Date: 2016-11-17
To: Gear Review: Jetboil MiniMo (stove)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

JETBOIL MINIMO Gear Review!Weight: 14.6oz (excludes stabilizer legs and fuel)Jetboil Minimo. I had the one with a purple plaid cozyI actually bought two canister cook systems before my hike. Canister systems use small metal canisters (duh) of fuel that you can buy at any outdoors shop and nearly any hostel/hiker place along the trail. Anyway, I bought an MSR Pocket Rocket and a Jetboil Minimo. They are two significantly different systems (minimalist vs. convenient, lightweight vs. fairly heavy, etc) and I wanted to try both and get familiar with using them before choosing one and heading to Springer. In the end, the convenience of the Minimo won out and I took that with me.First meal!!Pros:- Excellent available volume. It contains all water and food for any Knorr pasta/rice side or instant mashed potatoes package. One full package of pasta side or potatoes or dehydrated meal (like Mountain House or Good to Go) usually took about 2 cups of water and serves one hiker. The Minimo easily holds the water and pasta (it can hold a full liter) so it's very convenient. Maybe not great for multiple people but it was perfect for me. - Fast boil time It only took a bit more than a minute to heat water up to near-boiling, where I needed it for pasta, and less time if I had it on full blast and was just heating up water for potatoes. It has a very neat simmer control so you can heat up the water, add pasta, and lower the flame to simmer - this stops the pasta from boiling over and getting everything gross and messy. I mostly abandoned pasta by my third week on the trail in favor of easier instant mashed potatoes but not because of difficulty with the Jetboil Minimo. I just liked potatoes better and didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking.- ADORABLE and EASY I loved how cute my Minimo was. The purple plaid cozy! The easy cleanup! The one-click built-in starter! The wide mouth of the pot that allows you to eat easily from the pot! The all-in-one packing system that holds the fuel canister inside the pot and allows you to keep everything together! I just liked it all around.- Fuel efficiency My hiker friends and I had a small celebration on the day I ran out of fuel in my first canister. The Minimo was just crazily efficient and since I only used it once per day to get water hot enough to rehydrate potatoes or rice/pasta/noodles, one little 100g canister lasted FOREVER.Cons:- Weight... There's no way around it - the Minimo is heavier than other options. Yes, it comes with a cozy and a stand and is basically idiot-proof (important for me...) but all that convenience comes at a price. That price is weight. I saw many other stove options from alcohol (SUPER LIGHT) to Pocket Rockets (too unstable for me) but many, many other successful hikers carried Jetboils too. This isn't the choice for you if you are pinching ounces. - Hot weather use So, I sent my entire cook system home when summer hit. I only used it once per day for dinner and the last thing I wanted was warm food at the end of the hiking day when I was exhausted and sweaty and gross. I wanted popsicles or margaritas full of ice or cold soda, not piping hot pasta sides. I also don't mind eating Idahoan potato packages rehydrated with cold water. Adding all that together with the fact that I was cutting weight wherever possible in order to give my injured hip and knee the best chance of making it to Katahdin meant that my cook system was the weakest link. I absolutely loved having hot food to look forward to at the start of my hike when it was cold/snowy/constantly rainy (I hate you Virginia!!) and if I was to hike again I would still start with my Jetboil. It was just too much weight for too little return during summertime temperatures.Do I recommend this gear? YES. I loved it. It was a great choice for me for the convenience. I had no problems getting fuel whenever necessary (I usually carried one full backup canister anyway because I'm a Nervous Nellie) and the fact that it packs down into a self-contained and protected bundle was a huge plus for someone like me who packs very, very densely.Any questions!? Think I should add more info somewhere? Feel free to email me at elleoutdoors@gmail.com!Disclaimer: I did a LOT of research before starting my thru-hike but my Gear Review series is about my personal experiences with my choices of gear and everything might not be true for everyone! Decide carefully, my hiker friends, and get things that work for you