MSR Simmerlite Stove

Pros: efficient, great heat distribution, compact and light, easy field maintenance, doubles as a plastic welding torch in a pinch.

Cons: takes time to prime, bulkier system than butane stoves, lots of parts that can break.

My personal preference for a lightweight stove is the Jetboil PCS. But that is largely because I don’t use one often and it’s convenient when I do. But if I were to need a backcountry stove more than a couple times every year, the pressured fuel canisters would really take a toll on the pocketbook and add a lot to landfills. In that case, the MSR Simmerlite is a great stove. I had one for years and on the occasions I did use it, it proved itself as the best white-gas stove I’ve ever used.

And I was even able to find fuel for it in Peru, so it’s plenty available for most travelers. There are many multi-fuel stoves available with similar functionality, but what is particularly great is the burner on the simmerlite. It burns very completely, which means no soot on your pots and better fuel economy. And more importantly, this burner gives great heat control. So you can actually cook food instead of just-add-water meals. So when you burn the homefries or overcook an egg, you can’t go blaming the equipment this time.

Reviewed by: Dan Thurber

See our Stove selection here.

Big Agnes Diversion Insulated Air Core....(the green one)

It continues to surprise me just how few of my outdoorsy friends have even heard of the Big Agnes air core sleeping pads. It is hands-down the most comfortable camping mattress I've ever slept on: better than even the 4" Paco Pads typical on rafting trips. And on top of the superior comfort, the BA pads pack down smaller than anything else out there. Rolled up, it's about the size of a bivy sack. They've taken the bulky foam out of conventional camping air mattresses to significantly reduce weight and bulk.



The lack of foam comes with two compromises. The first is warmth - foam is great insulation from body heat conducting into the cold ground. Big Agnes stuffs the pads with synthetic insulation to help, but the reality is that these fibers aren't resilient enough to withstand pad abuse. After about 50 or so cycles of packing and inflating, the insulation doesn't do much but clump up.

The other drawback is that foam self-inflates (at least for a while). With the Air Core you're stuck inflating it by mouth. It's really a small annoyance and takes just a couple minutes to take care of. The extra two minutes each night to make the bed is well-worth the comfort of a good night's sleep.



I think this is going to be the new hot thing in sleeping pads. Get one for yourself or as a gift and lead the trend. Your back will thank you later.

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Reviewed by: Dan Thurber