A First Look At The New Jetboil TrailCook 1.2L

Jetboil TrailCook 1.2L

My most used stove and pot combination for winter camping for more than a decade has been the Jetboil MiniMo as it has a regulated burner and a wide pot with a heat exchanger. I’ve long thought this by far the best of Jetboil’s stove systems so I was  excited to hear that a successor was being launched featuring some of the new features that appeared in the revamped Flash 1.0L last year (my review here).

Melting snow with the MiniMo

The new model is called the TrailCook, and is available with 1.2 or 2 litre pots.  I have the TrailCook 1.2L to test. These are my first thoughts. I’ll be testing it very soon.

Where the Flash is intended for boiling water only the TrailCook is designed for cooking as well. To that end it has a regulated burner like the MiniMo to give good flame control for simmering. Regulated burners also work better in the cold than non-regulated ones like the Flash and the power output should remain constant as the gas canister empties.

TrailCook control

Like the Flash the TrailCook burner has a single twist and click dial that turns the stove on, activates the Piezo igniter, and controls the flame. Also like the Flash the igniter is protected in a ceramic casing and there’s a rubberised coloured grip zone you can hold without burning your hand.  The burner head is the same size as the Flash too. 

Burner, Piezo & Pot Support

The pot support is a completely different new design. Instead of a metal ring onto which the pot locks there are three folding arms. The pot sits securely on these but doesn’t lock in place. You can’t tip it very far without the pot falling off. It’s much more like a conventional pot and burner design. Other pots can sit on the supports though none I’ve tried so far are very stable.

TrailCook 1.2L pot

The pot has the usual heat exchanger on the base – Jetboil calls this a Flux Ring. The pot is made of ceramic coated aluminium so that food won’t stick. To avoid scratching the coating  I think it’s probably wise to use non-metal utensils. The total volume is 1.2 litres, but there is a maximum fill line of 700ml marked inside. This along with 300ml and 500ml marks plus ones for cups and ounces is engraved in black inside the black pot and difficult see without a light. There’s an insulating neoprene sleeve round the pot so you can hold it without burning your hand.

The pot has a secure insulated metal handle that clips over the top of the pot for storage and to keep the lid in place. This is much better than the limp fabric handle on the Flash. It’s needed so you can hold the pot firmly while stirring food. The transparent synthetic lid has steam and drain holes and a flip-up insulated knob.

The TrailCook 1.2L comes with a 300mll bowl that fits on the base – not available on the TrailCook 2.0L – and a plastic foldable canister stabiliser. The total weight is 591 grams. Without the bowl and stabiliser it’s 496 grams.

Burner, 100-size canister, & stabiliser in the pot

The burner, stabiliser and a 100 size canister will fit inside the pot. A 230 size canister will also fit inside but not with the burner. To protect the ceramic coating I would always wrap the canister in a cloth and store the burner in the cloth bag provided.

TrailCook 1.2L & MiniMo

So how does the TrailCook compare to the MiniMo?  The MiniMo’s pot is a bit smaller at 1 litre, which I prefer for solo use, and does lock onto the burner, which I also prefer. The MiniMo is also lighter than the TrailCook 1.2L at 413 grams in total and 366 grams without the plastic bowl that fits on the base. That’s a significant weight difference. The MiniMo is also slightly smaller when packed. I’m not sure about the ceramic coating on the pot. The MiniMo doesn’t have this and I’ve not had big problems with food sticking.

Important features shared by the MiniMo and the TrailCook are the regulated burner and the wide pot. These are what separate them from other Jetboil stove systems

The new plus points of the TrailCook are the single igniter/ one-off-switch/flame control (though the lack of a long lever means you have to get your fingers near the burner to use it – this is where the grip zone is useful) ), the ability to use other pots, the long handle, which is easier to hold firmly than the fold-out ones on the MiniMo, and the lid which is easier to get on and off than the MiniMo’s. The Piezo igniter is better protected too and so should last longer than the one on the MiniMo, which failed some time ago. And it you use the bowl the TrailCook’s feels much tougher.

The MiniMo is being phased out but will be available for a while longer.

Overall my first impressions of the TrailCook are positive though I wish it was a bit lighter. Now I have to use it and see what I think then.

I made a little video about the TrailCook.

Links:

TrailCook 1.2L  

MiniMo    

Flash 1.0L 

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Heat Exchanger Pots

Jetboil Stash pot & stove

Heat exchangers are corrugated fins or vanes on the base of a pot that capture heat that would otherwise be lost to the air and up the sides of the pot and transfer it to the contents. Jetboil launched the first stove system with a heat exchanger (HX) pot twenty years ago. Since then I’ve used and reviewed several such systems, from MSR and Primus as well as Jetboil. I’ve always liked the fast boil times and fuel efficiency yet I never thought of taking one on a long-distance walk due to the weight and bulk (the lightest, the Jetboil MicroMo, weighs 349g). Until that is Jetboil launched the Stash, a basic burner and HX pot that at 200 grams could genuinely be called lightweight, back in 2020. I reviewed it for The Great Outdoors in 2021 and said I’d consider taking it on my next long walk. I’ve used it a great deal since then and I think it’s a wonderful unit for solo backpacking. I’m taking the Stash pot on the Cape Wrath Trail soon but maybe not the Stash stove, for reasons outlined below.

Jetboil Stash

It’s the pot that’s impressive with the Stash. It’s made from hard-anodised aluminium and holds 800ml. It’s not tall and narrow like many HX pots and so easier to stir and to eat from. It weighs just 140 grams. The Stash burner is also light at 60 grams but doesn’t have the performance of higher spec stoves as it’s not regulated and so power declines in the cold and as the canister empties. It also has no wind resistance at all so a windshield is needed in all but the gentlest breeze. It is still a perfectly adequate stove that I’ve used on many trips but there are better ones.

MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe with Jetboil Stash pot

After a year with the Stash, using it on every trip, I decided to try the pot with other stoves in cold and windy weather. The results were impressive. With the regulated MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe (PRD) stove water boiled faster than with the Stash burner, the power stayed high with an almost empty canister, and it didn’t need a windshield until the wind got quite strong. The Optimus Vega remote canister stove and Stash pot again outperformed the Stash stove. This setup also has the advantage of being low profile and more stable. However there is a significant weight penalty – it’s a 100g more than the PRD and 125g more than the Stash burner. With the Vega the canister can be turned upside down to turn it into a liquid feed stove in extreme cold though this does increase fuel usage. I only use it in winter.

Optimus Vega stove with Jetboil Stash pot

The Stash pot is superb, the best solo backpacking pot I’ve used. You can’t buy it on its own though, only with the Stash burner, and Jetboil warns that it should not be used with other stoves. When I asked why Jetboil said “the Stash pot was designed for high performance on the Stash burner as a Cook System. However, we cannot guarantee its performance or safety on all the assortment of burners and pan supports available, so we recommend only to use on Stash”. So if you use it with other stoves it’s at your own risk.

There is a big disadvantage in doing so anyway. The high cost - £155 at the time of writing. That makes for an awfully expensive pot! So what are the alternatives and are they any good?

Fire Maple HX Pots

The only standalone HX pots I knew about until recently were ones from Vango and Optimus that are too heavy for solo backpacking except on short trips, at least for me. The Vango Ultralight Heat Exchanger Cook Kit, which I have had for a few years, comes with two bowls and cutlery and has a cosy round the pot. The total weight is 387g, the pot alone 286g*. The Optimus Terra Express HE weighs 377g and has a non-stick coating. Both are worth considering for duos.

Soto Windmaster 4Flex stove with Fire Maple FMC-XK6 pot

Searching online for lighter standalone HX pots brought up some fascinating videos from Flat Cat Gear about the ultralight 800ml Fire Maple Petrel HX pot and an interesting article called  Superstove for Optimal Backcountry Cooking by Alan Dixon and Jaeger Shaw on the Adventure Alan website that recommends the 1 litre Olicamp XTS pot (which is identical to the Fire Maple FMC-XK6 HX) as the best alternative to the Stash pot and also mentions the Fire Maple Petrel HX pot. Curious to try them I bought both Fire Maple pots, at a combined cost less than a third that of the Stash.

Soto Windmaster Triflex fitted onto Fire Maple Petrel pot

Both the pots are hard-anodised aluminium with plastic lids – an excellent one on the Petrel, a poor one on the clumsily named FMC-XK6 (which I’ll call the FMC from now on). The Petrel is tall and narrow and not so good for simmering food or eating from as the wider and bigger FMC. The Petrel weighs 166g, the FMC 195g. The Petrel is unique in having slots on the base of the heat exchanger. These are designed to fit the pot supports of a Fire Maple stove but also just right for the Soto Windmaster with the Triflex three-pronged supports (the stove comes with a four-pronged support, the Triflex is an extra option). The Windmaster is a powerful regulated stove comparable with the MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe (which won’t fit in the Petrel slots unless you do some modifications as shown in this Flat Cat Gear video). The only other stove I have that fits the Petrel is the Jetboil Mighty Mo, which in fact fits even more securely than the Windmaster but is a fair bit heavier – 98 rather than 68 grams. Of course you can just balance the Petrel on a stove without using the slots but that means it’s less effective, Having the burner inside the heat exchanger improves fuel efficiency, boiling time, wind resistance and stability.

Of the two pots I prefer the FMC as the width makes it easier to use than the Petrel. The FMC is 55g heavier and a bit bigger than the Stash pot. The combined weight with the PRD stove is 279g. The Petrel is 25g heavier than the Stash. With the PRD the total weight is 234g. Either of these is a good alternative to the PRD/Stash pot combination, which weighs 225g, or the Windmaster 4 Flex/Stash combination, which weighs 229g (the Triflex supports are too short to be stable with the Stash pot).

The Stash pot plus the PRD or Windmaster stove combines the best pot with the best canister top stoves that I’ve used. But for the price of the Stash you could buy six Fire Maple pots.

Why HX Pots?

Do HX pots really have advantages? That depends! Faster boil times are often touted as the big plus but I don’t think a few minutes difference really matters, and fuel efficiency is higher is if a stove isn’t run at full power. What is significant is reduced fuel usage, especially on long trips where there may be many days between resupply points. Heat exchanger pots also increase performance in cold and wind, which I also think more important than fast boil times.

From left: Jetboil Stash, Fire Maple Petrel, Fire Maple FMC-XK6, Jetboil MicroMo

HX pots are all hard anodised aluminium which may not last as long as titanium but which costs far less. Why not titanium? Jetboil did try this with the Sol Ti stove but there were problems with the heat exchanger fins melting and it was discontinued. No-one has made a titanium HX pot since as far as I know so I guess there are possibly insurmountable technical problems.

Three years ago I posted a piece on pots in which I said of HX pots “these do reduce the amount of fuel needed and speed boiling times but also add weight. I like a heat exchanger pot in winter for snow melting but otherwise I find a standard pot fine”.  I’ve changed my mind. I now use an HX pot year round.

Heat exchangers. Clockwise from top left: Fire Maple FMC, Fire Maple Petrel, Jetboil MicroMo, Jetboil Stash

I can see no big disadvantages to HX pots. The size and weight increase over titanium pots isn’t that big. The Evernew 900ml titanium pot that I’ve used on every long distance walk for over twenty years weighs 137 grams, just 3 grams less than the Stash pot! The 900ml MSR Titan titanium pot is lighter at 125 grams but there’s still only a 16g difference. In comparative tests I found that on average using HX pots meant a fuel saving of about 4 grams per 500ml of water boiled. So the weight difference between the Titan and Stash pots covers enough fuel to boil 2 litres of water.

There is a view that HX pots are unsuitable for anything other than boiling water but I’ve found this is more dependent on the burner than the pot. This opinion may have come about because the first HX stove systems didn’t simmer well. This isn’t true of most current ones and certainly not of HX pots combined with regulated stoves. Having a stove and pot that aren’t locked together also helps as you can easily lift the pot off the stove to see the flame when you turn it down. I’ve simmered food without problems in HX pots with PRD, Windmaster, Stash, Vega, and other gas stoves.  

Testing, testing

Testing lab

I recently reviewed a selection of stoves for The Great Outdoors in which I compared boil times and fuel usage with HX and non-HX pots. The results further convinced me that HX pots are worth using. I then did a follow-up test comparing the Soto Windmaster Triflex with the Petrel pot, the Stash stove and pot, and the Jetboil MicroMo. The Soto had the fastest boil time, the Stash took 17 seconds longer to boil the water but used a gram less fuel. The MicroMo was between the two on both counts. Practically there’s no significant difference. However this was in warm calm weather with full canisters. The Stash stove doesn’t perform as well as the others when it’s windy or in the cold, especially with a less than half-full canister. As well as being regulated the Windmaster, like the PRD, has a small windshield round the burner, and is further protected by the Petrel heat exchanger.

Windshields

Windshield round MSR Pocket Rocket 2 stove and Evernew titanium pot

A big problem with the Stash and similar stoves is that they aren’t wind-resistant. Anything above a gentle breeze can blow the flame sideways and reduce the performance significantly, sometimes preventing water boiling. A few stoves like the PRD and the Windmaster have tiny windshields round the burner that do make a difference though in strong winds the performance still deteriorates. The Jetboil system stoves like the MiniMo and MicroMo are much the same. The only stoves I’ve used that don’t require any wind protection are the MSR Windburner and the MSR Reactor stoves. These are great for winter use, especially snow melting, but weigh 425 and 432g respectively. With other stoves I use a foil windshield that can surround three sides of the burner and which comes part way up the side of the pot. It woirks well. I’ve never had a canister get hot doing this. My current foil windshield weighs 55g.

MSR Reactor. Great in the snow but heavy

There are windshields available that fit around the burner. I tried a few of these in the past and found them clunky, awkward and not as efficient as the foil windshield. However Flat Cat Gear has a range of windshields for different stoves that look effective and easier to use.

*All pot weights include the supplied lid. This could be replaced with a lighter one, such as a piece of foil. A lid increases fuel efficiency so I always use one.