A hot meal in the backcountry can cure almost everything that ails you. Sore feet and cold bones melt away when you’re enjoying spoonfuls of your favorite dish. But before you dine, you must cook…and for that you’ll need a reliable stove for your travels. With a bevy of backpacking stoves lining store shelves, it may seem like a chore to choose the right one. Fast boil times, reliable performance, and rugged design are all features any good stove should tout. MSR is a company that’s no stranger to making backcountry life more comfortable, and they sent me their Windboiler stove system for a test run. I set out to determine if it’s worthy of being your go-to dinner prep device.
The Windboiler is loaded with features such as a straining lid, full sized 16oz bowl, fuel canister stand and a clear straining lid. Those are all nice, but in the end the two main components are the 1 liter pot and the radiant burner that runs off of isobutane fuel. The pot is big enough to store the stove, 3.9oz fuel canister and the stove stand. The convenient storage provided me with piece of mind that I hadn’t forgotten anything, and small parts were not mixed around in my pack. And pack I did, with the MSR stove joining me over hill and dale.
MSR claims the Windboiler is windproof, ultra-efficient, and user friendly. I have to agree with all of these claims. Whether I had calm skies or a prevailing wind, this stove fired up and boiled water quickly every single time. I timed several 1/2 liter boils, and MSR’s standard of 2 1/2 minutes (with 8-13mph winds) stood up. In fact, even in the baddest of breezes I had a full pot (1 liter) steaming in under 3:40. I also noticed that my isobutane canisters lasted a lot longer with the Windboiler compared to my other stoves, which backs up the ultra-efficient claim. Perhaps my favorite feature on the stove is the insulated cozy/handle sleeve that the pot slips into. I never burned my digits on the hot pot, and could immediately dole out whatever I had whipped up on the stove thanks to the handle. It’s a useful part of the Winboiler system.
A single scenario proved the value of this stove to more than any other I encountered. My girlfriend and I were camping in the Uintas, and I realized all too late that my water sterilizer was kaput (always check your batteries, folks!). “No worries” I said, “we’ll just boil.” She did not seemed pleased with this answer, but luckily the Windboiler had my back. I boiled up liter after liter of water until all of our bottles and reservoirs were full. Would we have enough fuel to cook our dinner? Never a doubt! Boiling up 6 liters of water had barely put a dent in our fuel supply, and I didn’t have to worry about any awkward apologies over energy bars and peanuts.
After many trips with this MSR stove, I have found two issues. The first is heat regulation. With every isobutane fueled stove, dialing in that perfect burner temperature is tough (it is for me, anyway). It seemed if I was doing any precision cooking (soups, rice, lentils, etc) I always ended up with some burned and wasted food on the bottom of the pot. The second issue I found is that it’s big. Not “take up all the space in your pack” big, but bigger than my other stove systems. The Windboiler might not be the first choice for the minimalists among us; however, the larger size of this stove can be offset when packing with a friend. Just make them carry something of yours, because this stove can easily handle dinner for 2 or more hikers.
As with other MSR products I have tested, the Windboiler stove system is definitely built to last. I threw it in totes with dishes and other cooking supplies during car camping trips, dropped it on rocks, and left it out in rainstorms and it’s still burning true every time. The thoughtful design touches such as the lid/strainer and cozy/handle are useful and don’t add much weight or bulk. If you’re in search of a backpacking stove that can handle dinner for the whole crew, the Windboiler is definitely worth checking out.
The Good: reliable, fast boil times and sizable enough to cook for multiple campers.
The Bad: Bulky size compared to other stoves on the market; not for precision cooking.
The Verdict: The MSR Windboiler stove system can cook for the whole squad, won’t waste fuel, and is chock full of useful features.