I have owned the Jetboil TI Sol for almost 3 years now, so this has to be the slowest gear review in the history of gear blogging. I’m not sure if I can add anything to discussion, but what the heck. The Jetboil TI Sol is the titanium version of the Jetboil solo stove. A complete cooking system in a light package. It’s main purpose is to boil water, and it’s damn good at boiling water.
If your like me and just about any other backpacker on the planet, your main need is to boil water to rehydrate your packaged foods and boil for coffee.. then the Jetboil should suite your needs just fine.
What you get
The Jetboil TI Sol is a self contained unit with everything thats needed in a simple little package. It has a pezo lighter built in, an adjustable pressure regulator, insulated pot sleeve, Plastic lid with strainer, a plastic cup and last but not least the actual pot itself that is .8 liters.
A gas canister easily fits in the pot along with with the regulator. I usually leave everything at home except for the pot, lid and gas regulator. Though I’m certain that the rest of equipment serves a purpose….
In use
I am a sucker for simplicity and I’m not sure it’s possible to make an more simplistic stove. Just screw on the gas can, put the pot on and press the ignitor. (this of course can be said for any jetboil or these style of stoves). Having used this stove on and off for over three years it has only failed me once, in Iceland, pouring rain the ignitor didn’t take. With that one exception this stove has been very trustworthy. There is a lot to be said about these kinds of stoves and there is a very good reason they have become so popular during the last decade or so.
With that said the Jetboil TI Sol has one function and one function only: Boil water as quickly and effeciently as possible. There is no simmer (officially there is, but don’t bother). This one function it has and serves perfectly. Boil time on my kitchen stove (which by the way is the most useless metric in backpacking is a staggering 3 minutes and 47 seconds with .5 liters of water) Fuel consumption is around 5grams of fuel. In the wild depending on the wind and chill factor (colder air means slower boil time), boiling is around 3.5 – 5 minutes. I usually try to calculate for my trips 8 grams of fuel per boil.
However this gives kind of an unrealistic picture of the jetboil and how I use it. I rarely boil water in the wild and most the time I run water through my filter and get the water to “warm enough” – which is around 2.5 minutes and 4 grams of fuel. Meaning one tiny can at 229 grams will last me a very long time along a trail.
Eating
This probably goes without saying but I will write anyway. I eat directly from the pot, because the pot is rather tall I find that regular length spoons are a pain, so I use a long length spoon to dig deep in the pot. Also, though the cozy I’m sure serves a purpose, it atleast let’s holding a freshly heated meal possible.
Conclusion
A lot of new stove system have been introduced on the market since the Jetboil TI SOl has been released. The weight differences today are perhaps not as wide as they once were. Aluminum systems that weigh 100 grams more can be bought for a 100usd less. There are also simple pot and stove solutions that weigh 150 grams total (evernew pot and BSR 1000 titanium stove). However, I still find the Jetboil ti sol to be a viable solution if your looking for this style stove. They can now be purchased at competitive prices on ebay and amazon. This system is still to my knowledge the lightest fast boil system available (correct me if I’m wrong)
After three years this system is still going strong for me and while it might not be my first choice, it is by far my simplist choice.
The good:
Complete cooking system
Fast boil
Self contained unit that fits nicely in my backpack
Relatively light at 242 grams for the trimmed down system that I bring (just the pot, lid and regulator)
The bad:
Like hot water? That’s all your going to get with this. Don’t bother bringing anything else
Not sure what purpose the pot cozy has.
Heavy compared to some of the ultralight kits available. (Trail designs, BSR1000, any alcohol stove and so on)
Uses gas – I am terrible at determining how much gas I need to have with me, thus I always bring way too much.
No wind shield.. Always looking for a hole to dig this down in as each breeze increases boil time significantly.
I can’t even imagine trying to use a stove in the wild with no wind shield..seeing that i rarely bring a tent i guess this one is out.
I would say, though, that if you can boil water in it you should be able to cook white rice, since that only requires bringing it to a boil, putting the lid on, turning off the stove, and waiting about 20 minutes. You might try that.