A rocket in your pocket (MSR PocketRocket Camping Stove)

Member Name: LadyAudley

Product:	MSR PocketRocket Camping Stove
Date:	10/11/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick, light stove

Disadvantages: Not suitable for family cooking

The MSR pocket rocket is a camping stove that has been carefully designed to be as lightweight as possible. It is aimed at serious backpackers, who are seeking to save on weight in their packs. In fact at just 3 oz or 85g, it's so light that it has become a staple part of the kit for mountain marathons. These are long, outdoor runs lasting at least two days and crossing rough terrain, in which competitors have to carry all their food and survival equipment, including a mandatory stove and tent. \When competing in one last year, I decided to invest in a Pocket Rocket to ensure that I was carrying as little extra poundage as possible.

The stove is made of aluminium, where higher-end pieces of kit are made of titanium. However, the latter are extremely expensive, and no lighter overall, whereas the MSR pocket rocket costs around thirty quid and is plenty sturdy enough to stand up to even rugged conditions.

Even though I was expecting a lightweight piece of kit, I was surprised at the tiny dimensions of this stove. It packs down nicely to a very small size indeed (be careful with its sharp edges around delicate pieces of kit, though!). When you unfold it, you have a three-pronged platform (MSR call it a 'Tri-sectional Windclip') which you secure on top of your gas canister. Once you've done this, you have something that is just big enough to seat a small pot.

Like most stoves designed to sit on top of fuel canisters, this is not the most stable piece of cooking equipment, and for that reason I would urge caution to anyone thinking of using this around small children. It's an adult piece of kit, really, not something family-friendly.

The stove allows the flame to be controlled with a metal key at the side. This is relatively straightforward to use, though it does get a bit fiddly when your hands are freezing cold despite the fact that the manufacturers claim that the key is 'glove friendly'.

The Pocket Rocket is also impressively efficient: the manufacturers claim that it can bring a litre of water to the boil in under 4 minutes, and I certainly managed the same thing in under 4 minutes in benign conditions over the summer. Better yet, the stove doesn't need any priming or maintenance: you just plug it into the fuel, and you're ready to go.

As you might expect from something of these dimensions, it's not the sturdiest camping stove, nor the largest. There are better products to use on camping holiday with the family where you are cooking for eight people! Also, for a holiday, gas canisters are not the cheapest fuel source for cooking! However, if you need to travel light, and you want something small yet sturdy and reliable, you'd have to go some way to beat this stove for value and reliability.

Summary: Great, lightweight piece of kit.