Esbit vs. MSR Pocket Rocket

I have both a MSR Pocket Rocket and an Esbit stove with tablets (so far unused). I know I can save some bulk and weight with the Esbit, but i am unsure how to go. One problem I have had with the MSR is I am unsure how many burns I can get with one canister, so I usually take more than I need. I have a lot of half filled containers. Anyone out there with knowledge in this area?

Thanks,
Fred Miller
fmiller634@gmail.com

I use alcohol stoves - no issues seeing how much fuel you have, light, easily replaced, cheap. Works in cold weather.

Got rid of the Pocket Rocket a long time ago. The supports wobbled, the stove was impossible to pack in a small pot with a small canister, the stove and canister was frightfully tippy while operating with a full pot of water on it, and it's one of those stoves that gives off more CO2 than I was comfortable thinking about... which I found out about after getting rid of it.

Esbit is light and half a tab will nearly boil a couple cups of water... it's just not so clean to use (smells and leaves residue on the pot) as other choices. I have a few tabs but leave it in my SAR kit. For backpacking I'll take one of the alcohol stove sets or the Snow Peak Giga.

I have used a Pocket Rocket with great satisfaction for more than ten years, alternating it with a Trangia or Super Cat alcohol stove depending upon circumstances. I have always managed to put hot food on my plate.

I do keep some esbits around for fie starter or emergency use. They are fine, although the soot is a bit of a downer.

With experience, you will get a better idea of your fuel consumption with canisters. You can weigh them or mark the fuel line in cold weather. Spotty availability when traveling is the greatest negative with canisters, hence a light, cheap alcohol stove as a backup.

I've tried Esbits on a couple of trips; found that a GOOD windscreen is absolutely essential - otherwise, you can sit there watching water almost boil. Just never seemed to be a great choice to me.

I've also used a Pocket Rocket above freezing for about 10 years with no problems. As Lori points out, you can't put a canister and the stove inside a small kettle (specifically the Titan Kettle, which I really like) - that's a reasonably minor PITA, though, and the MSR website says there's a new and improved version coming out early next year that will fit. We'll see.

Below freezing, I revert back to the MSR Simmerlite, so I don't have to mess around keeping canisters warm.

If you need no more than 24 oz boiling water. And know how to use a wind screen effectively.

Esbit is almost always lighter.

Solo I almost always take esbit. Have for four years.

When hiking with others and sharing a stove. I take bushbuddy or msr reactor. Still take one or two esbit tabs just in case though.

in really large groups we will usually pack a simmerlite with the reactor as the two stoves compliment each other really well.

I've used the PR as my main summer/fall stove for six years or so now. I can get by with the small MSR canister just boiling 1.5 cups of water for eight days. I have also used it successfully down into the mid single digits, with little fiddle factor. For its price and weight, you can't expect a rock solid stove. Look at some of the tin Coleman stoves if you want to see cheap. I don't know why people insist the stove has to fit in the pot. That space can be filled with socks, food or gear. I have only used a Esbit stove a few times for a week long trip. Messy pot bottoms, susceptible to loss of heat in any breeze, have to take steps to shield the thing very good. Smell of the tablets in the pack, even when double bagged. I bought a Caldera Cone 12-10 alky stove last July for my vacation. Really happy with its performance and low fuel consumption. I don't like its packability, requires the supplied plastic canister or careful packing to avoid crushing. Not sure I can safely unroll it and lay it out opened up inside my pack as a way to save having to carry the storage canister. I also have concerns about gear getting cut by the sharp edges of the windscreen.
Duane

It's not so much that I insist the stove fit the pot, it's just one of those nice-to-have convenience factors. It would mean that when I'm ready to cook, I can just grab my kettle and a bag of food and head for the kitchen area. However, I keep the stove inside the kettle, set the canister on top of the lid (perfect fit in the groove around the edge), and drop both into a stuff sack - next best thing to everything in the kettle. (Bonus: in the case of the PR, it means I don't have to drag that useless triangular box around.)

Glenn, I'm too picky then. I worry about metal to metal contact rubbing the non-stick coating if present off of the pot and the rattling around. Your system still sounds good, everything is together. My alky Caldera Cone setup takes some looking. Stove caddy in one spot, alcohol in same area as my baggie that holds my utensils and matches. No rush.
Duane

WE use the PR and are very happy with it. It DOES fit in our pot...but we're hiking for two, so the pot is bigger. And for $10 or so we bought a nice little set of low tripod legs for it that really make it darn stable.

My wife is a chef, so she likes the idea of being able to regular heat depending on what she's cooking...and we get about a week's worth of cooking out of one canister.

Just re-read my post - I forgot to mention that I wrap the PR in my dish towel, so the metal-to-metal won'tleave scratches (the Kettle is uncoated metal.)

weigh your bottles and subtract the weight of an empty bottle and write the fuel weight on the tank somewhere with a magic marker. Then you'll know how much you used - say 2.5 oz for a certain trip - next time take one with 2.5 oz of fuel left in it for the same or similar trip, then you start with less weight than full bottles.

However the two - esbit and pocket rocket are completely different machines and your specific usage will determine which to take, or whether to try something else. There is no one best solution for all usages...
Jim

"different machines...different uses..."

Good point, Jim. I've used both under similar circumstances (time of year, weather conditions, and length of trip), and simply decided I like the PR better for what I do. It seemed a bit more convenient for my purposes, so that's what I chose. Esbit worked, though.

The PR is great or similar type stove. When setting up,the cap from the canister goes in the red, plastic stove container, stove gets screwed on the canister, deploy supports, ready to go. When done for the stay, let the stove cool down, unscrew from canister, open empty stove container, pop the cap back on the canister, fold up the pot supports and put the stove back in its container and away you go. No measuring, rolling or extra stuff to stuff.
Duane

IF you decide pocket rocket, Jim's way nails it down. Weighing the canisters is a very effective way of figuring out what you have left as fuel and how much you use. This, of course is figured out by experience (using it and weighting the canister after use and when empty). I personally go back and forth between the PR and cat stove now, with an occasional use of a MSR wisperlite.

sK