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 preferrred for mountaineering and winter treks. The WhisperLite is extraordinarily gasoline environment friendly, can deal with full-sized cookware with its secure basis, and is nearly unaffected by wind. We didn’t go simple 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 light-weight, but it surely’s not ultralight. We wouldn’t advocate this range for the standard three-season backpacker. It’s considerably heavier than most backpacking stoves (together with the gasoline), and has slightly little bit of a studying curve to function, making it not preferrred for newbie backpackers. For less complicated and extra light-weight range choices, try our full information to backpacking stoves.
Fast Specs
MSR WhisperLite
Finest Liquid Gas Range for Winter Treks
Rating:
51/100
Value:
$135
Weight:
9.5 oz.
Gas Kind:
White gasoline
Boil Time:
5m 50s
Burn Time (8 oz. gasoline):
44m
Professionals
- Performs nicely in excessive chilly & excessive altitude
- Environment friendly
- Quieter than different liquid gasoline stoves
- Secure pot help
Cons
- Slight studying curve
- No simmer management
- Heavy/cumbersome
- Costly
Comfort
The WhisperLite isn’t a ‘flip a knob and flick a change’ sort of range to function – it has a little bit of a studying curve, however when you get the cling of it it’s no huge deal. There’s a gasoline bottle that needs to be stuffed, then pumped to pressurize the gasoline, then hooked up to the gasoline line. Then the range must be preheated (“primed”) earlier than you’re able to activate the principle 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 should be disassembled and the gasoline bottle depressurized. Don’t fear, it goes rapidly after some time and there are precious trade-offs to this maneuvering.
The WhisperLite is ideal for a base camp kitchen situation. Not like different backpacking stoves, it may well deal with bigger pots and pans, making it preferrred for cooking for a gaggle (although it makes use of fairly a little bit of gasoline, we’ve managed to boil a number of gallons of water at a time in a big pot for a dozen individuals).
Weight & Packability
The WhisperLite, when together with all of its equipment just like the gasoline pump, windscreen, and warmth reflector, weighs in at about 15.4 ounces. If you have 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 techniques come fairly shut in weight. Nevertheless, in case your goal is shaving ounces out of your pack weight, we advocate wanting elsewhere.
The WhisperLite and all of its elements are available in a handy drawstring carrying bag that finally ends up being concerning the measurement of a cantaloupe, making the quantity of the range extra important than the burden.
Along with the general measurement of the range itself, the WhisperLite makes use of white gasoline gasoline versus IsoPro. White gasoline is saved in particular rectangular, MSR gasoline bottles which most individuals wish to retailer on the surface 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 gasoline.
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 probably the most spectacular boil time by any means however chances are high, 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 circumstances, nevertheless, the WhisperLite excels over most different backpacking stoves, because of 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 instantly on the burner, solely elevated by lower than 20%.
The MSR WhisperLite is well one of the vital gasoline 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 gasoline to boil one liter of water. On condition that its efficiency hardly faltered in important wind, we’re assured that the WhisperLite offers you the perfect bang on your buck out of a bottle of gasoline. This implies longer expeditions with much less gasoline.
As a bonus, the effectivity of the WhisperLite additionally makes it one of the vital environmentally pleasant stoves on the market. It not solely cuts down on gasoline waste, but additionally avoids the pointless waste of empty gasoline canisters, because the MSR gasoline 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 as a consequence of how the gasoline is distributed. For the same range that has higher simmer management, we advocate testing ones which are appropriate with isobutane/propane canisters. The MSR WhisperLite Common is appropriate 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 another goal the place each ounce of weight financial savings counts. White Fuel gasoline is more durable to return by, the range is cumbersome, and overkill for truthful climate environments.
Nevertheless, 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’ll be able to set your thoughts relaxed figuring out that your range will work regardless of chilly temps and excessive winds. It’s additionally an important possibility for teams that wish to cook dinner collectively and disperse the pack weight amongst the group.
What Different Backpacking Stoves Ought to You Take into account?
JetBoil Flash Evaluate: An built-in range system just like the JetBoil Flash will provide you with comparable stability and wind blocking to the WhisperLite however in a barely smaller and lighter bundle. The canister gasoline is normally extra out there and the Flash is understood to be extremely environment friendly with respectable simmer management.
