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Any suggestions for a pot to use for heating water or cooking a meal?

I currently have been using a SnowPeak titanium pot that is about 4" diameter and 5" tall and holds about 0.7 liter. The problem is that it takes a long time to heat water so uses a lot of fuel. When I turn the stove up, lots of flame miss the pot, plus there isn't a lot of surface area to heat the water.

I'm looking at the Evernew Ultralight .9 liter titanium pot. Any thoughts there?

Thanks

Improve efficiency with a flat bottomed pot that is wider and shorter, rather than skinny and tall. A lid is also necessary to be efficient. That pot is 5.35" wide x 2.52" high which is a pretty good ratio.

You could also get a smaller stove, the small titanium pots are not fuel efficient on a big burner if the flames are to the sides of the pot.

nonot wrote:You could also get a smaller stove, the small titanium pots are not fuel efficient on a big burner if the flames are to the sides of the pot.

I hadn't thought about a smaller stove, though I think mine is already small. It's a Snow Peak GigaPower.

Noticed the same thing. I use a MSR Pocket Rocket and a 750ml Toaks titanium pot. I just started using a small piece of aluminum foil doubled over and wrapped around the setup as a windscreen. Seemed to funnel the heat nicely and knocked off a good chunk of time to get a boil. Press a couple of small sticks in the ground to keep the foil in place if it won't stay in shape or gets blown.

Probably not an issue with your Snow Peak pot, but the blacker the bottom of the pot, the more efficiently heat transfers.

I use an MSR Titan, which is roughly of a similar dimension to the pot you already have, and find it quite efficient with both a canister stove like the Optimus Crux or Pocket Rocket, and with my alcohol setup (Zelph Starlyte stove + Caldera Cone). I can reach boil on 2 – 3 cups of water in about 7 minutes with less than half an ounce of methanol with that latter setup. If I don't care about boiling and just want it hot, I can do it faster and with less fuel.

skillpore wrote:Stoves suck

Of course they do. but that doesn't help answer my question. :whistle:

skillpore wrote:Stoves suck

I'm trying to get mine to suck less fuel.

I use an MSR Titan, too. For best fuel efficiency (not necessarily speed), I use a Caldera Cone when burn restrictions don't allow. Otherwise, I use a Snowpeak Gigapower canister.

I have a Jetboil Flash that has worked well for many years now. Very nice and compact, everything nests together, and it works as fast as any stove I have ever seen. Checks in at about a pound with the fuel canister, I don't mind a little extra weight for the efficiency...Can boil a full liter in about 4 minutes. Can of fuel is good for 10-14 liters depending on conditions, altitude, etc.

The Dude wrote:Can of fuel is good for 10-14 liter

good to know, I always wondered

Is that for the 8.11 oz canister or the smaller one?

@joe bartels
It is for the smaller 3.5 oz canister that will nest inside. Can't say enough about the system, it is handy, quick and convenient. I picked mine up on clearance for 60 bucks from Sports Authority years ago, someone had stolen the stabilizer and pot feet out of the package (don't really need either) and I jumped on the deal.

I am accused sometimes of being a fuel Nazi - I am always improvising a near-total windbreak (rocks, bark, etc.) when I am cooking, I believe that helps a bunch. (Pocket Rocket & Evernew .9). Another heat-trapper is a piece of Styrofoam (or closed cell) cut to the pot's diameter as a lid that floats on top (if you are just 'cooking water') - I gleaned this from the rafting community years ago. There is also the 'Pot Parka'', but c'mon, we're just heating water here.
If you are unconcerned about weight - MSR used to make a pot with a built-in heat exchanger -not the reactor, this was 10-ish years ago. I'm unsure about whether this type of pot would be faster, as obviously the heat exchanger absorbs some BTU's before passing the heat through to the pot and contents.
I'm generally not in that much of a hurry for water to boil, that is if it's dinner we're talking about and I remembered the bourbon. ;)

I use a Jetboil too and I Love it...I don't just use it for Backpacking either, it goes Car Camping with me because Boiling Water is so Fast with it...I'm not really a Fan of the Weight, but it's probably Equivalent to carrying a Lighter Weight Stove, Canister AND Pot anyway, so I stay with it....I'm thinking that even using it just about everyday when I'm Camping, I go through MAYBE 2 small Canisters a Year. And while I haven't been doing a lot of Backpacking in the last couple of Years, I've been doing a LOT of Camping....

Sold at Walmart, these are cheap and effective. I have several in the 1.25 qt size and several in the smaller 16 oz size for drinking coffee. They are super light and if they get all mucked up just throw them away and buy a couple more for less than $10. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... ikearizona

http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=523461
The char from a fire comes off easily with soap and water at home. Avoid using a stove unless it is May-June and fire restrictions are in force.

I have a snow peak hybrid summit and I found the titanium pot I got my dad which had a wider diameter base was more efficient with my cat tin stove. Mine still boiled water with an ounce of denatured alcohol but it took a couple minutes longer. There are videos and articles online that through testing will give you info on which type of alcohol will give you most bang for the buck. I just received a Vargo hexagon titanium stove for Xmas which I haven't had a chance to test, but I'm pretty sure after sticking my cat tin stove inside and pot on top will really increase the efficiency and not allow the flame to go up the sides directing it to the bottom. I was looking at the emberlit and had never seen the Vargo stove, but as a wind screen I think it will work better. I plan to modify it a bit not for cooking with alcohol, but to increase it's efficiency as a wood fired stove. It's light all the pieces are hinged and it folds flat. It will help the efficiency of the alcohol stove, but can be used as a stand alone wood stove as well.
http://www.vargooutdoors.com/hexagon-ba ... o8xtexOLv4

hikeaz wrote:Pocket Rocket & Evernew .9

That's the pot I was eyeing. What's the good, bad, and ugly on it (besides the red trim it has now )?
http://www.zpacks.com/...

AZ Wandering Bear wrote:Noticed the same thing. I use a MSR Pocket Rocket and a 750ml Toaks titanium pot. I just started using a small piece of aluminum foil doubled over and wrapped around the setup as a windscreen. Seemed to funnel the heat nicely and knocked off a good chunk of time to get a boil. Press a couple of small sticks in the ground to keep the foil in place if it won't stay in shape or gets blown.

Probably not an issue with your Snow Peak pot, but the blacker the bottom of the pot, the more efficiently heat transfers.

Are you wrapping the windscreen around the stove and fuel canister? If so, you are heating the canister, which is a very, very bad idea (I've seen reports from people whose canisters blew up from doing this). A much safer option is to make a cone that sits above the canister and only wraps around the burner and bottom of your pot. If you google around a bit, you can find simple instructions for this kind of windscreen.

@flagscott
Yep. My description was pretty weak. Whole thing sits above the canister by folding in the bottom to rest on the canister. I fashion it to where the handles of my cup/pot stay outside the foil. Fairly flimsy, but light weight.

rcorfman wrote:

hikeaz wrote:Pocket Rocket & Evernew .9

That's the pot I was eyeing. What's the good, bad, and ugly on it (besides the red trim it has now )?
http://www.zpacks.com/...

Find a supplier with the old, non-red style. I've had both about 11 years, likely average 35 days of use a year without a hiccup.

@rcorfman
I have a SnowPeak Trek 700 Titanium cooker which doubles as a mug, has helpful measurements on its side. Maybe it's the same one you have? I have been using it for several years. I don't like the lid because it is hard to remove when hot, and it can get stuck on the rim and potentially dump the pot over (onto yourself if you are not careful). You have to use pliers to bend that hook thing open, or you are going to have a problem removing it when the water is boiling. They have photos where they want you to hang the lid on the side of the mug. But what the hell for? Who would do that? Much better to get rid of that hook thing. But at this time I am not planning to replace it just because it has a goofy lid. In general it works well enough. I have seen others complain about the lid online. I don't use the handles, either, since I use a (much safer) pot picker-upper tool, so they are redundant. And I don't drink out of it very often. Maybe it's out of production now. Weird design.