Snow Peak Hybrid Titanium Cookset

To go with my new Soto stove, I also purchased the Snow Peak Hybrid Titanium cookset.  I got a chance to use both this last weekend.  The review will talk about my experience with the cookset and some things I modified to make it slightly useable for me.

First - a pic of the cookset

 

 

First, the set works GREAT for boiling water. The cookware is VERY thin and transfers heat rather rapidly. As noted in my review of the Soto stove, I consistently boiled 8 oz of water in just under 2 minutes, and 16 oz of water came in right at 3 minutes. The pot is too small to hold any more than 2 cups.  It comes with a titanium pot, small frypan/lid, half-length titanium spork, silicon squishy bowl, and dunk bag.

I tried cooking scrambled eggs with not so great results. I was able to scorch the eggs in only about 4 seconds. I adjusted my cooking technique and waived the pot back and forth across the flame to finish cooking without any more scorching- my conclusion is that I am unlikely to use the cookset to do any real cooking.


The weight of the cookware kit comes in at 8 oz from the factory.  I did however, find it necessary to make a few modifications to the gear to bring it up to my standards...

First, plasti-dip added to stove handles for insulation

 



Before going on the campout, I tested the cookset on several occasions.  Consistently, I found the handles of the pot/frypan got too hot to handle with bare hands.  To address this issue, I went to my local home supply store and purchased a can of plasti-dip and dipped the handles of the pot and the fry pan.  I think I added three coats of dip which proved sufficient for the needed insulation.  It is worth noting that other reviewers have found the plasti-dip CAN be flammable if placed *too* close to the heat source.  You'll notice I cut the dip back so only 3/4 of the handle is coated.  I also plan to use this cookset exclusively on the Soto stove.  The net result is that after a weekend of boiling water for multiple meals, making hot tea several times and even cooking scrambled eggs at one meal, I have no regrets in my choice to coat the handles and would make the same choice again without hesitation.

 

 

Second, added measuring marks to the squishy bowl

The squishy bowl is designed exclusively for this Snow Peak set and fits perfectly in the pot.   It is also VERY easy to clean.  I simply turned it inside out and washed it out in a matter of seconds.  The change I found necessary/valuable was to use a sharpie marker to mark lines for 4 oz, 8 oz, 12 oz and 16 oz.  This lets me easily approximate the volume of liquid since I am primarily using this as a cookset for freeze dried/dehydrated meals.

Soto OD-1R Microregulator Backpacking Stove

So I'm gradually going through my gear and upgrading to smaller/lighter weight items.  My goal is to have my pack under 30 lbs for everything (water, gear, food, clothes, etc.)  if/when my son(s) go to Philmont- and for that matter any other backpacking trips.  To that end, I most recently replaced my stove with the Soto OD-1R micro-regulator stove.  I originally purchased this stove from REI for the small size and small weight, but after my purchase I learned more about why the stove was given an editor's choice award in 2011 by backpacker magazine.

I'll start with my own observations and then conclude with repeating some of the Soto marketing material.  First notice the size of this stove... I placed a quarter beside the stove for comparison.  The weight comes in at a mere 2.6 oz.  Granted the canister adds to that weight, but I don't count it directly because I wanted to use a butane stove so the weight of the canisters will be consistent across ANY of my stove choices.

Compared to a quarter

 

Opened up and setup



 

 

This is the stove setup.  There are actually three pot supports, but the angle I took the picture only captured two clearly.  You'll have to look REALLY close (almost at the 1 o'clock position) to see the 3rd support.  You can also see that I added a fuel can stabilizer made by JetBoil (found it on clearance for $7).

 

I can boil 8 oz of water (approximate altitude 550 ft, temperature ~78) in less than 2 minutes.  Boiling 2 cups only takes just over 3 minutes.  The stove also has an integrated piezo starter that worked well everytime I tried it.  I didn't try to stress it to see how much weight I could put on it before it breaks (for rather obvious reasons).  As a backpacking stove for boiling water, I'm pleased. 

 

 

Now for the shameless marketing material.... as I said, I bought the stove for the size/weight.  After researching my new purchase, I came to learn the Soto OD-1R is different than other tiny stoves due to the patent pending microregulator.

 

One of the unintended benefits is the performance of this stove remains steady as the temperatures drop.  Traditional stoves that use a needle system see performance drop as the temperature goes down.  

Second, as the gas in the canister is used (or temps drop or altitude increases), the pressure inside the canister goes down.  As the pressure inside the gas canister goes down, stove performance goes down as well- unless you have a stove with a microregulator.

 

 

 

YouTube video showing the benefit of the micro-regulator.

 

 

Alps Mountaineering Lynx 2 Man Tent

The Alps Mountaineering Lynx 2-man tent it the tent of choice for the Webelos in our cub scout pack.  This review will look at some of the benefits (and disadvantages) we have found with the tents after 1 year of use.

As a unit just outside Dallas, Texas- we really like the screen in this tent.  We've discovered that they provide sufficient ventilation boys are able to use the tents year round- even in June (albeit without the rain fly).  A second thing worth noting about this tent is the simple setup with clips.  This makes it easy for 10 year old boys to setup quickly and without adult assistance.  However, the crossing design of the frame still mandates two boys for setup.  Even as an adult, the tent *can* be setup without assistance but with any amount of wind, it is arguably difficult.  Although this is not a review of the Eureka Timberline tent, it is worth commenting that I have yet to discover another tent that is equally simple for one person to setup.

The Alps Mountaineering Lynx 2 without the rainfly

A closeup of the clip

Although we have not encountered any problems with the clips after 1 year of use, I am skeptical they would last as long as the aluminum wife clips from the Eureka Timberline.  (I'm beginning to appear biased aren't I).

Alps Mountaineering lists the footprint of the tent at 5' x 7'6".  This is suitable for 2 boys- and even 2 adults but it leaves little room inside the tent for gear for the boys and virtually zero space for adults.  In fact, you'll be cozy with 2 adults sharing this tent.  As a 6'1" adult, I found my toes touched one end of the tent and my forehead the other so I would actually discourage this tent for use by adults.  The vestibule of the tent allows a limited amount of space (Alps claims 20sq ft), but that is hardly the useable space.  Plenty of room for shoes, it will be a hard fit to put a full size pack and keep it dry- and I would be reluctant to try and cook in the vestibule space. 

The Lynx tent with the fly on, but opened up for air

This tent has a great rainfly that provides superior protection from wind and rain.  The flip side of that is that you get virtually no air flow through the tent when the fly is all the way closed up.  It is possible to fix the doors of the tent open to promote ventilation, but this comes with a small risk- the door of the tent does not allow you to close off the screen.  This means that leaving the fly open will expose the interior of the tent to rain falling on the meshed screen.  In other words, this is only a good solution if you are not expecting inclement weather.

The tent with the rain fly on and closed up

The picture above shows my favorite thing about this tent for young scouts.  Once this tent setup, it provides tremendous protection from wind and rain.  Although I don't actively seek inclement weather to camp in, keeping the boys and their gear dry often proves to be one of the greatest challenges.  Keeping them dry is the primary step in keeping them warm.  You can see from the picture, the fly comes almost all the way to the ground all the way around keeping rain off the tent itself.  Because the fly comes so close to the ground, it offers tremendous protection in strong winds also- ESPECIALLY when the 4 corners of the tent are staked out (which I didn't do in this picture).

The only problem we have encountered with this tent was early on we did not inspect tents after they were setup.  One pair of boys set the rain-fly on inside-out.  This created a trap when it rained that funneled most of the water through the ventilation hole and directly onto the mesh of the tent and into the inside.  In this case, it only took a fraction of an inch of rain before the interior of the tent was entirely flooded.  We now inspect every tent after it is setup to make sure the rain fly is correct.

As a final note on the review of this tent after 1 year of using this tent, we have been slightly disappointed with the aluminum poles.  Although they look fantastic, they don't hold up to the handling of 10-year old boys.  Despite constant verbal encouragement to be careful with the poles, we have bent/warped poles on 3 of the 8 tents.  I hate to say it but it means that we must actively supervise setup of the tents by the boys to preserve the poles- I suspect that if handled solely by adults, we wouldn't have this same issue.