The Jetboil PCS Stove - Efficient, compact, easy-to-use and very light

Author's Rating:

Pros: Very efficient, Easy setup and storage, Lightweight, Easy use

Cons: Cold weather peformance suffers, Not for group cooking needs

The Bottom Line: 
The Jetboil PCS makes for a great solo- or two-person camping stove that is easy to pack, store and set up.

Author's Review
If you do a lot of camping trips on your own or with only one other person and you don’t get too fancy in your meal preparations, you should consider checking out the Jetboil Personal Cooking System (PCS) Stove. This small stove is very efficient, light and easy to carry, making it a great choice for those who don’t want to sacrifice performance while packing light.

I’m not usually too worried about packing as lightly as I can, especially when it comes to packing on canoe trips, but I make sure that my Jetboil PCS is packed on almost every trip – even those canoe trips. It’s easy to use, simple to set up and it quickly provides me with boiling water and cooked meals.

What is the Personal Cooking System?

The Personal Cooking System from Jetboil consists of the actual burner unit, the one liter cooking cup and the fuel canister that is needed to power the burner. What is great about the system is its overall simplicity. The cup functions as both a pot to cook in and the storage area for the burner and the fuel canister – when it’s all packed away, it’s a bit wider than your typical 32-ounce water bottle, but not any taller. This makes it very easy to stow in your backpack. Not only that, all together the system only weighs in at about 18.5 ounces.

I like the fact that the system is self-contained. Besides buying new fuel canisters from time to time, there’s nothing else that you need to keep using your Jetboil over and over. Not only that, there’s nothing else you have to pack, which compared to other stove setups, can be quite the time and weight saver.

The cup has a neoprene sleeve around it with a handle so you can easily hold the cup, even after you have just boiled water in it. In addition, there’s a plastic cup that goes over the bottom of the cup after you take it off the burner, so you can drink or eat from the cup without worrying about burning yourself on the bottom.

The controls on the burner allow you to go from a strong flame down to a flame that can simmer food. However the system isn’t recommended for foods with a low water content – you can boil the water out quickly and burn it almost without realizing it. In the end, this is a system for heating things quickly in boiling water or slightly simmering something that isn’t too dry.

What makes it so efficient?

The Jetboil is efficient because at the base of the cup, which attaches to the burner unit is a heat diffuser (called the FluxRing by Jetboil), which conducts the heat from the burner directly into the cup. This reduces the energy lost in a typical stove where the flame is allowed the naturally surround the cup. Here the flame’s heat is captured by the FluxRing and sent directly into the cup. This heats whatever is in the cup that much faster.

Roughly the Jetboil is about twice as efficient when it comes to fuel use as a regular stove because of the FluxRing and because it uses aluminum in the cup, which transmits heat better than other metals.

How does it work?

It takes about 2 minutes to boil two cups of water. How’s that for quick? Let me tell you, the first time I fired up the Jetboil and watched the water start to boil almost right away, I almost fell over. This thing is fast.

First and foremost, this is a stove for heating water to its boiling point. You won’t be making fancy backwoods culinary creations in it. I find I use it most often for simple meals – either freeze-dried meals where hot water is needed or other simple meals where you just add something to boiling water and then perhaps simmer for a bit. I’ve used it for the noodle and rice mixes without much trouble, though you do have to watch it towards the end as most of the water evaporates away. If you look away too long – you can end up boiling it dry and burning the meal.

My other favorite use for the Jetboil is for quickly making a cup of tea or coffee. It boils the water quickly and lets you enjoy the coffee or the tea directly from the pot if you don’t want to dirty up a mug.

Setting up the Jetboil

As I said before, the Jetboil really is simplicity in action. The burner unit and the fuel canister both fit inside the cup and when you are ready to use the stove, you take both out. The burner unit screws onto the fuel canister (you only need to tighten it slightly). At that point, you find a relatively level surface and place the stove on it. You use the fuel knob to open up the fuel flow (you can hear the sound of it rushing through the stove) and then you use the auto-igniter button to light the stove. It almost always lights on the first or second click, but if its cold weather or it’s windy, it might take a few clicks.

Then you place the cup on top of the burner. There is a locking mechanism should you want to lock the cup into place. However if you are just careful, the cup easily rests on top of the burner and won’t fall over unless you hit it.

I wouldn’t suggest trying to light the stove with the cup already attached. The gas can build up between the stove and the cup and you can get a loud ‘pop’ and a fairly good-sized ball of flame coming out from around the stove. I can attest to the flame, as I’ve lost some hair on the back of my hand from it when I have tried to light it with the cup already on.

Once you’ve got it lit and the cup on the stove, you use the fuel knob to adjust the flame. Generally I keep it at full throttle to quickly boil the water, but you can also adjust it down so that whatever you are cooking can simmer.

The cup has both one cup and two cup lines in it so that it’s easy to fill it with the appropriate amount of water. You can fill it more than 2 cups, but it’s not recommended, especially if you are going to be boiling the water. With more than the two cups – the boiling water can splash through the cover and splatter on anything (or anyone) nearby.

Fuel

I’ve always used the Jetboil’s Jetpower Fuel. These fuel canisters are 3.5 ounces (100 grams) and have enough fuel to boil 11 or 12 liters of water. This works out to more than enough fuel in a single canister for shorter weekend and extended weekend camping trips. If you are using the stove for more extensive meals (where you simmer), then, the canister won’t last quite so long.

Since they are so light and compact, I generally always carry an extra canister with me on hikes. That way, I know I won’t run out of fuel.

Other Uses

I’ve found myself bringing the Jetboil on some day hikes from time to time when I either want to have a hot lunch or I want to be able to have hot coffee or tea on the hike. This is especially nice on colder weather hikes where a warm cup of tea can feel really good. Since it’s light and its compact, the Jetboil easily fits into my daypack and I don’t mind carrying the extra weight for the convenience of a hot meal or drink wherever I am.

Extras

There are some extras you can get for the Jetboil. I splurged and got myself the coffee press, which turns your Jetboil cup into a french press. It works quite well and it’s very nice to have freshly brewed coffee out in the middle of nowhere. Not only that, the press is very light and when it’s disassembled, can be fit into the cup along with the burner. On my latest canoe trip – I brought the Jetboil with the press even though my Father had brought his stove to make the meals. I used the Jetboil to have freshly brewed coffee each morning and evening while he was preparing the rest of the meal.

You can also get a pot support and stabilizer for the stove if you want to use your own pots with the Jetboil burner. This isn’t as efficient as using the Jetboil cup, but it does let you use your other cookware.

There’s also a ‘group cooking system’ that consists of the Jetboil burner and fuel but includes a larger pot that lets you cook for more than one or two people.

Maintenance

Maintaining your Jetboil is pretty easy since the stove system is so simple. If you have problems, there is a maintenance kit that lets you clean the stove assembly and includes a new self-igniter assembly.

I just make sure that the cup is dry and the stove and the fuel canister are clean when I put them away and I haven’t had any problems.

Cold Weather Use

When it gets cold the efficiency of the Jetboil does go down because the fuel gets colder and therefore doesn’t burn as fast. I’ve seen this the few times I’ve taken the Jetboil on winter camping trips – it just takes longer to boil the water and it can sometimes be tough to get the stove started.

You can keep the fuel canisters in an interior pocket of your jacket so that they are warm when you start to use them to help avoid the hard start and if you keep a spare canister also in a warm spot, you can swap out the canisters when the 1st one starts to get too cold.

Other fuel

The Jetpower fuel is a blend of iso-butane and propane that is formulated to provide the best performance for the Jetboil system. However, you can use any other canister fuel that conforms to the EN417 specification for its valve (which is basically the standard for all fuel canisters).

Complaints

My biggest complaint is really a complaint about the fuel canister instead of the stove itself. I discovered that unless the cup and the fuel canister are completely dry when you store the canister and the burner in the cup, the canister can rust and that rust will get on the cup. So make sure you dry everything very well before you store it – otherwise you’ll be scrubbing the rust off the interior of the cup. The cup itself is aluminum so it won’t rust, but you’ll have the rust that comes off the canister stain it and get all over.

My other complaint is about the cold weather performance, but most canister stoves have this problem. The cold weather reduces the vapor pressure of the fuel, which reduces the amount of fuel being pushed out into the stove. Thus, the cooking time increases for the stove. It’s not a big pain, though it does get annoying in very cold conditions.

Final Thoughts

Unless I’m camping with a large group of people or I know I’ll be making meals that require a bit more finesse regarding cooking styles, I make sure that the Jetboil PCS is in my backpack before a camping trip.

It leaves other stoves in the dust when it comes to boiling water quickly and is small and light enough to easily pack. Not only that, the system is self-contained, so there’s no other cooking gear that you need to bring with you besides a fork and a spoon.

I love to bring the Jetboil with me on colder weather day hikes so I can have a hot lunch or a drink on the trail, though the performance of the Jetboil does suffer a bit on colder days, especially on very cold days.

Overall, I really like my Jetboil PCS and I’m glad I invested in it. Besides the slightly limited cooking options and the drag in performance in cold weather, I couldn’t be happier with it. It makes for a great solo- or two-person camping stove that is easy to pack, store and set up.