richardglyon
2009-09-27 15:01:40 UTC
Heather,
Hello again. Here's my Initial Report on the purple Flash. Html version is in the Tests folder at http://tinyurl.com/ybk3f4a
Cheers, Richard
JETBOIL FLASH PERSONAL COOKING SYSTEM
Test Series by Richard Lyon
Initial Report September 27, 2009
Field Report (anticipated) late November
Long Term Report (anticipated) late January
PERSONAL DETAILS and BACKPACKING BACKGROUND
Male, 63 years old
Height: 6' 4" (1.93 m)
Weight: 205 lb (91 kg)
Email address: rlyon AT gibsondunn DOT com
Home: Dallas, Texas USA
I've been backpacking for 45 years, regularly in the Rockies since 1986. I do at least one week-long trip every summer, and often take three-day trips. I'm usually camping in alpine terrain, at altitudes 5000 to 10000 ft (1500 - 3000 m). I prefer base camp backpacking, a long hike in with day trips from camp, but I do forced marches too. I've been actively reducing my pack weight, though I still tend to favor my favorite camp conveniences over minor weight savings. I normally cook with a canister stove and have been a dedicated Jetboil user for several years.
INITIAL REPORT
September 27, 2009
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION and DETAILS
Jetboil calls FLASH "a mobile cooking solution designed to enhance the outdoor experience of front-country day-trippers." It appears to be the second generation of the company's revolutionary PCS, its flagship product and the first self-contained canister stove system available to backpackers.
When assembled for use FLASH consists of, from bottom to top, (a) a plastic canister stabilizer, (b) a fuel canister, (c) a burner unit with built-in igniter, (d) a cooking cup with built in heat exchanger (called the FluxRing), and (e) a flexible plastic lid with sipper holes. There is a sixth piece, a hard plastic measuring cup that may be used as a cooking or drinking vessel when the stove is in use. The cooking cup does double duty as a mug for food or drink. The system furnished to me does not include a fuel canister; Jetboil does sell its own Jetpower branded fuel in 100 g and 230 g canisters.
Like the PCS, items (a), (b), (c), and (e) nest inside the cooking cup when the system is packed up for storage, with the measuring cup fitted over the fins of the FluxRing. Jetboil recommends the following order for storage: stabilizer (folded up) inside the legs of the burner unit; burner unit at the bottom of the cooking cup; canister on top. It also fits easily and snugly with the stabilizer wedged over the top of the canister.
The burner unit has a rectangular piece of wire for adjusting gas flow, and the instruction sheet indicates that the igniter is "improved." This is operated by pushing a small button on the burner unit located on the opposite side from the adjuster. The cooking cup has a neoprene cozy with a webbing handle on one side and a sewn-in sleeve on the other. The sleeve may be used to store one or more of Jetboil's Jetset utensils, as shown in my photographs. The inside wall of the cup has a mark half way up with a warning: "Max Safe Fill 2 cups [0.5 L]." The measuring cup has markings in one-quarter cup increments.
FLASH's new feature is the slash-shaped panels on the outside of the cooking cup, which illuminate when the temperature of the liquid in the cup approaches boiling.
FLASH is new, so new that information about it has yet to be posted on its manufacturer's website. The retail packaging and a press release and instruction sheet that accompanied the product are the source of any "listed" information or quotations in this Initial Report.
Manufacturer: Jetboil, Inc.
Web Address: www.jetboil.com
Height of cooking cup, including heat exchanger fins: 7.1 in/18.1 cm
Diameter of cooking cup: 4.0 in/10.2 cm
Height of full system, packed: 7.25 in/18.4 cm
Height of full system, assembled with a 100 g Jetpower canister: 11.8 in/30.0 cm. The canister stabilizer, which is not strictly necessary for operation, is 0.6 in/ 1.5 cm high.
System Weight, without canister: 15.4 oz /437 g
Capacity: The cooking cup holds one liter (four cups) of liquid. As noted Jetboil recommends, with its warning marking and in the instructions, that boiling more than half this amount risks a spillover.
Color: Violet. Also available in Carbon, Gold, or Sapphire.
MSRP: $99.95 US
Warranty: One year
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Since purchasing my first PCS in 2005 I have been an ardent Jetboil fan, as some of my other Test Series and Owner Reviews on this site attest, so I looked forward with great interest to my examination of the FLASH. The bright purple stands out, as do the panels on the cup, but overall FLASH looks very much like its predecessor: efficient, compact, and cleverly designed. I noticed three other differences: the measuring cup is hard plastic rather than more flexible rubber on the PCS, the cup is much easier to remove from the heat exchanger fins when assembling the system for cooking, and fuel feed is adjusted with a wire rectangle rather than a plastic knob. The wire rectangle must be folded out before screwing in the fuel canister.
TRYING IT OUT
FLASH is easy to assemble. Following the steps in the instructions (all of which are intuitive) I removed the measuring cup, folded out the legs of the canister stabilizer, folded out the wire adjuster, fit my 100 g canister into the inside grooves on the stabilizer's legs, screwed the burner on to the top of the canister, and fit the cooking cup onto the top of the burner unit. The bottom rim of the cooking cup has two small grooves that mate with small bumps on the inside of the burner rim and allow the cooking cup to be nudged into place with a slight turn to the right.
Jetboil recommends not lighting the stove with the cup attached (also not running the stove with an empty cup), so I removed the cooking cup, added half a liter (two cups) of water, lit the stove (the igniter worked with one push of the button), and returned the cooking cup to its perch. In 95 seconds, sure enough, the indicator strips glowed orange, and ten seconds later the water reached a rolling boil. This experiment occurred at a temperature of 85 F (30 C) at a few hundred feet (~50 m) above sea level. I performed this test in my side yard in a brisk wind; like the PCS the heat exchanger functions as an effective wind screen.
I then replaced the Jetpower canister with a 645 g Primus canister to the burner unit to confirm that FLASH worked with other makers' canisters, which it did. The larger Primus canister fit exactly into the outer grooves on the stabilizer. I also verified that my Jetboil PCS French press and FluxRing Fry Pan accessories worked with FLASH. This was welcome news; coffee and fried trout are two vital food groups for me.
LIKES
Praise on or criticism of performance, other than my continued admiration for Jetboil's compact design, will be saved until after field use. I will say that I like the idea of the indicator stripes. The only performance problem I've had with my PCS comes from Jetboil's speedy boiling times. (It's not named Jetboil for nothing!) More than once I've returned from a minor camp chore to find coffee bubbling over the rim of the cup. Fair warning would be great. I shall examine whether this feature compromises boiling efficiency in any way. The bright colors (other than Carbon) are a definite improvement; they make it easier to spot the unit amid other cooking and camping gear.
**********
My Initial Report ends here. I hope you'll check back in two months or so for my Field Report. A big "thank you" to Jetboil and BackpackGearTest.org for this testing opportunity.
------------------------------------
Hello again. Here's my Initial Report on the purple Flash. Html version is in the Tests folder at http://tinyurl.com/ybk3f4a
Cheers, Richard
JETBOIL FLASH PERSONAL COOKING SYSTEM
Test Series by Richard Lyon
Initial Report September 27, 2009
Field Report (anticipated) late November
Long Term Report (anticipated) late January
PERSONAL DETAILS and BACKPACKING BACKGROUND
Male, 63 years old
Height: 6' 4" (1.93 m)
Weight: 205 lb (91 kg)
Email address: rlyon AT gibsondunn DOT com
Home: Dallas, Texas USA
I've been backpacking for 45 years, regularly in the Rockies since 1986. I do at least one week-long trip every summer, and often take three-day trips. I'm usually camping in alpine terrain, at altitudes 5000 to 10000 ft (1500 - 3000 m). I prefer base camp backpacking, a long hike in with day trips from camp, but I do forced marches too. I've been actively reducing my pack weight, though I still tend to favor my favorite camp conveniences over minor weight savings. I normally cook with a canister stove and have been a dedicated Jetboil user for several years.
INITIAL REPORT
September 27, 2009
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION and DETAILS
Jetboil calls FLASH "a mobile cooking solution designed to enhance the outdoor experience of front-country day-trippers." It appears to be the second generation of the company's revolutionary PCS, its flagship product and the first self-contained canister stove system available to backpackers.
When assembled for use FLASH consists of, from bottom to top, (a) a plastic canister stabilizer, (b) a fuel canister, (c) a burner unit with built-in igniter, (d) a cooking cup with built in heat exchanger (called the FluxRing), and (e) a flexible plastic lid with sipper holes. There is a sixth piece, a hard plastic measuring cup that may be used as a cooking or drinking vessel when the stove is in use. The cooking cup does double duty as a mug for food or drink. The system furnished to me does not include a fuel canister; Jetboil does sell its own Jetpower branded fuel in 100 g and 230 g canisters.
Like the PCS, items (a), (b), (c), and (e) nest inside the cooking cup when the system is packed up for storage, with the measuring cup fitted over the fins of the FluxRing. Jetboil recommends the following order for storage: stabilizer (folded up) inside the legs of the burner unit; burner unit at the bottom of the cooking cup; canister on top. It also fits easily and snugly with the stabilizer wedged over the top of the canister.
The burner unit has a rectangular piece of wire for adjusting gas flow, and the instruction sheet indicates that the igniter is "improved." This is operated by pushing a small button on the burner unit located on the opposite side from the adjuster. The cooking cup has a neoprene cozy with a webbing handle on one side and a sewn-in sleeve on the other. The sleeve may be used to store one or more of Jetboil's Jetset utensils, as shown in my photographs. The inside wall of the cup has a mark half way up with a warning: "Max Safe Fill 2 cups [0.5 L]." The measuring cup has markings in one-quarter cup increments.
FLASH's new feature is the slash-shaped panels on the outside of the cooking cup, which illuminate when the temperature of the liquid in the cup approaches boiling.
FLASH is new, so new that information about it has yet to be posted on its manufacturer's website. The retail packaging and a press release and instruction sheet that accompanied the product are the source of any "listed" information or quotations in this Initial Report.
Manufacturer: Jetboil, Inc.
Web Address: www.jetboil.com
Height of cooking cup, including heat exchanger fins: 7.1 in/18.1 cm
Diameter of cooking cup: 4.0 in/10.2 cm
Height of full system, packed: 7.25 in/18.4 cm
Height of full system, assembled with a 100 g Jetpower canister: 11.8 in/30.0 cm. The canister stabilizer, which is not strictly necessary for operation, is 0.6 in/ 1.5 cm high.
System Weight, without canister: 15.4 oz /437 g
Capacity: The cooking cup holds one liter (four cups) of liquid. As noted Jetboil recommends, with its warning marking and in the instructions, that boiling more than half this amount risks a spillover.
Color: Violet. Also available in Carbon, Gold, or Sapphire.
MSRP: $99.95 US
Warranty: One year
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Since purchasing my first PCS in 2005 I have been an ardent Jetboil fan, as some of my other Test Series and Owner Reviews on this site attest, so I looked forward with great interest to my examination of the FLASH. The bright purple stands out, as do the panels on the cup, but overall FLASH looks very much like its predecessor: efficient, compact, and cleverly designed. I noticed three other differences: the measuring cup is hard plastic rather than more flexible rubber on the PCS, the cup is much easier to remove from the heat exchanger fins when assembling the system for cooking, and fuel feed is adjusted with a wire rectangle rather than a plastic knob. The wire rectangle must be folded out before screwing in the fuel canister.
TRYING IT OUT
FLASH is easy to assemble. Following the steps in the instructions (all of which are intuitive) I removed the measuring cup, folded out the legs of the canister stabilizer, folded out the wire adjuster, fit my 100 g canister into the inside grooves on the stabilizer's legs, screwed the burner on to the top of the canister, and fit the cooking cup onto the top of the burner unit. The bottom rim of the cooking cup has two small grooves that mate with small bumps on the inside of the burner rim and allow the cooking cup to be nudged into place with a slight turn to the right.
Jetboil recommends not lighting the stove with the cup attached (also not running the stove with an empty cup), so I removed the cooking cup, added half a liter (two cups) of water, lit the stove (the igniter worked with one push of the button), and returned the cooking cup to its perch. In 95 seconds, sure enough, the indicator strips glowed orange, and ten seconds later the water reached a rolling boil. This experiment occurred at a temperature of 85 F (30 C) at a few hundred feet (~50 m) above sea level. I performed this test in my side yard in a brisk wind; like the PCS the heat exchanger functions as an effective wind screen.
I then replaced the Jetpower canister with a 645 g Primus canister to the burner unit to confirm that FLASH worked with other makers' canisters, which it did. The larger Primus canister fit exactly into the outer grooves on the stabilizer. I also verified that my Jetboil PCS French press and FluxRing Fry Pan accessories worked with FLASH. This was welcome news; coffee and fried trout are two vital food groups for me.
LIKES
Praise on or criticism of performance, other than my continued admiration for Jetboil's compact design, will be saved until after field use. I will say that I like the idea of the indicator stripes. The only performance problem I've had with my PCS comes from Jetboil's speedy boiling times. (It's not named Jetboil for nothing!) More than once I've returned from a minor camp chore to find coffee bubbling over the rim of the cup. Fair warning would be great. I shall examine whether this feature compromises boiling efficiency in any way. The bright colors (other than Carbon) are a definite improvement; they make it easier to spot the unit amid other cooking and camping gear.
**********
My Initial Report ends here. I hope you'll check back in two months or so for my Field Report. A big "thank you" to Jetboil and BackpackGearTest.org for this testing opportunity.
------------------------------------