Jet Boil Gear Review

Thru hikers of the 1990’s are groaning about how cookware has improved in the backcountry I am sure!

No need for a stove or even the fire pit gear when you are camping with a Jet Boil! In this gear review article I share my Jet Boil origin story and three reasons you might like the ultra light campers dream piece of gear: The Jet Boil.

But before we get into those three reasons let me tell you about the first time we saw the Jet Boil in action!

We were going backpacking in the Enchantments Wilderness in Washington State. Our friend Stacey had said we could use her “jet boil” for the two backpackers pantry meals we had in the car with us (74 Clif Bars and a tub of Whiskey was the rest of our food and drink that we had packed up.)
Up to that point we used our very reliable, and very bulky, Coleman Grill for car camping but hadn’t taken on a cooking piece for longer day hikes or backpacking trips.

As each Clif Bar went down and the days passed we watched in envy and amazement as Stacey ate Ramen with fresh veggies and an ice cold IPA while we sucked on our energy bars and bad whiskey. Never again.

Jill G vowed to get a Jet Boil by the end of the trip and not let that ever happen to her again. I’m glad she stayed true on that AND that her parents got her one for Christmas that same year!

Screw this lid on the bottom and turn on the Jet and you will be boiling in no time!

Three Reasons we love the Jet Boil and why you might want one too:

1. Compact and lightweight.
The Ultra Light Backpackers will just eat Peanut Butter Tortillas and bypass cookware all together but it’s a small and light enough piece of gear that you can thru hike or section hike with it. There aren’t many parts and it’s hard to lose pieces of it. You can backpack light and still justify the weight.
It also fits in a tiny section of our car and as nomads this is always important.

2. There’s no mess to clean up and it does actually boil water as fast as a “jet” flies.
It’s not just a clever name y’all!
We use it to boil water and then put that boiled water inside of our backpacker meals, hard boil our eggs, or make a cup of instant coffee. It’s fast and there’s no mess! No offense to the days of our car camping table side guacamole but I think we’ll just stick to making that when we are in a kitchen.

3. Durable and Diverse.
If we want to get back into the fancy camping meal thing the Jet Boil can serve in just about the same capacity as our Coleman Stove did. After using that for a decade and switching to a Jet Boil it felt like we went from driving to a semi truck to riding a bicycle everywhere. It’s so durable and diverse in how you can use it, backpackers, car campers, RV’ers, and thru hikers can all call it their all purpose camping stove.

And it fits in the palm of your hand!

Because of the Jet Boil this is what our car camping road trips look like food wise! We’ll tack on fresh fruits and foods as we find them but it makes our core items so much less bulky and confusing when we pack them.

If you are looking to upgrade your backpacking and/or camping cookware and aiming to simplify your shiz…the Jet Boil might just be for you!

Don’t get stuck eating clif bars and drinking bad whiskey like I did!

Thanks for reading and adventuring with us y’all!

Because Adventure Feeds the Soul,
Mike R