Jetboil makes my favorite cooking systems on the market. I am lazy, and a Jetboil FLASH is a lazy man’s dream. They are super simple to use, easy to setup, extremely fast, very efficient, and lightweight. The FLASH system is new this year, with an improved design over the original Personal Cooking System and a temperature sensitive gel on the side of the cup that shows you when the water has reached the optimal temperature. The FLASH is so efficient thanks to the insulation and Fluxring that it can boil 16 oz of water in right at two minutes, which means that you have your food faster and you save your fuel for more uses per canister.
They have larger systems as well, if you want to do more than just boil water. The Group Cooking System has a larger pot that you can use to cook meals for groups and the Helios has a remote canister setup that allows for cooking in a much wider temperature range compared to regular canister stoves. They even have a Coffee Press for making coffee in your FLASH and other accessories like hanging kits, extra pots, cups, and much more.
When the Gearpods products were released last year, I was impressed with how well thought out the kits and components were compared to other premade kits and containers on the market. Imagine my delight when they decided to update the line this year, improving the quality and moving the production of the main components to the US.
The new pods use Nalgene style threads to achieve their watertight feature instead of a rubber gasket like the first version. They also added some new colors, bringing the available color total to four with orange, black, tan, and olive drab. I made a few videos showing the connect systems, custom kits, and stove kit:
I went a little video crazy over the past couple of days, meaning that after being really slack on the blog and video front over the past few months, you now have 12 new videos to suffer through.
The first one shows the butane lighters I stock. I had several requests for this one, which kind of surprised me. I always figured the lighters kind of explained themselves…
If you read my blog, then you probably already know that I get excited about my products pretty easily. Such is the outcome of owning a business that focuses on products for activities that you love.
A new line of products has had me ridiculously excited for about a year and I am very happy to finally be able to share the news. The products are GearPods: modular survival, tool, and adventure kits.
The main parts of GearPods are various tubes, connectors, and other pieces that all connect together. You can have your fire tools in one tube, first aid in another, cooking in a third, gear repair in a fourth, etc. Once you have your kits put together, you can connect and arrange them as needed for different trips. The connector and cap pieces have rubber gaskets to keep your gear dry and safe.
The empty tubes and connectors will be available in the coming weeks and months, but for now, very well thought out premade kits are in stock and ready to ship. The Trailhead kit contains basic survival and first aid items. The BackCountry fleshes out the Trailhead kit contents and adds cooking items such as an aluminum cup, stove, and fuel. The Wilderness kit takes all of that and adds in shelter items like an ultralight nylon tarp and an emergency blanket. Covers for the two larger kits are also available.
I made a video showing the new Firesteel Super Strikers from my store. I was really pleased with the way the strikers turned out. They work as well (or better) than anything else I use, even the squared off spine of a fixed blade, which is impressive considering they are under $2.
Some customers asked if UST’s Wetfire can actually burn while floating in water. Yes, yes it can. I know I’m the guy shilling it, but that is pretty friggin’ cool.
I procured some WetFire from UST recently and was honestly not really expecting a whole lot. I mean, how much better could a fire starting tinder be than the five million other ones I have tried (slight exaggeration as I think I only have four million different tinders sitting in my house)? I have to say that the WetFire did impress, especially with its resistance to water. The stuff floats, lights very easily, and can even be lit while floating in a puddle of water. You can’t say all that about many tinders, if there are even any other ones out there like it.
Here is a video I made showing the WetFire in action:
I saw these Kodiak Firestarters at a recent show and was very impressed with how well thought out they were. They incorporate a large magnesium rod, firesteel, paracord with striker, compass, and thermometer all into a stout wooden handle. The firesteel is one of the ones that is harder than the other ones I sell, so it is easier to use, but the sparks do not last quite as long. They still work great for any tinder I could find, especially when used in conjunction with the magnesium.
I have been very impressed with the little guy so far and it is definitely the easiest and most well thought out firesteel based tool that I have ever used. The initial reports had it rated for something like 100 strikes, but it has a 1/4″ firesteel in there that should be good for at least several hundred strikes. The version I stock is the brand new version with the rotating firesteel that lets you rotate the rod to a spot that has not been scraped yet if you want/need to do that for any reason.
Surprisingly, even my wife wanted one. She normally rolls her eyes at any light producing, fire starting, or sharp cutting implements, so having her want one was a bit of a shock to me. She gets all enthusiastic at gun shows when customers ask what it is and launches into a demonstration of fire on one of our tables that will surely get me in trouble with the show owners one day.
They are still plastic like the Blastmatch and Strikeforce, but the small size, light weight, and ease of use with the Sparkie are steps in the right direction for UST.
I played with fire a bit more after messing with the Sunlighter, this time using fresnel lenses. If you are not familiar with a fresnel lens, picture a magnifying glass that is flat. It uses grooved rings on the surface to focus light, and can focus the sun’s light on a single point if you aim it correctly. On a sunny day, it can light tinder in a matter of seconds. The really large sizes can burn through a piece of wood, which is ridiculous and awesome at the same time.
