Jetboil vs MSR – Which is the better backpacking stove brand?

Nothing beats a warm meal after a long day in the outdoors. Imagine, that you are still able to enjoy a hot cup of coffee to your heart’s content in your camping tent. All of these experiences are made possible because of backpacking stoves.

There are a variety of designs which you can find in the market, but there are 2 brands that top the list. Both MSR and Jetboil have manufactured excellent backpacking stoves such as the Jetboil Minimo, Jetboil Flash, MSR Windburner or MSR Reactor – all of them selected as the best backpacking stoves in my list. If you are an avid outdoorsman, I am sure you would have heard of these brand names before: Jetboil and Mountain Safety Research (MSR).

Quick Comparison Table

Jetboil Company Background

Jetboil is one of the powerhouses for manufacturing lightweight portable stoves. Formed in 2001, the company was formed to solve the issue of backcountry cooking which was really inefficient.

Jetboil’s business model focuses on making the best camping stoves and cookware. Since Jetboil ONLY Focuses on making great backpacking stoves, they obviously excelled in this industry. All in all, they offer 5 different types of stoves: (a) The Basecamp, (b) Cook & Boil; (c) Boil-Only, (d) Lightweight stove and (e) 4-season stove.

MSR Company Background

Mountain Safety Research, or in short, MSR, is a company that manufactures outdoor equipment including hiking, mountaineering and camping. MSR is focused on producing lightweight equipment, that are meant to enhance your outdoor experience.

The company was founded in 1969 by Larry Penberthy. Even then, Larry developed the MSR 9 camp stove which is a relatively good stove in the good old days.

Now, they have a good selection of backpacking stoves which includes liquid fuel and canisters. One of their most popular brands is the MSR WindBurner, which we will do an in-depth review and make a comparison with the Jetboil backpacking stove.

Jetboil Minimo vs MSR Windburner

To make a valid comparison between both brands, I have picked the most popular stove from each brand. For purposes of comparison, I chose the Jetboil Minimo vs MSR Windburner.

If you are interested, I have made a comprehensive review on the Jetboil Minimo in my article on Jetboil MiniMo vs Jetboil Flash.

If you would like to see how we compare jetboil systems, I would highly encourage that you read our article on Jetboil Minimo vs Flash too.

As for the MSR Windburner, I have reviewed it in the MSR Windburner Review – Personal Stove System article.

However, in this post, I will highly the main features of both the Jetboil Minimo and the MSR Windburner before I make a comparison.

Reasons why I picked the Jetboil Minimo vs MSR Windburner

Both the Jetboil Minimo and MSR Windburner can be considered as a Regulatory Cooker. They are equipped with regulatory technology which allows the user to regulate the amount of heat that is released.

The Jetboil’s Proprietary Regulator Technology allows you to control the amount of pressure and volume of fluid that flows through the system. This supports consistent burning and allows you to choose whether you want to boil or simmer your food.

The MSR Windburner similarly has the boil-to-summer control, which is really important for precision cooking.

Significant Features for the Backpacking Stove

1. Jetboil MiniMo

Weight – This camping stove weigh 14.6 ounces/ 415 grams which is considered relatively lightweight.

Uses FluxRing Technology – This is significant because the FluxRing Technology helps the Jetboil MiniMo to reach a rolling boil in just 2 minutes.

One of the key features of Jetboil is the FluxRing, which is placed at the bottom of every Jetboil system. The FluxRing increases the surface area on the bottom of the pot. If the FluxRing is all stretched out, there would be large surface area to transfer the heat effectively. This allows the Jetboil to have a heat transfer efficiency as if it’s towards a large pot.

By utilizing the greater surface area, it will significantly reduce boiling time and improve fuel efficiency.

FluxRing Cooking Cup – The 1-Liter FluxRing Cooking cups which is a hard anodized aluminum cooking cup. It is capable of insulating heat, keeping the water or food within the cup warm and cozy.

The cooking Cup allows you to drink through the lid too. There is a pour spout and strainer to help you with that.

The cooking cup can pack a 100g Jetpower can too, easing your burden of carrying it.

It has a height of 180mm, weight of 275 grams and a dimension of 104mm x 180mm.

Jetboil’s Proprietary Regulator Techology – The Proprietary Regulator Technology is able to control the pressure and fluid that flows through the system.

You can make 4 full turns of the spindle, allowing you to incrementally adjust the amount of fuel flowing through which is essential to ensure consistent heat output. You will be able to maneuver it from a light simmer, to a rolling boil.

This means you will be able to have a properly cooked egg or a cup of coffee that is just right in less than 2 minutes. Jetboil’s regulated stoves contains a wide range of incremental heat output.

2. MSR Windburner

The MSR Windburner is actually made by combining the award-winning Reactor® technology and the WindBurner Stove System.

Compact Nesting – With the MSR Windburner, you can pack all the required items into one pot. To fully understand what compact nesting really means, you can check out the video below. MSR had made the stoves to ease your backpacking trips. On a side note, it help ensures that you don’t leave anything behind too!   

Windproof – The windproof design allows the MSR Windburner to boil water really fast and operate in cold weather efficiently.

Boil-to-simmer control – The Boil-to-simmer control of the MSR Windburner allows for precision cooking. This Regulatory Technology is definitely something to reckon with too. The flame is really versatile. It can produce a satisfying low flame.  

Jetboil vs MSR – The Ultimate Showdown

After going through the important features of each stove, here are some important aspects that we can compare:

1. Price

Both the integrated stove systems are considered to be on the higher-end of the market. Although you can choose to purchase a more affordable backpacking stove, these stoves are more expensive because they are an integrated stove system.

Jetboil Minimo – The Jetboil Flash now costs $134.50 (Without the fuel canister). This would include the 1-liter cooking cup as well.

MSR Windburner – The MSR Windburner costs $149.90 without the fuel canister as well. However, there is an extra item which is the 0.5 Liter integrated bowl which is useful for measuring the volume of liquid.

Winner: Jetboil Minimo

2. Weight

Jetboil Minimo – The Jetboil MiniMo weighs 14.6 ounces or 415 grams when it’s fully equipped.  

MSR Windburner – The MSR Windburner, when fully stuffed with all its component, weighs 440 grams (15.5 oz).

To be honest, the MSR Windburner only weighs slightly more primarily because it has an extra 0.5-liter cup with it. However, if we were to pick a winner, the Jetboil MiniMo wins on this aspect.  

If you are really interested in lightweight stoves, I would definitely recommend the MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe which weighs only 2.9 oz. or even the Snow Peak LiteMax which weighs 1.9 oz. However, since both stoves are fully-integrated stoves, you can consider their weight to be healthy.

Winner: Jetboil Minimo

3. Windproofing

Jetboil Minimo – The Jetboil MiniMo does not have any specific functions that is meant for windproofing the stove. However, the fact that its equipped with the FluxRing Technology allows the stove to have an advantage by being able to heat up the stove in a shorter amount of time. However, it is still affected by the surrounding wind conditions.

MSR Windburner – The MSR Windburner is equipped with a 100% primary air combustion which is due to its enclosed design. The internal pressure regulator helps the stove function efficiently and not be influenced by external conditions.

Although the Jetboil MiniMo can cook well even when it’s 20°F or -6.667°C, the MiniMo still tend to lose out in high-wind conditions. If your area is often windy, you may want to consider a stove with better wind-proofing abilities, which is the MSR Windburner.  

Winner: MSR Windburner

4. Boil Time

Jetboil Minimo – Equipped with the FluxRing Technology, the MiniMo is able to reach a rolling boil for 0.5 liters of water in just 135 seconds (or even lesser). This is pretty impressive considering that the MiniMo allows simmer control as well. However, the Jetboil Flash is capable of beating this impressive feat by boiling 0.5 liters of water in just 100 seconds!  

MSR Windburner – The listed boiling time for the MSR windburner is that it can boil 1 Liter of water in 4 minutes 30 seconds (which translates to 270 seconds)  

In comparison, the Jetboil MiniMo wins by a slight margin. I do admit that the listed time may not be accurate. In fact, the boil time may even be lesser than what is listed.  

Winner: Jetboil MiniMo

5. Fuel Efficiency

Jetboil Minimo – For the Jetboil MiniMo, for every 100 grams of Jetpower fuel, you can boil 12 liters of water.  

MSR Windburner – The MSR Windburner has a boils per ounce of fuel of 2.3 L/oz. This means that if we use a 3.9 oz. (110grams) canister, you will be able to boil 9 liters of water.

With 110 grams of Jetpower fuel, the Jetboil MiniMo will be able to boil 13.2 liters of water. Of course, this is provided that both the Jetboil MiniMo and MSR Windburner are tested in an environment where it is not too windy and not too cold.

Winner: Jetboil MiniMo

Concluding Thoughts

Generally, both the MSR Windburner and Jetboil MiniMo share many similarities in terms of functionalities. However, there are nuances in the results each backpacking stove can bring.

For example, both of these have the simmer-to-boil function, which allows you to cook with them.

If we were to pick an overall champion, I would give it to the Jetboil MiniMo because it won in most of the listed categories. But, if you are going to camp in a place that is windy, I would definitely recommend getting the MSR Windburner.