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Jetboil Flash: first impressions
The Jetboil Flash is, quite rightly, most famous for the incredible speed with which it brings water to the boil – stick 500ml in the pot, fire it up and in just over a minute and a half the stove will be wobbling with excitement, with steam billowing from the top.
• List price: $129.99 (US) / £139.99 (UK)
• Fuel Type: Propane / butane
• Weight: 371g / 13oz
• Boil time (500ml water, at sea level): 100 seconds
• Ignition: Piezo
• Dimensions (stored): 104mm x 180mm / 4in x 7in
• Extras: Comes with an integrated pot, stabilizing feet and measuring mug
For this reason it’s a very popular choice for everyone from backpackers to mountaineers, for whom quickly getting hot water to rehydrate a camping meal and make a warm drink, often in challenging and uncomfortable circumstances, is a massive priority.
But the Flash is more than just a superhero kettle. It’s a masterpiece of small-item engineering and part of a family with a massive legacy. Jetboil stoves – like Gore-Tex waterproof jackets, Therm-a-Rest sleeping mats, Camelbak hydration packs and Leatherman multitools – are one of an elite group of products that genuinely rocked the outdoor world when they were first released, and they have been revered and widely imitated ever since.
So, is the Jetboil Flash one of the best camping stoves on the market? The answer to that is an emphatic yes, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise. But in the meantime, let me try to convince you in a more civilized way.
Jetboil Flash: design and features
The reason the Jetboil can boil water so quickly is that there is next-to-no energy wastage. The design includes a FluxRing on the bespoke one-liter pot that comes included with the Flash cooking set, which is a conducting collar that concentrates almost all the heat produced by the genuinely jet-like burner directly upwards towards the contents of the pot, with very little escaping out of the sides.
As well as cutting down on time wasted while you wait for the pot to boil, this is heat-harnessing collar is also excellent for keeping fuel consumption to a minimum, making the Jetboil more than twice as efficient as most other stoves. This means you use (and have to carry) much less fuel. It also makes the stove reliably windproof, so you can use it any conditions.
The included pot comes with a ‘cozy’ cover that both keeps the contents warm for longer, and prevents you from burning yourself when handing it. This cozy features a pour handle and a thermochromatic heat indicator that changes color according to the temperature of the contents.
Easy and very quick to set up, Jetboil stoves can be fired up with a push-button Piezo igniter. The Flash comes with fold-out stabilizing feet, which clip on to the bottom of any gas canister, and you can also purchase a hanging set (perfect for mountaineers and big wall climbers), plus other accessories such as a coffee press (for that all-important trail and crag coffee), skillet and other FluxRing-equipped cooking pots.
The whole Jetboil Flash system – stove unit, stabilizing feet and smaller gas canisters – fits into the one-liter pot, which comes with a lid (complete with a directional pour spout). Ingeniously, the protective cover for the FluxRing on the bottom of the pot also doubles up as a measuring cup (complete with markings) and a bowl.
Unusually for a camping stove, you even get a choice of colors, with the protective sleeve around the cooking pot available in carbon, fractile, camo and other patterns and hues.
The stove can be used with any propane/butane gas canister with screw-on threaded valve, but Jetboil do produce JetPower fuel with a mix of propane and iso-butane that provides optimum performance when cooking in cold conditions and at altitude, and keeps working at a high level even when the canister begins to run low.
Jetboil Flash: on the trails
I’ve been using Jetboil stoves since they very first came out in the early 2000s, and I still recall what a revolutionary development the original design was, enabling me to make a brew and start stewing a dehydrated meal within seconds of reaching camp or pausing by the trailside, no mater how challenging the conditions or terrain.
The Flash is the youngest and quickest member of the Jetboil family, and typically it is the very first thing I put in my backpack, dry bag or vehicle whenever I head out on a camping escapade. Over the years I’ve taken it on more backpacking escapades than I can remember, but it has also accompanied me on umpteen kayaking and canoeing trips, plus pedal-powered escapades. Even when I’m car camping with friends and family, or enjoying a road trip, and we’re using a dual burner cooker or larger hob setup to make the main meals, I still use the Jetboil Flash as my preferred way to make a quick cuppa (or to warm water for washing up).
The Flash is brilliantly featured, extremely neat and easy to pack, ultra efficient and easy to use (even in the worst imaginable conditions), and – of course – lightning quick to bring water to the boil for making everything from tea to porridge and rehydrating pre-prepared meals. And most of the time, during a backpacking, bikepacking or small-boat-based trip, this is exactly what you need.
Of course, it’s not perfect. The design is top heavy (although the stabilizing feet and hanging set can be used to mitigate against disaster), and it isn’t the lightest or smallest stove on the market. If I’m doing an ultra bikepacking or fastpacking expedition, when weight and size are absolute priorities, I sometimes opt for the super svelte SOTO Windmaster (but even then you still have to pack and carry a gas canister and pot, whereas with the Jetboil, the stove and canister all fit in the included pot, with room left for some teabags and condiments, and the protective cover for the FluxRing acts as a cup and bowl).
Jetboil stoves are only compatible with the brand’s own FluxRing-equipped pots and accessories (which aren’t cheap) and while it will boil water in seconds, the Jetboil Flash isn’t the easiest stove to attempt any slightly more sophisticated cooking on – even a subtle simmer is tricky (but possible), and it’s easy to burn foods like baked beans if you’re not careful. You can cook things like one-pot pasta dishes, but you need to be alert and armed with a long-handled spoon.
My only other grumble is that the Piezo ignition on my Jetboil Flash has failed, and I now need to carry a lighter with me – although, on the upside, lighters can be useful pieces of emergency kit, and igniting the stove in this way has kept the hair on my knuckles down beautifully.
Overall, however, the Jetboil Flash is a brilliantly designed piece of camping kit, and an absolute weapon of a stove that does exactly what you want it to do in seconds.
