Backside Line
The MSR WhisperLite excels the place canister stoves fail. It stands as much as extraordinarily chilly climate, excessive altitude, and blustery winds, making it best for mountaineering and winter treks. The WhisperLite is extraordinarily gas environment friendly, can deal with full-sized cookware with its steady basis, and is nearly unaffected by wind. We didn’t go straightforward on this one throughout our wind testing course of and it nonetheless didn’t disappoint.
Because the title implies, the WhisperLite is each quiet and lightweight, but it surely’s not ultralight. We wouldn’t advocate this range for the everyday three-season backpacker. It’s considerably heavier than most backpacking stoves (together with the gas), and has just a little little bit of a studying curve to function, making it not best for newbie backpackers. For easier and extra light-weight range choices, take a look at our full information to backpacking stoves.
Fast Specs
MSR WhisperLite
Finest Liquid Gasoline Range for Winter Treks
Rating:
51/100
Value:
$135
Weight:
9.5 oz.
Gasoline Sort:
White gasoline
Boil Time:
5m 50s
Burn Time (8 oz. gas):
44m
Execs
- Performs effectively in excessive chilly & excessive altitude
- Environment friendly
- Quieter than different liquid gas stoves
- Steady pot assist
Cons
- Slight studying curve
- No simmer management
- Heavy/cumbersome
- Costly
Comfort
The WhisperLite isn’t a ‘flip a knob and flick a change’ kind of range to function – it has a little bit of a studying curve, however when you get the grasp of it it’s no large deal. There’s a gas bottle that needs to be stuffed, then pumped to pressurize the gas, then connected to the gas line. Then the range must be preheated (“primed”) earlier than you’re able to activate the primary burner to cook dinner. Oh, and don’t neglect to arrange the windscreen and warmth reflector! When the range is able to be packed up, it have to be disassembled and the gas bottle depressurized. Don’t fear, it goes rapidly after some time and there are priceless trade-offs to this maneuvering.
The WhisperLite is ideal for a base camp kitchen situation. Not like different backpacking stoves, it will probably deal with bigger pots and pans, making it best for cooking for a bunch (although it makes use of fairly a little bit of gas, we’ve managed to boil a number of gallons of water at a time in a big pot for a dozen folks).
Weight & Packability
The WhisperLite, when together with all of its equipment just like the gas pump, windscreen, and warmth reflector, weighs in at about 15.4 ounces. While you bear in mind that it’s a backpacking range that may maintain its personal as a strong piece of mountaineering gear, it’s actually not that heavy. Built-in range methods come fairly shut in weight. Nonetheless, in case your goal is shaving ounces out of your pack weight, we advocate wanting elsewhere.
The WhisperLite and all of its parts are available a handy drawstring carrying bag that finally ends up being in regards to the dimension of a cantaloupe, making the quantity of the range extra vital than the burden.
Along with the general dimension of the range itself, the WhisperLite makes use of white gasoline gas versus IsoPro. White gasoline is saved in particular rectangular, MSR gas bottles which most individuals prefer to retailer on the skin of their pack within the water bottle pockets. The bottles are heavier and bulkier than IsoPro canisters, however the commerce off is the effectivity of the WhisperLite which lets you carry much less gas.
Energy & Effectivity
The boil time of the WhisperLite is slightly below common in comparison with most backpacking stoves, at 5 minutes and fifty seconds per one liter of water. It’s not essentially the most spectacular boil time by any means however likelihood is, in the event you’re utilizing the WhisperLite, you’re most likely not apprehensive about going wherever in a rush.
When evaluating efficiency in windy situations, nevertheless, the WhisperLite excels over most different backpacking stoves, due to its included windscreen. The flame additionally comes out of a collared basin which additional protects it from the wind. Most backpacking stoves’ boil time doubles, triples, and even quadruples when wind is added. The WhisperLite, even after we launched most likely an unfair quantity of wind aimed straight on the burner, solely elevated by lower than 20%.
The MSR WhisperLite is definitely one of the gas environment friendly backpacking stoves available on the market. It blew away the competitors in our effectivity take a look at, utilizing solely 0.1 ounces of gas to boil one liter of water. On condition that its efficiency hardly faltered in vital wind, we’re assured that the WhisperLite offers you the very best bang on your buck out of a bottle of gas. This implies longer expeditions with much less gas.
As a bonus, the effectivity of the WhisperLite additionally makes it one of the environmentally pleasant stoves on the market. It not solely cuts down on gas waste, but in addition avoids the useless waste of empty gas canisters, because the MSR gas bottles are reusable.
Precision
The WhisperLite doesn’t simmer. It just about simply has an on or off mode. That is typical of liquid gasoline stoves because of how the gas is distributed. For the same range that has higher simmer management, we advocate trying out ones which are suitable with isobutane/propane canisters. The MSR WhisperLite Common is suitable with a variety of fuels together with canisters.
Ought to You Purchase the MSR WhisperLite?
We wouldn’t advocate the WhisperLite for heading out on a Pacific Crest Path thru-hike, or every other goal the place each ounce of weight financial savings counts. White Gasoline gas is tougher to come back by, the range is cumbersome, and overkill for honest climate environments.
Nonetheless, this range is a no brainer for the backpacker or mountaineer who’s on the lookout for a light-weight range to tackle prolonged expeditions in excessive climate. You may set your thoughts comfy figuring out that your range will work regardless of chilly temps and excessive winds. It’s additionally an excellent choice for teams that need to cook dinner collectively and disperse the pack weight amongst the group.
What Different Backpacking Stoves Ought to You Contemplate?
JetBoil Flash Overview: An built-in range system just like the JetBoil Flash gives you comparable stability and wind blocking to the WhisperLite however in a barely smaller and lighter bundle. The canister gas is normally extra accessible and the Flash is understood to be extremely environment friendly with first rate simmer management.
