I am El Niño
Written: Aug 01 '01 (Updated Aug 10 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Impress you friends with your “round hole/square peg” skills
Cons: Amateur. You still can't do it in the dark.
The Bottom Line: The island, surrounded on all sides by water, was just a small bit of land amidst a larger body of water.
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| suspecterrain's Full Review: MSR XGK Expedition |
Many people buy this stove because it looks so good on paper—I did. The MSR XGK is certainly powerful—it brags of a sub 3 minute boil time (w/kerosene). It is also quite versatile in that you can burn just about anything with an ambient flash point (includes the typical white gas and kerosene, but also auto, diesel, and aviation fuel—heck, it would probably even burn Bacardi 151 in a pinch). The XGK is also durable with its expedition quality construction that ages not just in years, but decades. Its compact design easily fits into a backpack, offers high efficiency (less fuel to carry), and is easily field maintainable—so what could possibly be wrong with this stove?
The stove comes packaged in a lovely stuff sack with an aluminum windscreen, a basal heat reflector, a fuel pump, and tools for jet changing and cleaning (includes everything but a fuel bottle). The design places the main fuel-inlet line directly above the flame, so, once sufficiently warmed, provides exceptional low temperature/high altitude performance. The XGK has been manufactured, in one form or another, for the last 30 years by MSR, one the most respected names in the business—so, I ask again, what could possibly be wrong with this stove?
Overkill. While the stove does provide one heckuva flame—it’s also about as a loud as a jet engine (of all the aspects of “low-impact” camping, I find noise pollution to be most blatantly disregarded). On top of that, the XGK is like my wife’s pet ferret, Ruby, in that it’s either operating at full-bore, or not at all (that is, no simmering capabilities —for that, see the MSR Dragonfly). But the shortcomings don’t end there, take its small footprint; I’d dumped more than one pot-full of at, or near boiling liquid (due to its small size and relatively high center of gravity) before I invested in an aftermarket stove base—which, incidentally, works great but lessens the compactness factor considerably. And finally, with the recent advances that have come in canister stoves (propane/butane mix), you no longer need to spend a hundred dollars just to get low temperature operation capability.
This stove is called the MSR XGK Expedition. Want one? Ask yourself these questions:
1) Is it likely that this trip will cross several international and/or geopolitical borders, so as to impede your source of consistent fuel type?
2) Does the possibility exist that some time vortex will send you into a prehistoric land where you’ll be limited to the burning of captured methane from your newly constructed decomposing dinosaur dung pits?
2b) or, conversely, in a future where your only fuel source is dilithium crystals (which I’m sure the XGK would burn just fine)?
3) Have you ever, or do you plan on working for Indiana Jones, Dr. Leaky, George Washing Carver, or Richard Pryor?
4) In the past, you’ve encountered a spirit who asked what you did with it. Your response, “What glacier”?
5) Are you one of those people who like putting together specialized equipment because, after you use it, you get to take it back apart (10 bucks says you also have a MacGyver fetish)?
If you answered “Yes” to one of those questions, the only thing more likely than you having answered “yes” to at least 2 of those questions, is the likelihood that you have a severe case of James Bond-ius Complex-icus, and should be quarantined. But look at the bright side, at least you get to buy this bîtchin’ stove—and don’t forget, you’re out of origami paper.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
suspecterrain
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Member: Anaconda Terra Cotta
Location: Saskatchewan, Lichtenstein, Mosambik.
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 84 members
About Me:
— What do you Think i'm Some Kind of Jerk?
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