Stove of the Week: MSR Reactor

I know some people have been waiting for this one, so I bumped it up a week.

This week's stove is the MSR Reactor.



HJ

Thanks Jim, another great review! I had one of these stoves and ended up trading it for some other gear.

As you noted, overall the Reactor is a good stove and people I know really like the stove.

The 2 things I did not like about the Reactor (which you also mentioned in your review)

1) Some of these stoves do not simmer very well, and it varies a lot. The stove I had only worked good in one mode and that was afterburner mode.

2) Weight and bulk of the stove. Although I am not a weight weenie when it comes to gear, the Reactor weighs in at just over a pound (19 oz), which does not include the fuel cannister. This weight and along with the bulkiness of the stove, detracts considerably from it's advantages for my use and needs.

Still, overall the stove sells very considering it's cost and certainly fills a certain niche in the hiking/climbing crowd.

Where do you get that butane adapter? Those cans are way cheaper, less than $2 each.

some stove!..that's my first close up look at one.i would say it's for hard core mountain climbers who need a burner that will work in the wind and cold,i assume the Gaz cart is kept warm by it's contact with the burner.looks like something to melt lots of snow fast like the old MSR stoves.great post,thanks.

I think you have just hit the nail on the head. For people going out into harsh, windswept conditions, a stove like the Reactor can be a lifesaver. There's no stove I'd rather have in a storm, provided that the ambient temperatures were within the stoves operating parameters. No fuss with windscreens, just screw on the canister, throw the pot on the burner, and away you go on your merry windproof way. Pretty stable if you were on a ledge up on the side of a big wall (although not that easy to make into a hanging stove) or crammed into a snow cave.

HJ

I got that butane adapter on eBay.

I can get the "long" butane cans (the type of cans shown in the video) at the local Asian market four for four dollars ($1.00 each) vs. about $6.00 each for the same size (230g) specialized backpacking canister.

Just be aware that 100% n-butane is a poor fuel below about 5C, and a terrible fuel below 0C. For fair weather use, cheap n-butane burns every bit as well as expensive propane/isobutane mixes. In fact, it's kind of a waste to burn expensive propane/isobutane mixes in fair weather. Why not just burn cheap n-butane?

You can also buy refillers on eBay, but they're not cheap. I did buy one, and I now refill my standard threaded backpacking canisters with cheap n-butane which means I don't have to lug the adapter and a "long" butane can around.

HJ

Glad you liked the post, but check over my notes toward the end. The burner does not provide thermal feedback to the canister, and that lack of thermal feedback is the achilles heel of this stove in cold weather. For temperatures below about 20F, there are better (and cheaper) gas options like the MSR Windpro, Brunton Vesta, Coleman Xtreme, etc.

HJ

Jim:
We were briefly in a MEC (Canadian equivalent to REI) store this afternoon and I was eyeballing the MSR Reactor Stove once again (no thanks to your review .) Talking with the very knowledgeable sales person there, he told us that the quirky heat adjustibity problems have been worked out since I had purchased my old stove and the newer stoves are much better over a range of output.

Thanks, I just placed bid on one, $8 shipped, not bad.

I found something else interesting though, the same adapter for remote mounted canisters, should improve the butane canister's cold performance.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/BUTANE-Nozzle-Adapter...=item2a0e3307c8

Interesting. If they weren't so expensive, I'd buy another just to try it out. If anyone buys one and wants to report back...

HJ

P.S. I'm quite familiar with MEC (well at least the one in Calgary), however, it's not the Canadian equivalent of REI. Nope, not at all, MEC is a lot better than REI. There you have it, Hikin' Jim's rather opinionated stance. lol.

Another GREAT stove review Jim, Thanks for doing this. Mike

I've got one of the Kovea adapters. Good product -- with some important caveats.

First, be really careful if you buy one. There's a tube inside the canister that, when properly oriented, feeds gas into your stove. If you mis-orient the canister, you could have liquid fuel going into your burner, which is a problem (unless your stove is built to handle it). Not all remote canister stove can handle liquid feed gas.

As to improved cold weather performance, maybe not. OK, let's say you've got the basics in place: a stove that can handle liquid feed and a way to orient the tank and Kovea adapter such that you get liquid feed. All well and fine. Now then, what exactly will push that gas into your burner? Vapor pressure of course. And in cold weather with a canister full of 100% n-butane, you have how much pressure? Not much. So, would that adapter somehow allow you to have improved cold weather performance using the inexpensive "long" butane cans? I don't see it happening.

Well, then why does it work on something like a Coleman Xtreme? Well, recall that the Xtreme's fuel is not 100% butane. In fact it's about 40% propane. That propane creates quite a bit of vapor pressure, pressure sufficient to pressurize the tank and convey fuel to the burner.

Not trying to say anything bad per se about the Kovea adapter, but a) make sure you know what you're doing in terms of the orientation of the canister and b) don't expect improved cold weather performance.

HJ

You're welcome, Mike. I hope it's useful.

HJ

Thanks, I'm sticking with the tripod adapter for my pocket rocket, and when it's cold enough my liquid fuel stove.

Nice job and a real service. Thank you!

Jim,

Another good review. Thought I would pop in here with a comment about using butane canisters in cold weather. As you note, everything with stoves is a compromise. Necessity being the mother of invention, I discovered some years ago that one of the hand warmer packets (like this: http://bit.ly/eAFc4o) will do wonders for cold weather performance. Never did any testing to see how low they will help with, but it was at least a few degrees below zero (F) when we used 'em.

Hi, Doug,

Thank you.

It's a good idea to keep a few tricks up one's sleeve for those "oh, shoot" moments when you realize that the weather forecast is off by 20 degrees (colder) than expected. It happens, particularly on multi-day trips.

Basically, anything that adds warmth to one's canister will make it run better. Peeing on the canister, putting the canister in one's groin area, chemical hand warmers, wrapping a copper wire around the canister and running the ends of the wire into the flame, putting the canister into some warm water, a tight windscreen, all of these can be used. Some more dangerous, some completely safe. The thing to remember if you're ever in a pinch and need to warm a canister is that the canister should never be hot to the touch. Pay constant enough attention to the canister, and pretty much any work around can be used.

All that being said, if you know that the temp is going to be much below 32F/0C, I think my approach would be to get a stove appropriate for the weather. I mean at a certain point it's time to stop screwing around and get something specifically for the situation at hand. For cold weather, I'd bring one of the following:
a) A gas stove where I can invert the canister, turning the stove into a liquid feed gas stove.
b) A specialized gas stove designed to run in liquid feed mode.
c) A liquid fueled stove (Coleman type fuel or kerosene).

If one weren't as concerned about weight or bulk, 100% propane stoves will work in very cold weather. Propane will continue to vaporize down to -44F/-42C. Of course the process of vaporization causes the canister to get colder, so a more realistic expectation for vaporization would be higher. Disclaimer: I'm speaking here about the physics of gas at 1 atmosphere of pressure. I have never been in temperatures even approaching -44F/-42C. There are many other factors affecting gas stoves beyond just fuel vaporization temperatures. If you're heading out into that kind of weather, you'd do well to spend a lot of time talking to people with field experience. Anecdotally, I know that the US Army Northern Warfare school uses liquid fueled stoves, and every article I've read about Polar expeditions talks about liquid fueled stoves.

HJ

I think that playing it safe is always a good idea. Having said that, just bear in mind that those canisters are designed to be safe at very high temperatures, as I recall, approaching 200 (F) not that I am suggesting anyone try to stray into the safety margins. Too hot to touch is good advice for a working limit.

HJ,

Thanks for another exciting episode!! I enjoyed it very much. This one my wife may like as well, because I am not interested in rushing out to buy one (unlike the Borde) Thanks also for letting me look at another view. I always thought of the Reactor as a solution looking for a problem. But, then, I have spent much of my working life in high alpine or arctic conditions. Even in summer I have always taken a liquid fuel stove, but that is mostly for fuel availability issues. The thing that first got me to buy an XGK was the fact that I could use fuel from the aircraft (80 then 100LL from the piston engines and "kerosene" from the turbines) when white gas or coleman fuel were not available (both are common in the north). I only had to carry some empty bottles. Since I almost always went commercial air to the region, not having to look up fuel was a great advantage.

During winter, I never even tried anything but liquid fuel in the field. I will say that a propane grill does not work very well at -40 - then most are not wanting to grill at that temp (some think I am a little strange). The natural gas grill worked fine but the gas lines were buried and well above 0 F.

Respectfully,

Jerry

Hi, Doug,

Yes, my fairly conservative approach is just that, conservative, but it isn't meant to be alarmist. Those canisters are actually pretty safe and aren't some kind of ticking time bomb. When I say "hot," I mean "ouch!" hot. Warm to the touch or even relatively hot but not so hot that you need to draw your (unfrozen!) hand away should be fine.

In the face of hypothermia, I wouldn't hesitate to do what it took to get that canister going.

HJ

Hi, Jerry,

Thanks for sharing your very practical experience. My trips, even to Canada, seldom get below -9.

By the way, you're talking about next week's stove, the XGK. The XGK (well, it's immediate anscestor the model 9) is the stove that started the great outdoor stove revolution of 1973. More on that in this week's blog post.

Your thoughts about fuel for the XGK point out a very important issue: The "pragmatics" of stoving. The best stove in the world won't work if you can't get fuel for it. Particularly in remote area or distant lands, something like an XGK that can burn darned near any petroleum product known to man -- and get away with it -- is something not to be dismissed.

There was another thread on the forums recently about what stove would be good for a serious disaster. My vote was the XGK. It's packable if roads are out. It's simple. It's tough. It's truly multi-fuel.

The late author, Colin Fletcher, relates a story where he grabbed the wrong fuel for his XGK. He grabbed a combination of automotive gasoline and oil intended for his lawnmower. He discovered his mistake miles from any trailhead. With trepidation, he ran his XGK on it. For a week. The XGK ran, not as cleanly as normal but without any serious problems. Fletcher writes that he doubts any other stove would have been able to do that.

HJ

Heh, that's one of the reasons I got an omnifuel. I run it on coleman fuel, but good to know it can burn almost anything when needed.

Makes you wonder though, which of the multi-fuel stove on the market can cope with the most variety, or the most ridiculous fuel?

Not to apply thread drift to freely, but on that subject, the MSR DragonFly is another good multi-fuel stove. Although it seems similar to the XGK there must be some difference besides looks -- simmering maybe?

My money is on the XGK. Technically, yes, the Omnifuel can burn more fuels since it can burn canister gas, but try running the crud you can run through an XGK, and an Omnifuel will choke. Nothing against the Omnifuel. I've got one, and it's built like a precision Swiss watch.

The XGK has a steel cable already threaded all the way through the fuel line and into the pre-heat loop that can be pushed/pulled to decoke/scour the line.

The Omnifuel has a valve down by the burner. This gives one greater control over the flame, but it's harder to maintain than the valveless XGK type fuel line.

The XGK has a really large diameter pre-heat loop. It can take some pretty crude fuels: diesel, third-world kerosene, low refined fuel oil, etc.

In a disaster, every truck, motorcycle, and car fuel tank becomes a filling point.

HJ

Yes, the Dragonfly has a second valve down by the burner. It simmers like a dream. The XGK can be turned down, but it doesn't really simmer.

The trade off is though that the very simple XGK is very, very reliable. The Dragonfly requires more maintenance.

HJ

[quote=Hikin_Jim
In a disaster, every truck, motorcycle, and car fuel tank becomes a filling point.

[/quote]

If we are really up against it in a full blown disaster, all of these fuel containers dispense liquids that can be used to start a good old fashioned campfire - no need for our yuppified camp stoves whatever. Just stand well back when you put a match to the "Boy Scout Fire Starter."

There are disadvantages to a campfire - they are inefficient, etc., but they have provided heat and cooking for thousands of years.

Are you going to be reviewing the MSR pocket rocket? Id really like if you reviewed the MSR pocket rocket. Could you review the MSR pocket rocket? I hope you review the MSR pocket rocket.

Sounds like you already like the PR. No need to wait for my review. lol.

Yes, I will eventually get to the Pocket Rocket.


Upright canister stoves, of which the Pocket Rocket is one, are the most common type of pack stove sold today. The differences between one stove and another are typically subtle, although there are things to look for. I'll cover those when the time comes.

HJ

"Boy Scout Juice" dang sure does make a good fire starter. For those interested in preparedness, that is one aspect of liquid fueled stoves that shouldn't be overlooked. If you take a dunk in the drink during a winter stream crossing, that ol' Boy Scout Juice might just be your best friend.

Indeed, hence my preference for having some kind of stove. An XGK is a good one since it can burn so many things. Gas stations, hardware stores, sporting goods stores, garden stores, paint stores, vehicles, etc. are all field expedient fuel points.

Alcohol stoves are also good. In some states (that allow high proof liquor) every liquor store is a potential fuel point. In a pinch, you can burn isopropanol (rubbing alcohol), but it's a poor fuel and a sooty mess.

HJ

I use a copper pipe cap that holds about a ounce of liquid, its heavy but it wont crush like a soda can.

Speaking of alcohol, would the liquid fuel stoves (XGK, omnifuel) be able to burn it?

Yes... and no. I've heard of people doing it, and maybe in an emergency I'd try it, but things like seals and such designed for petro-fuels tend not to do well in alcohol. Also, aluminum bottles, such as the type used for fuel tanks for the XGK and Omnifuel, generally don't do well with alcohol.

HJ

If any of the varieties of alcohol are available as a fuel source, I would (and do) carry a backup alcohol stove. There is a vast literature on alcohol stoves; many are light, cheap, easily improvised from aluminum food cans, and effective.

The heaviest and most expensive backpacking type is the legendary Trangia,, weighing all of 3 oz. and costing about 12 bucks - hardly a deal breaker. I believe HJ is going to discuss the might T in a future SOTW.

I've heard it described this way: In the world of alcohol stoves, there's the Trangia, and then there's everything else.

The Trangia is a good one: solid, reliable, and well designed, and I will at some point cover either the Trangia 25 or Trangia 27 (or both). The Trangia even simmers. I think your price might be a little dated though. About the cheapest I can get a Trangia for is maybe $17.00 USD (total).

HJ