Cook Kit
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Vargo BOT 700 (4.8oz)
Price- $99.95
Weight- 4.8 oz
This 700mL titanium pot has been in my pack and used every single night I've spent in the backcountry since 2018. That amounts to hundreds of meals cooked and countless hot cups of instant coffee. While it might not fit the textbook definition of “ultralight”, I’m happy to sacrifice a little of my pack’s base weight for a pot that’s a little more robust.
The 700mL size is perfect for cooking for one; it fits two blocks of ramen noodles and some extras with just a little room to spare. I can't imagine cooking dinner on the trail without this pot!
The Good- Its thread-on lid features a watertight, heat-resistant silicone gasket that allows you to safely cold soak food on the move. Flipped upside down, the lid fits perfectly on top to reduce boil times, saving precious fuel and allowing you to efficiently "hot soak" your food. Thanks to slightly thicker-than-average walls and the threaded design, it is incredibly durable and barely has a ding after years of hard abuse. In a pinch, you can even seal it up to carry an extra 700mL of water if you find yourself short on total capacity.
The Bad- At 4.8 ounces, it is definitely not an ultralight option compared to minimalist titanium mugs. Additionally, if you are hoping to cook larger meals or cook for two, you will need to look at the larger 1000mL version.
Snow Peak LiteMax Stove (1.9oz)
Price- $59.95
Weight- 1.9 oz
Made of titanium and weighing under two ounces, this little stove is quick and efficient. It folds up small enough to store inside even the smallest cookpots and has functioned consistently for years. I want to say more, but it simply works, and works well—which is exactly what I need out of a piece of ultralight gear.
The Good- It is incredibly lightweight and highly efficient, boiling a liter of water in 3 to 6 minutes. The tiny regulator works beautifully, and the fuel consumption is excellent, netting about 12 boils of 500mL on a small 4-ounce fuel canister before it's nearly empty.
The Bad- Like most minimalist canister stoves, its performance is highly dependent on environmental factors like the wind, as it doesn't feature robust built-in wind protection. There is a small washer to reduce friction and play in the stove arms. Eventually heat degradation causes it to become brittle and break but in the field this has had almost no effect on the performance.
Optimus Vega Remote Canister Stove
Ever find that your backpacking stove struggles to boil water on those real cold nights, especially snow camping in the winter? This might be a problem every backpacker suffers from, but we did! Modern fuel cans are a blend of isobutane, butane and propane which improves their four season functionality but when the mercury really dips they still suffer.
This stove allows you to invert the canister, enabling you to run the stove of the liquid fuel in the can, not just the gas. The fuel is then heated in a small metal tube before reaching the burner, improving BTU output. This has been a game changer for us when we need to melt large volumes of snow for water when winter camping.
The cable attaching the canister to the stove is a little stiffer then I'd like, so you need to be careful with canister placement or it can move your stove when you remove the pot from the burner. Otherwise, it has been a great addition to our winter kit. There are also some neat jigs that allow you to suspend the whole stove and canister to cook inside a tent or portaledge, but always provide adequate ventilation as carbon monoxide can kill!
