I've just weighed my new MSR Reactor and been very pleasantly surprised. Claimed weight is 595g (packaged) and 581g (minimum). My scales weighed my Reactor at 564g. This was with burner, pot, lid and mini-cloth. All I did was clip off the CO warning attached to the burner and remove the instruction booklets. I'm not sure what the 14g difference in packaged to minimum weight could be either as nothing I had weighed close to this weight - maybe one of the instruction booklets, which I didn't weigh individually (they are one book per language).
This makes the Reactor only 134g heavier than the Jetboil on my scales, which I can live with as it has (claimed) better real world performance (boil speed and gas lifetime), takes a medium gas canister inside it (saving space in my pack) and slightly larger pot (so ideal for more than one person - or warming my boil in the bag army dinner and pudding together, so saving more gas).
Mind you, the Reactor is an ugly beast when compared to the Jetboil or EtaExpress.
This is the first time I have ever found anything weighing under manufacturers' claimed weight, so I don't think it is my scales weighing light.
Could you let us know how you get on with it if you use it soon Paul? I'm about to buy either that or the JetBoil or the Eta.
I think I like the Eta and the Reactor the best, and like the extra capacity of the Reactor, but the price is putting me off a bit. Pretty much twice as much as the Eta
From my experience the reactor can be fiddly to simmer in as much as the burner goes out easily when turned down low. When you try to re-light the burner (with matches or lighter - no piezo on this £120 stove!) you run the risk of burnt fingers, not because you touch the burner head but because the head is so hot you encounter a large amount of radiant heat.
I'll let you know about the reactor when I get a chance to test it. I certainly expect better performance than from my jetboil, which is affected by wind quite a bit (unless using a windshield). The reactor specifically claims not to be affected and orders you not to use a windshield. Then there's the regulator for low gas levels or low temperatures, which the jetboil and etaexpress don't have.
If price is your issue, look at The Outdoor Shop only £65. Which is what tipped me into buying it. £120 is silly money, even the £90 of F&T didn't quite grab me, but £65.... THe store has up to the minute stock monitoring too, so buy it and you'll get it. Nice people to talk to too.
Al Anon,
The CO warning is just a lot of American legalize about not using the burner in a tent etc. Apparently the radiant burner type produces more CO than a normal flame burner, so be careful and use in a well ventilated place. Like the big wide outdoors.
I know how you feel. I got some Mountain Equipment Corbin trousers I had been eyeing for a while (£100 down to £65) and a Marmot Ion windshirt, which I admit was an impulse buy (£35 down to £20). All in all, a very expensive half hour of clicking. Thankfully I put the order in before I saw a couple of more things I absolutely "need", so I was able to resist.
Ha! I could spend best part of a grand on there in five minutes flat! Lots of the items I've been looking at over the past couple of months are on there with as much as 40% off....
Gulp.
On the Reactor.... Is the pot dedicated? Now that I can get one for much the same price as the Eta, it really just comes down to pot usability. The Eta is a great size for one, but only just big enough for two if using dehydrated meals. The reactor is ideal for two, but a bit on the big size for one. So I'm thinking that if the Titan kettle thing would slip on there then the decision would be a no brainer
The pot is not fixed to the burner in any way, it just stands on it (not as loose as this might suggest either). Unlike the jetboil, that does fix to the burner and then can be difficult to separate when hot.
Not sure if the Titan kettley thing will sit on well. Certainly you will lose the advantage of the heating bits on the bottom of the reactor pot, so I'm not sure you will gain anything over using a Pocket Rocket with windshield and Titan.
If you're anything like me, you'll end up with a load of half (or more) used gas canisters that you dare not take on a backpacking trip for fear of running out / carrying too much. The reactor helps here as it works well right to the end of the can (at least that is the claim for the regulator). This means a few tests and you can predict how much gas you need and so can you take a near empty can or not.
One warning to draw your attention to, the reactor is supposed to produce more CO when simmering compared to boiling. Not a worry in the outdoors, but in a confined area it could be significant. I only mention this as dehydrated meals you mention will probably need simmering. I use boil in the bag army rations, which I happen to love in the outdoors, so I am happy to take the extra weight of them compared to dehydrated food, which I usually hate and so do not eat enough of on a trip.
For pure solo use, I may continue to take my Trail Designs Caldera Cone system, which fits the MSR Titan really well. Meths cooker, of course, so not so good at simmering, slower etc.
