Known for its sleek, lightweight all-in-one backpacking stove systems, Jetboil was founded around the ideal of a faster-boiling portable stove. Its latest Fast Boil stove series makes boiling and heating that much quicker and more seamless with critical upgrades that include a smoother quick-dial ignition, better pot-to-stove locking system, and surer, more user-friendly grip. Cooking up breakfast, lunch and dinner miles from the vaguest evidence of human civilization becomes easier than ever before.
The Fast Boil Series comprises some of Jetboil's lightest, most packable stoves and coffeemaker products, and the entire series, minus the featherlight Stash that launched just a few years ago, benefits from this month's update. More specifically, the update extends to the Flash, Flash Java and Zip stoves.
The Jetboil Flash combines a lower burner that threads directly onto a propane/isobutane canister, a set of packable legs that stabilize the system, a 1-L pot that locks in atop the burner, a pot lid with pour and strainer sides, and a cup for serving. It's an all-in-one solution for a steady, stable backcountry cooking experience.
We've long thought of the Flash as Jetboil's smartest stove thanks to the simple but effective thermo-chromatic indicator slashed across the front side that changes color to let users know when the water is up to boil and ready for use. The system works so that the user doesn't have to take off the lid and peek in, letting heat escape in the process, but still knows the water is ready before it starts boiling over. The Flash function has been a simple but marked upgrade to basic backcountry boiling and cooking since it was first introduced in 2009.
The newly updated Flash 1.0L ditches the old spindly wire gas control and separate piezoelectric ignition button for a more robust dial that both turns on the gas and ignites the burner with a simple twist, more like operating a gas range at home. A half-turn is all it takes to spark the igniter, which itself is encased in ceramic for more durable, long-lasting performance.
The new stove also benefits from a rubberized grip around the neck of the burner for more comfortable handling when picking the system up, screwing the burner onto the isobutane/propane canister and the pot onto the burner, igniting and adjusting the flame, etc. The grip is colored bright orange and texturized to ensure it's easy to find, grab and hold onto.
A new three-point locking mechanism makes for improved pot-to-burner attachment and includes a lock indicator letting the user know it's properly installed. The new mechanism is also designed for smoother removal.
The Flash stabilizer legs now fold up to nest inside the burner, and the whole package than fits inside the 1-L pot, along with the gas canister. The included plastic cup that can be used for measuring and serving fits over top the rough base of the pot to smooth out the packed form for safely and comfortably loading in one's pack, boat, bicycle, etc. The system weighs in well under a pound at 13.1 oz (371 g), not including the butane canister that is sold separately.
The Flash Java, essentially the Flash with a stowable silicone coffee press, receives the same updates as the Flash. The Zip 0.8-L system, meanwhile, already had an ignition dial, which gets reworked into the same style of dial as on the Flash for smoother operation. The Zip has also received the tri-point locking mechanism and a rubberized grip that's shaded a lower-profile gray/charcoal color instead of high-vis orange.
What hasn't changed is the Fast Boil stoves' patented FluxRing technology, the sharply corrugated ring around the pot base that increases metallic surface area to speed up heating. Jetboil's original innovation, this ring essentially gives a slim, cup-like pot surface area more akin to a traditional wide pot to ensure faster, more efficient heating and boiling. The Flash is designed to boil a half-liter of water in two minutes flat.
All in all, it sounds like Jetboil has wisely incorporated user feedback into making an already popular backcountry cooking system that much easier to use after a long day on the trail or river. The updated stove systems are available now, and the Flash 1.0L retails for $130, the Flash Java for $145, and the Zip for $100.
Source: Jetboil