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Speedy Summary Review
This camping stove gives you everything you need on trail but without taking up much weight or space. The unit itself comes in at under 3oz and has a large 1 Litre metal canister to heat up water and a second plastic container for food as well. The lid keeps the heat in and the insects out while cooking and the regulator means you get solid powerful gas flow even when the canister is nearly empty. The piezo igniter on the side built in is also a nice touch for those who are always scrambling round in camp for a lighter.
Small, tidy and incredibly well made this is everything I’ve come to expect from MSR and at around $45 you’ll be hard pushed to find anything better that gets you a hot meal or cup of tea in around 3 minutes.
PURCHASE $114.95Full In Depth Review
I remember ‘the good old days’ of outdoor kit when I used to use a Swedish Army Trangia Stove that took about 4 hours to heat water and made everything taste and smell of methylated spirit. It was so bad I often thought about drinking the meths to warm up while I waited.
Luckily these days we have super compact and highly powerful units that can heat a litre of water quicker than your kettle at home and the MSR Pocket Rocket is one of the best examples I’ve found for weight, cost, features and build quality. This little stove brought me an immense amount of joy after a rainy day on the Appalachian Trail recently when it delivered a hot drink and meal in minutes after an exhausting day on trail.
Multi Stage Rocket
The whole combo comes in a small mesh lightweight pull cord bag that keeps everything together. I suggest putting the gas canister inverted into the main metal container then placing the folded stove unit and clamp on top so that everything fits with the lid shut. Any other combination or orientation leaves you with the lid sticking up slightly.
Unpacked you have a metal 1L container to heat water, a smaller clear plastic container with cup and ml measurements on to help with cooking and a lid.
Compact Stove Unit
The compact stove unit has 3 small arms that fold and slide out of place so that it doesn’t take up much room. It screws quickly and easily into a standard small 8oz gas canister in seconds.
The ‘arms’ of the unit are nice and wide and stable and I found that the unit was very tolerant of uneven ground when the canister was placed on top.
Ignition and Blastoff !
The main unit has a built in piezo ignition system built in so you don’t need to fumble with a lighter to get this lit. The fold out control allows you to fine tune the heat being delivered and the unit uses a regulator so that even when the gas canister is low you still get full power heat delivery if you want it.
Clamp
The unit also comes with a small grip clamp that allows you to remove the hot metal canister from the stove without burning your hands. The plastic lid has a small black rubber nub on it so you handle it easily without burning your hands.
Verdict
This camping stove gives you everything you need on trail but without taking up much weight or space. The unit itself comes in at under 3oz and has a large 1 Litre metal canister to heat up water and a second plastic container for food as well. The lid keeps the heat in and the insects out while cooking and the regulator means you get solid powerful gas flow even when the canister is nearly empty. The piezo igniter on the side built in is also a nice touch for those who are always scrambling round in camp for a lighter.
Small, tidy and incredibly well made this is everything I’ve come to expect from MSR and at around $45 you’ll be hard pushed to find anything better that gets you a hot meal or cup of tea in around 3 minutes.
PURCHASE $114.95Features
- Ultralight: Weighs just 73 g (2.6 oz.)
- Fast: Boils 1 liter of water in just 3.5 minutes.
- Compact: Folding pot supports pack exceptionally small, fitting into an MSR Titan or Insulated Mug.
- Strong: Robust pot supports offer excellent stability.
- Wind-Resistant: WindClip™ wind protection and focused burner pushes a persistent, solid flame.
Includes: Ultralight, hard-shell carry case.
Technical Specs
| Weight (Standard) | 2.6 oz | Weight (Metric) | 0.07 kg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length (Standard) | 1.3 in | Width (Standard) | 1.7 in |
| Height (Standard) | 3.1 in | Minimum Weight (Standard) | 2.6 oz |
| Minimum Weight (Metric) | 0.07 kg | Packaged Weight (Standard) | 3.7 oz |
| Packaged Weight (Metric) | 0.11 kg | Burn time (MSR IsoPro) per 227-g / 8-oz. canister | Appx. 60 minutes |
| Water boiled (MSR IsoPro) per 227-g canister | 16 liters | Water boiled (MSR IsoPro) per 1 oz. of fuel | 2 liters |
| Boil time (MSR IsoPro), 1 liter | 3.5 minutes | Country of Origin | Made in Korea |
About MSR
In 1969, Seattle engineer and lifelong mountaineer Larry Penberthy formed Mountain Safety Research as a one-man crusade dedicated to improving the safety of climbing equipment. The fuel behind Larry’s passionate fire was a simple belief that still drives our team today.
From that notion evolved a pioneering outdoor company whose innovations have revolutionized the way people experience the outdoors worldwide. Today, we’re a close-knit team still obsessed with designing the most reliable, high-performance gear possible, using our knowledge of engineering and science to find better solutions to the challenges of the mountains.
At MSR, we are engineers, tinkerers and passionate outdoor users–each with strong perspectives on how a product should work based on our own experiences in the wild places we love. But collectively, we believe that innovative solutions are bred by challenging convention, and that functionality, simplicity and reliability are the governing elements of enduring design.
Today, many MSR products are still hand-built on manufacturing lines just a floor below where we concept them.
