Primus Etapower 1.7 litre Pot Review.

The Primus Etapower Pot has been developed to improve both boiling times and water boiling efficiency but still allows the use of conventional cooking when used with a conventional adjustable gas type stove. Originally developed for use with the Primus Etapower stoves they are available seperately and can be used with most gas type stoves.

The main difference between the Etapower pot and a conventional pot is the addition of a heat exchanger attached to the base of the pot. This according to Primus increases fuel efficiency around 50% over conventional pots.

The complete pot with lid and pot lifter weighs in at 360 grams. It also has a 3 layer titanium non stick coating on the inside of the pot. The lid is large enough to double up as medium sized plate.

Boil times are very impressive heating 16 oz of water at around 45F to a rolling boil in around 1 minute and 35 sec using a Coleman F1 Power gas stove. This is would appear to be a faster/equal boiling time to the MSR Reactor stove and certainly faster than the Jetboil Personal stove.

Using the Etapower 1.7 litre Pot in combination with a stove such as the Coleman F1 power and a 90 gram aluminuium wind screen weighs in around 585 grams, which is certainly comparable to the MSR Reactor Stove at 595 grams. The Jetboil is considerably lighter at 425 grams but is limited by its 1 litre Pot. Etapower pots are available in 1, 1.7, 2.1 and 2.9 litre sizes.

Where the MSR Reactor stove is very impressive is its efficiency with a claimed ability to boil 22 litres of water with just a single 220 gram gas cartridge (the theoretical limit is 28 litres) giving an efficiency of around 80%. This compares to just 40-50% for most conventional gas stoves. A major downside though to the MSR Reactor and the Jetboil it that both designs are only really limited to boiling water with conventional cooking/simmering being very limited. The Etapower pots do not have this limitation. Hopefully the Etapower pots will also live up to the claimed fuel efficiency improvement to raise the overall efficiency up above the 70% mark giving the pot the ability to boil at least 20 litres of water with a single 220 gram cartridge. If this becomes a reality I will be more than happy with my new Swedish Pot.


Primus Etapower 1.7 Litre Pot


Primus Etapower 1.7 Litre Pot showing the finned heat exchanger welded to the base of the pot.

Interesting... Do you have a price point for this?

Hi Mike_H

The cheapest I've seen is $36.95 available at http://www.gearforadventure.com/Primus_EtaPower_1_7_Liter_Highly_Efficient_Pot_p/prieta1.7.htm

well it's Primus,they have been at it since Day One and they
don't fool around..

Looks like one of those "why didn't I think of that" things...

How sturdy is this thing? Would hate to have those fins compress...

The demo one they have at my local MEC is a little messed up...I imagine it wouldn't hold up well to certain treatment.

Hi Mike_H,

The base of the Etapower pot appears to be considerably thicker than the side walls. This was probably a requirement to stop the pot warping whilst the heat exchanger fin sections were welded to the base (presumably using an electric welding process). The walls of the pot seem to have then be turned down to be made thinner to lighten the pot. The pot is then hard anodised, which makes the aluminium surfaces much tougher. Its quite a clever piece of production engineering considering the thickness of the aluminium fin section on the heat exchanger. Overall the heat exchanger on the base seems to be reasonably robust but might damaged if abused i.e dropped from a height on to rocks etc.

What would have been useful would have been a neoprene cosy to insulate the side walls to help further with heat transfer efficiency by reducing heat loss from the pot and a stuff sack with a neoprene base to protect the heat exchanger part of the pot.

Nice review. Thanks.

Very nice review... I would just be concerned with what damage would happen to the heat exchange fins as they bump around in my pack.

Also, one must remember, as fast as they would allow the heat to get to the pot, they would do the opposite in cold weather, drawing the heat away from the pot/liquid inside and cooling it.