MSR Pocket Rocket Review

"Nice light weight unit. Fuel cannisters easy to find now, even in Walmarts. Not a good cold weather stove. If you expect cold weather, keep the fuel cannister in your sleeping bag at night so it is warm for morning breakfast."

"Great little stove. Super light. More powerful than other flyweights I've seen. The price isn't too shabby either. I got mine for about 75 bucks with a titanium kettle. All in all an awesome flamethrower."

"This little stove packs a punch. I have used two different sizes of fuel for it and it is yet to fail me. This stove does everything the more expensive stoves do, at half the size and weight."

"weighing in at 3oz the pocket rocket is the Ideal stove for all you minimalists.
The stove runs off either the threaded MSR Isopro cannister or the threaded primus cannister. The stove boils in heartbeat with adjustability of dragonfly proportion. Go from F-16 fighter jet to tiny blue flame with a full twist. MSR claims a run time of 63min. at full burn on 8oz. of fuel. The major drawback is having to use threaded cannisters. The minor drawback is my difficulty in trusting it's stability. With a cost of 34.95 the weekend warrior and the epic adventurer alike can appreciate the savings in weight and money.
P.S. you cant find fuel cannisters at the local mini-mart"

"I really like my pocket rocket. It is light, compact, and easy to use. The fuel cannisters are cheap, readily available, and fit inside my cook pot. It lacks a wind screen, however. This makes it considerably less efficient in windy or cold weather."

"I like its size and weight, but it's not real efficient in Sierra winters. It'll still be my stove for those trips and I'll just plan on cooking in the tent. Can't beat the size, weight, and price. I'm going to try and develop an good windscreen to help it along."

"Best burn for your buck !! Just got in off a 3 dayer and the stove worked great. Got down to 19 degrees at one time, absolutely no problems. Very efficient. Seldon have to use full power. I get about two hours out of an 8 oz canister of snowpeak fuel. Use aluminum foil for a wind screen. I had no problem with stability of my cooking pot. Not for large cookware but the best backpack stove I've used and carried."

"I love this little stove! my boyfriend bought it a few weeks ago and we used it last weekend while hiking on the AT, and through the wind, rain, and snow it stayed strong. It boiled frozen water in less than 5 min, and is the lightest stove either of us has ever seen. Oh, and fuel efficiency....incredible. I think I may go out and get one of these for myself!"

"Awesome stove! This Australian has had one for a while. Have used it in the snow (yes! we got snow here!!!). For it's size - a mere approx 90 grams - plus a cylinder or two; we have all the cooking heat we need for a weekend.

Typical boil times vary between 3 and 5 minutes;and from a typical canister of compressed gas fuel, we get about 15 to 20 boils; not bad for such a miniscule stove.

And weight, weight, weight! Have I mentioned that before???

I've owned several liquid fuel stoves before. They may cost a littles less in $ terms to run, but when that $ DIRECTLY corresponds to weight on my back, give me lightweight any day!!!!!!!!

Highly recommended for casual weekend/few day treckers and daywalkers."

"You can't go wrong with this stove.I purchased mine back in the summer of 2001 and have used it on several trips.I have not had one ounce of trouble from the stove,great for day hikes and backpacking trips and family camping.I would give this stove a rating of 5 for its size and price"

"One of these other reviewers mentions using this stove in a tent in winter. Be careful! The MSR site warns that the stove gives off Carbon Monoxide. It can kill you. Make sure you have proper ventilation. BTW, I have this stove and I like it for 5 day ultralight backpacking trips. Weight, performance, simmer capability. Very nice."

"With an incredibly light and space-saving design combined with a $35-$40 price tag, the PocketRocket is one of the best values out there. After using a WhisperLite for years, I'm continually amazed by the PR's performance. Take it out of your pack and within 4 minutes you can have a pot of water boiling. There's no priming, no fuel to spill or parts to clean with tihs stove. One does need to stir gingerly however, but the PR's stability is no worse than other canister stoves. After one use you'll soon know why this stove is oft-compared to a blowtorch or jet-engine -- it's that powerful. But, best of all, the stove easily adjusts through a full range of output from full-blast, rip-snorting flames, to the gentle kiss of a simmer. Even though this stove might be hard-pressed to cook for a large group and does have some problems with wind, I recommend this stove without any hesitation."

"Great lightweight stove. I use this during spring/summer/fall. I don't recommend it during the winter. The propane cannisters have been known to freeze up on me. Definately a good buy for a 3 season stove.
And it simmers well."

"This is a wonderful little stove. very simple in design and it boils water in a snap. No priming required, which for me is the major set back for any MSR whitegas stove. The only problem with the rocket is that the butane does not perform well in the cold weather, but thats a minor set back. I love this stove."

"I wouldn't buy anything else. The first stove I bought was a coleman, cost about half the price, but weighed a whole bunch more. You know those steel round ancient burners. I will never buy anything else. Good job MSR."

"Great little stove, a word of advice to improve the performance:

Markill makes a product (sidewinder?) that converts the PocketRocket to a remote canister stove like the MSR rapidfire. Pair this with the MSR foil windscreen and you have one powerful windproof cooker with the versitility to use it either way: Ultra light or Ultra windproof. (P.S. the total cost is slightly less than the MSR rapidfire.)"

"Took my brand new Pocket Rocket on a 7 day Sierra trip. Used it for breakfast and dinner almost every day plus one night of fish frying. One 12 oz. MSR canister lasted the whole week! (I loaned it out the last night to burn off the end of the fuel!)."

"This is an excelent stove. It's easy to use and cooks quickly. The only problem I have had is in cold weather it has some trouble. I would buy it again for sure."

"The perfect 3 season stove. Light, easy to use, and it practically disappears when you pack it because you can put the stove in your cooking pot and the fuel canister will fit into almost any pocket of your pack. I do wish the flame was spread out a bit more. Also, leave it at home for winter or high altitudes."

"I have owned my Pocket Rocket for about a year. This little stove is awesome (as are all of MSR's products). This baby is lightweight, will simmer great, is stores quickly. However, there is 1 drawback...YOU CANNOT FIND FUEL FOR IT ON EXTENDED TRIPS!!! I will be making an AT thru hike early next year and have opted to buy MSR's Whisperlite International..it burns about anything (white gas, auto gas, kerosene). Unless you plan on having all your fuel cannisters mailed to you on an extended outing...rethink the pocket rocket. Otherwise...it is a great little stove for overnight and lond weekend hikes."

"I absolutey love my MSR pocket rocket. I've used it on a bunch of overnighters and also a 5 night and 4 night trip. The thing is amazing. Those 2 trips it lasted on one 12 oz canister. Thats 9 days off of 1 canister, and I usaully boil 70oz of water per day. So thats 630oz or 20 liters from one canister. I love this thing. You cant beat it's price either."

"I recieved one of these for Christmas with a primus four season bottle of fuel. The ambient temp was only 15F and the fuel would hardly burn. I built an adapter to coleman type propane bottles (which are cheaper and now it works great at any temp I have encountered.
Why doesn't any company make a micro-stove for propane canisters. Propane boils at -40F
GOD Bless You All"

"Great little stove. Stability can be inproved by placing a triangulation of tent stakes around the canister, pushed into the ground just level with the top of the burner. In cold weather the canister is easily warmed by slipping it inside your parka or sleeping bag. A VERY LOOSE heat shield of aluminum foil will keep the cartridge warm enough to keep burning and reduce wind deflection."

"I've used this stove for two years in summer and in sub-zero and it's never failed to perform well. I'm usually finished cooking while the other guys are still preheating their white gas stoves. In winter I keep my fuel canister in my sleeping bag at night, or warm it inside my vest. It is LIGHT!!! The small size and light weight have let me cut down on pack weight and size significantly."

"good stove for three season weekend trips, but does not do all that well in winter or weather trips. I have seen this thing burn for ten minutes and bairly even warm up a pot of water in windy situations. Its only real saving grase is of course its size and weight. The only smaller stoves I have ever come across have been home-made."

"This is a great stove. Light, small, efficient and under $40! Wind is a factor but I throw in my heat shield from my Whisperlight International and it does just fine. This is now my main stove of choice."

"I used this stove while hiking the Long Trail in Vermont. If you are looking for a lightweight, no fuss stove, this is the one. The .4oz canisters worked great for me. They lasted about a week cooking freezed dried meals."

"I've been camping with friends who own this stove and I have to say that it's just great!! We went on a week-long trip in the high Sierra in the Summer, the temps got down to below 30 one night, and the stove performed very well, and didn't use that much fuel. It's very easy to get it started!

The cons: you have to be VERY careful that you don't tip it over - it gets pretty top heavy with a pot of water on it. The design leaves the flame exposed and you can lose a lot of heat; it's dangerous to surround it with a heat shield since your'e also surrounding the fuel canister! They should invent a conical heat sheild that sits above the canister. With canisters it's kinda hard to tell exactly how much fuel you have left, and you can't customize your fuel level, you just have to bring a new or used can and hope you have enough and are not bringing too much. They should make the canisters refillable, like with the big propane BBQ tanks.

Nevertheless, I'm seriously considering buying one for my weekend trips, because they're great!"

"I used in this in the mountains in a nor'easter that came through a couple weeks ago. (I was probably with the only group stupid enough to camp in it, but oh well). What nor'easters are, for those of you not from the east coast, are a combo of pouring rain, blasting wind, and bitter cold (at one point it was so cold that the rain, which had turned the Appalacian Trail into a flowing river nine inches deep was turning to snow) and the wind blew a tree over during the night. Nevertheless, I crouched over the Pocket Rocket in my poncho to cook my dinner. Only blowing out once, it cooked steak, ramen noodles, and oatmeal and hot chocalate the next morning. MSR ROCKS!"

"Excellent little stove! The lightest stove in REI or EMS! Packs up into a 1.5x1.5x5 plastic canister, weighs only about a pound. The ultimate in liteweight backpacking. Used it in a nor-easter in October 2006 in the Blue Ridge Mountains (for those of you not from the east coast, a nor-easter is a killer combo of stinging rain, bone-chilling cold, and gusting wind), and I made ramen, hot cocoa, hamburgers & french fries, and oatmeal on his thing, on less than one of the small canisters of fuel. May have some problems, because of the size of the burner, cooking something that is solid or thick through, but it boiled water and fried hamburgers just fine, even in 20 degree weather in rain!"

"Perfect for lightweight packing. My Rapidfire has now been demoted to car camping status. The Rocket uses very little fuel. And with a closed pot (Titan, etc...) it boils water just as fast as my friend's Jetboil. I love this thing!"