sided's Full Review: MSR Whisperlite Shaker Jet Backpacking Stove
I wouldn't call myself Grizzly Adams, but I've made a few high altitude climbs and hikes. Three of which are fairly good to judge my advice on; Mt. Whitney in the Sierra Nevadas, King's Peak in High Unita Utah, and the Grand Canyon trek.
My pop was fairly grand hiker in his day and had a generous assortment of camping equipment. He had a friend who was a Natural Gas researcher who worked in the mountains, and that is how we came by our MSR whisperlite stove.
This fellow obtained one of the first production models MSR came out with, and he could not stop bragging about how well it worked. So pop got ahold of it and we gave it a try.
The MSR stove is small, folding up so tiny you can fit it in any pouch in your pack. I'm not kidding, this thing could go in your pant's pocket. The fuel bottle is it's largest and heaviest feature. Smaller bottles are available, but I recommend the large one if you are going on anything longer than 2 days. Or take multiple small bottles (Sig biking water bottles also work!)
The whisperlite was easy to use, durable, worked well in high altitude and burned well without leaking. Some stoves will spill excess fuel everywhere, dumping your supply and making a dangerous flammable puddle. I did notice that it had some difficulty in really cold weather, but it still worked, and my buddy's stove wouldn't. However, I heard this has been improved since the older version we used.
The price of this little jewel has escalated four times what they used to cost, I guess MSR discovered how good of a product they were making... and camping became more popular as well. But it is still worth the money, because of the warranty and quality. If you buy an MSR stove, you probably won't need to get another in your lifetime- unless you lose it.
For over 15 years, the WhisperLite(tm) has been the leader in backpacking stoves for its reliability and simple design. Shaker Jet technology makes c...More at Outdoorplay.com
MSR WhisperLite 2005 Backpacker Readers' Choice Award Winner The MSR WhisperLite keeps getting better and better. We know one guy who's had his for ov...More at Amazon Marketplace
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