Mt. San Jacinto Outdoor Recreation

Stove of the Week: MSR Reactor

I know some people have been waiting for this one, so I bumped it up a week.

This week's stove is the MSR Reactor.
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HJ

Thanks for another great report, HJ! The Reactor kicks some major BTU butt.

I had the same initial impression about the handle clip, but it appears to have been made from spring steel, so if they got the heat treat right it should last through many (thousands?) of cycles. Time will tell.

That stand/adapter thingie is pretty cool. Do you think the straight butane made it any easier to get it down to a simmer?

You're prolly too young to remember but way back when, Coleman made a catalytic camping heater that looked like a giant Reactor. It ran on white gas and I remember that to start it you'd turn it upside down until there was a wet spot the size of a half dollar and then you'd spark it up and wait awhile and eventually it would get hot. In those days we didn't know any better and my dad wasn't much for safety anyway (plus the tents were real drafty), so he'd bring it inside and we'd be all nice and cozy-like.

Dave G wrote:Thanks for another great report, HJ! The Reactor kicks some major BTU butt.

That it does! But unfortunately for someone who wants to head out in cold weather, it's still constrained by it's fundamental design. Because it's more efficient and because it's windproof, it'll work better than something like a Pocket Rocket. The Reactor will even work slightly better than a Jetboil, but cold weather will shut down a Reactor just as surely as it will any other upright canister stove. A Reactor is a great stove, so long as it doesn't start dipping down into the teens. I'm being a little conservative, allowing for a margin of error, but if your fuel vaporizes at 11F and vaporization causes significant canister chilling, you're just not going to be able to operate the stove very far down into the teens, at least not efficiently. You can keep heating pans of water to rest the canister in, but what a hassle. At some point, it's time to stop putting the danged round peg in the square hole. If you're headed into serious cold, go out and get stove made for that kind of weather.

Dave G wrote:I had the same initial impression about the handle clip, but it appears to have been made from spring steel, so if they got the heat treat right it should last through many (thousands?) of cycles. Time will tell.

I hope you're right, but still something bugs me about that design. I have had my handle pop out once already when I wasn't being careful.

Dave G wrote:That stand/adapter thingie is pretty cool. Do you think the straight butane made it any easier to get it down to a simmer?

I thought about that. See this video regarding that issue.

http://www.youtube.com/v/mLxjQd-iEe0

Dave G wrote:You're prolly too young to remember but way back when, Coleman made a catalytic camping heater that looked like a giant Reactor. It ran on white gas and I remember that to start it you'd turn it upside down until there was a wet spot the size of a half dollar and then you'd spark it up and wait awhile and eventually it would get hot. In those days we didn't know any better and my dad wasn't much for safety anyway (plus the tents were real drafty), so he'd bring it inside and we'd be all nice and cozy-like.

I've seen photos. Yeah, the way things were (no seat belts, baby seats were something to hold the baby and had nothing whatsoever to do with safety), it's lucky any of us made it.

HJ

Thanks for the great little write up. I have a Reactor, a Jetboil and the Snow Peak Lite. The Reactor is head and shoulders the better stove for me for one simple reason. Due to its wind proof/boil water in three minutes, it is actually the most efficient of all. An 8 oz. canister lasted me and my wife seven days on the High Sierra Trail. We boiled two liters every morning and night. I am doing the JMT this summer and will be bringing the Reactor. It is heavier, but I can bring less fuel which negates that problem.

You do realize some significant weight savings when a more efficient stove allows you to not take a second canister. Those canisters are steel and (the 8oz size) weigh more than a quarter of a pound empty. If with one stove you have to take an extra canister, you'd save some weight and bulk by bringing a more efficient stove that can do the same job with just one canister.

Still, the fuel efficiency of a Reactor doesn't completely make up for its weight and bulk. Having said that, when the Santa Ana winds kick up, there's no other stove I'd rather have along than a Reactor. On a cold, windy night far away from the comforts of home, suddenly the Reactor is your best friend.

HJ