Customer Reviews

Jetboil Helios Cooking System

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We used two of these stoves for a Philmont expedition of 12 Scouts / adults and were pleased with the light weight, sturdiness and rapid ability to boil. Use at altitudes up to 8500ft (the highest we camped) was simple and reliable. Overall much better than our previous MSR white gas stoves which frankly are horribly difficult to use in the dirt and grime of Southwest camping. After 2 weeks in the dirt they worked perfectly every time, last time our MSR stoves all had issues and needed repairs during and after the expedition.

The Good
1. Easy to pack, clean, care for....no problems with dirt or failures on an extremely dusty trek.
2. Quick to boil, reliable with a very stable base support.
3. Easy to handle, lightweight and insulation combined with built in handles makes it cool to the touch and Scout-proof.
4. Surprisingly economical on fuel....do some experiments with boil times, you won't need nearly as much fuel as you think. It was way more convenient than white gas stoves.

The Not so Good
1. Fuel canister when low sometimes "burped" resulting in small fireballs that remove arm hair. Didn't happen every time but did occur twice....livens up meal times a bit.
2. Not good if you want to do back country gourmet cooking...temp control is difficult, goes from hot to too hot in about 1/8 of a turn of the throttle.
3. The lid is stupid...deforms under heat but can be reformed and fitted. Why not just make it a stable high temp material? We used the lid upside down to keep the dirt and junk out during cooking so it warps and deforms.
4. Wind shield is fairly cheesy....we didn't always set it up and that does reduce the boiling time slightly. On the plus side I thought the boys would destroy the wind shield within a week but they held up.

Overall a good product with great value for group expeditions.

We bought this for our 11 year old Boy Scout who has years of camping to enjoy. We felt this was the only one that has very little chance of tipping over and the fuel is away from the stove. We also like the small fuel canister that he can carry for back pack trips. The entire thing goes into the pot and easy to carry safely. Safety was our first concern. We feel this will do it for him!!!

I recently bought the Helios Jet Boil, despite owning the regular Jet Boil, because my son and I were going snow camping in January 2010. I anticipated that the temperature on the mountain might drop below 20 F, which might make the Jet Boil ineffective.

The flame of the Helios did burn well and heat water quickly. However, our regular Jet Boil would have done as well, because the temperature remained above 20 F.

The lighter on the Helios did not work. It never emitted a spark to the light the gas. (Helios' instructions say that if the spark emitter fails to light the gas, one should bend the tip of the spark emitter closer to the gas. But in this case, there was no spark at all.) It was evening, so if a spark had appeared, we'd have seen its light.

I lit the stove by match, and it burned very well. It burned so well that flames shot up a foot or two high for several moments. Apparently, some Jet Boil fuel had spilled while we were trying to light the flame with the sparker.

Materials on the Helios are very good, except for the pot lid, which is supposed to double as a plate. We never got to use it as a plate, because the lid promptly warped from the heat of the stove and boiling water. (We had followed the instructions and left the lid on loosely in an attempt to prevent warping.)

The "cozy" surrounding the 2-quart pot was helpful. However, it also scorched.

If the Helios is redesigned with a metal lid, it will be much better. Perhaps my spark problem was unusual? I'm returning that Helios -- and also the OTHER Helios that was shipped (and charged) to me. When I placed the order, it appeared that my first attempt did not "go through" to completion. So I attempted to place the order again. I got two separate stoves.