've gotten from Gary. He only sells his caps thru eBay to most.

Duane

Hi, Glenn,

Please let us know what you find out.

Just now I took a 227g sized canister and my Titan kettle. I'm pretty sure the MicroRocket will fit in a Titan kettle with a 113g MSR canister. The 113g size are pretty flat. I'll try to stop by an REI or something and verify that one fits. I usually prefer the smaller diameter canisters that other makers produce, so I don't have a 113g canister on hand. Sorry I forgot to do this earlier.

I did stop by an REI and a MicroRocket and a Jetboil/Snow Peak/Optimus 100g class canister fits along with a MicroRocket in a Snow Peak 700 as well as a GSI (I think it was a Soloist).

HJ

Phat,

I tend to agree. If someone has a Gigapower, I don't see a compelling reason to upgrade to a MicroRocket unless you need something more compact. The Gigapower is little heavier and a little bulkier, but it is definitely a good stove.

HJ

Duane,

The GP actually does a pretty decent job. True, the burner is small, but the flames go out to the side whereas the MicroRocket's go straight up. Neither is a gourmet cook's stove though. Get you a nice SuperFly or Windpro for that.

HJ

Yep, what Glenn said.

Remember how with a MicroRocket I didn't burn my eggs on my "Omelet test," but the center was getting a lot more done than the edges.

With a SuperFly,


No problem.


Of course, the SuperFly is BIG, relatively heavy, does not pack well, and you have those danged pointy pot supports that want to poke through everything in your pack. Grrr.

HJ

I was able to pack the Superfly in a pot (I think it might have been the Titan kettle, don't hold me to that - it was a while back) by unscrewing the burner from the tube, and storing it in two parts. Not an elegant solution, but a solution. (And there was always the little voice in the back of my mind saying, "Hope you don't cross-thread it when you put it back together...")

I'll just stick with the Dragonfly then. It simmers great.

Duane

OMG... the weight.... and I turn up my nose at you like every other bonehead who has stopped 5km into the trail exhausted from the walk with their enormous packs and the dragonfly stove fired up in the middle of the trail, with the backpacking expresso machine on the top.......

Yes I'm being overly judgemental... but I really did walk by this!

Some of us haven''t walked by that. Some of us have been walked by.

A hiking buddy, many years ago, had one of those machines and, when he offered, I accepted; at least he was carrying it.

Oh, I'm hardly self-righteous. I'm enough of a trail whore that I'll happily tell you amusing stories for 20 minutes to yogi a couple of cups of boiling water from the enormously heavy stove you are carrying I am completely hypocritical, as long as it's not riding on my back

If I'm going very far, I'll only pack one stove, a light one in the summer. I used the tamed Dragonfly last weekend and my Baby Enders to get some use out of them. Since I have over 65 stoves now, I have to double them up on trips to get around to each one. I would normally bring one stove. If melting snow, I have a large selection now. About 16 MSR stoves now, a 9 to a Dragonfly. Normally in the winter I would bring my old International to melt snow on group trips, if solo I can bring the louder GK's, XGK's etc. Looking forward to some snow. Headed to 5' of snow in Lassen on Saturday for a small group car camp trip, bringing the Dragonfly again and a 1959 Enders 9061.
Duane
At the moment, my avatar is my pimped out Optimus 111T, a triple fuel stove.

Guys

The Dragonfly is great with the kids - they love pancakes.

I'm just looking for a lighter, cheap, winter (15-20 degree F) option for boiling water when I go solo, and want to walk more than 3 miles a day at a 6 year old's pace.

Steadman

If your winter is only 15-20 F, and you don't have to melt snow for water, and you're only boiling water - consider something like the penny alcohol stove - I use mine in spring/fall with methyl hydrate (yellow heet) without great problems at that temperature, and other than esbits, for boiling water solo you'll be hard pressed to find a lighter option. I also find it easier to keep a small bottle of alcohol near my body and warm for easy stove lights.

failing that, this or a snow peak would probably work good for you.

Hi, Glenn,

I stopped by an REI yesterday. I took along a Titan kettle and a MicroRocket. A 113g MSR canister and the MicroRocket fit just fine inside the Titan kettle.

No brand of 220g class canisters would fit with the stove in the kettle however.

HJ