 Just seen a tweet from a UK outdoor mag <cough:Trail> about a new Jetboil... the ZIP.
Getting to think that Jetboil is a one trick pony that's going to be flogged to death with 568 different versions of itself.
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.JPG) Thrilling insight there mate.
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And I don't even have one!
The point I was making was that the Jetboil is obviously a decent well regarded piece of kit. The people that designed it are obviously very talented... so why are they wasting their time making what seems like infinite different version rather than moving on to the next latest and greatest?
Anyway just an observation
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Haven't you ever heard of evolution ?
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 While I think the Jetboil is the work of the devil, stove rehashing has been going on for years. There's very little that's radical out there & the original Primus stove remained virtually unchanged for nigh on 100 years except for various sizes & burder configurations. Lightweight alcohol stoves seem to be where all the innovation is.
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Evolution yes but... bigger/smaller, with ignition/without ignition, standard weight/Titanium weight seems to smack of lack of ideas especially after what?10 years.
Rosswm, I'm pretty much 'stoved' out (2 new Soto's) but if you had to say which lightweight alcohol stove was currently at the pinnacle of the art what would it be? I'd be interested in finding out more about these types of stove.
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Bedouin - my area of expertise is on stoves from 1890's to the 1970's! I'm no gear whore & for a good few years have struggled to keep up with what's what but it's no biggy as good gear lasts & it's about the journey not the gear. When I want to get up to date I come here for a while. My current stove for UK backpacking is a Caldera Cone with AGG pan. I got it about 4 years ago when I had a bit of a gear purge & upgraded to a lot of lighter gear. Most of the stoves I looked at was around that time & I was amazed at the variety. Of course I was aware of the soda can stove as they have been around for years but I was amazed at the developments. What's at the pinnacle now would be for someone else to answer as I'm having to google some of the new stuff that's mentioned to find out whats being discussed! For my own part I like a stove that can be used in bad weather - once that was the Trangia for me - now it's the Caldera system. I'm going to be experimenting with some German storm-cookers from the 1930's. Similar to the Trangia principal but much smaller & lighter. The pans & windshield could be crushed with one hand! Great for solo use. They come with steel or brass burners but I'll be trying them with modern soda-can type burners. Example Outside of that I use an old pre-shaker MSR GK if I've got several hours a day of snow melting to do. I still don't see anything on the market in that class uncomplicated enough for me to be confident it it's reliabilty in the field. I'm sure the Soto & the like would be fine but I have no reaon to upgrade!
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| Edited: 12/12/11 20:15 |
.jpg) Like Rosswm,,says about the primus it's stood the test of time
with little change.The Trangia "burner"used by thousands has also
proved it's value.It's pans have been changed over the years, but
it's still the same reliable never let you down Trangia.
Iv'e had a Jetboil for 5yrs. it's never let me down but the
Trangia burner always goes in my pack. Cheers
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The Zip is a heavier and much cheapper version of the Sol/Sol Ti.At about half the price of the Sol , I can see that some will like the option.You also lose the piezo ignition and the thermo regulator but if you can live with that it sounds a good idea to me. Franco http://www.jetboil.com/products/comparesystems
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| Edited: 13/12/11 08:42 |
 Evolution yes but... bigger/smaller, with ignition/without ignition, standard weight/Titanium weight seems to smack of lack of ideas especially after what?10 years. It's a fairly normal part of product cycle. As things mature they are offered with differing levels of bells and whistles. The original mass production car, The Ford Model T, was famously standardised "any colour you want, as long as it's black"). That got mass production of cars started, GM realised that people wanted different stuff and started offering options, and so it went from there. The bottom line is still basically Model T though: practical personal transport based on 4 wheels and an internal combustion engine. And so it is with just about any other commodity going these days. My mp3 player is a "Model T", but the iPod Touch is there if I want it, and all shades of things in between. But bottom line remains personal portable entertainment based on digital data. Why should portable stoves be any different from this model? Pete.
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| Edited: 13/12/11 09:19 |
 i thought that from a practical perspective the jetboil only boils water. then it doesn't really have much place to go.
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Since the main complaints people seem to have about the Jetboil are as follows :
1) Too tall and wobbly
2) Too heavy
3) Fragile igniter
they have addressed these by :
1) Introduce a shorter cup and provide stabilising legs
2) See above, also introduce a titanium lightweight version.
3) Re-engineer a sturdier piezo igniter.
I would say that the company has simply responded to public complaints about the product and improved the areas that needed improving.
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Agreed, but I'd like to see Jetboil go back to the drawing board and see if it can come out with something as revolutionary as the original Jetboil was 10 years ago. Tweeking is all well and good but....
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I'm sure they are, in the meantime they have addressed the inherent faults.
What do you want them to do, stick with the original until they can produce the next big thing ? It's a stove for goodness sake.
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 i thought that from a practical perspective the jetboil only boils water. then it doesn't really have much place to go. Agreed. It boils water. Quickly. Any changes now are minor. The initial product did what it promised and apart from tinkering there's nowhere for it to go.
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