Once you venture from the safe sanctuary of home and into the great beyond to seek your own private patch of earth, two things are a certainty: 1) You’ll work up a quality appetite; 2) You’re going to encounter some serious wind gusts. But fear not fellow adventurists, the WindBurner Stove System from MSR is the easy answer to both of those backcountry qualms.
On Performance and Design…
There are certain pieces of gear that carry an almost mythical status in the outdoor industry. Like campfire stories at sunset, we’d heard praises heaped upon the MSR Windburner Stove System. Yet, our opportunity to test the system had proven elusive… until now. And, after putting it through the paces in the Desolation Wilderness, we can assure you that the ending to this tale is better than any fable about giant lumberjacks and blue oxes.
Unlike classic camp stoves, this self-contained unit eliminates the issues of an open burner and takes the guesswork out of a quick meal. The reality is that even a minimal breeze can impact your stove’s performance. The beauty of the compact WindBurner Stove System is a design engineered to operate on 100% primary air which allows for fully enclosed combustion. In other words, MSR was able to enclose the burner’s flame with the pot’s heat exchanger to protect it from outside conditions and maximize its heat output.
Consider the WindBurner the next evolution of stove systems. Incredibly fast, fuel-efficient and virtually windproof, you can get boiling water in under three minutes in winds up to 12 miles per hour. So, while our colleagues were still busy boiling water for their mountain meal, we were already well on our way to stomping out the hunger monster.
When you are finished cooking, the compact nesting configuration allows you can pack the fuel canister inside the insulated 1L mug, and stow the whole lightweight kit away in compact style. And, because the system is fuel efficient you’ll save fuel on longer trips where every ounce of weight must be carefully considered.
For those of us who prefer a good cup of coffee in the backcountry, MSR offers the WindBurner Coffee Press Kit as an additional accessory. The coffee press turns your WindBurner Stove System into a rapid, windproof brewing machine. Compatible with WindBurner 1.0L pots, the press features a durable stainless steel strainer disc and a flexible perimeter gasket to seal out coffee grinds making you the ultimate mountain barista.
Bottom Line…
Your search for a fast, fuel-efficient personal stove system starts and stops with the MSR Windburner Stove.
*Gumption Gear Review received the items featured in this review from MSR at no cost and receives no monetary compensation for this or any related review. The items featured were provided solely in return for our honest views and opinions.