Successful Innovative Company of the week: volume 19

The successful innovative company of the week is: Jetboil

what they do right: Jetboil came on the camping and mountaineering stove scene in 2001 with their namesake signature stove. This stove changed the possibilities of what a stove could do. It is more effiecient than any stove was before. It locks in place so it is easy to hang in steep situations. It has neoprene on the outside so you can grab it with barehands when there is boiling water inside. It is made of aluminum and is very light. The actual stove and a fuel canister pack inside the mated pot. It just works better than any stove that came before it. This was a game changer.

I was talking with an aquaintance who is a professional mountain guide and he said that on a training trip about two years ago he started to cook supper and he was the only person that didn't have a jetboil so he went out and bought one the first chance he had. When professional mountain guides are all using it you know it works.

Since their first product they have expanded to include pans and larger pots and detached fuel canisters. Their product line includes everything for cooking. They also have a coffee press attachment and I have to say a nice cup of coffee in the morning is so nice sometimes.

What they could improve: Simply put a few years after Jetboil came on the scene MSR responded with the Reactor. The Reactor is amazing and I would easily take it over the Jetboil. It boils water faster, it has a bigger pot, and is less prone to wind which are all significant factors when using the stove to mainly melt snow high on a mountain (which is what I like to do). The Reactor does not have the twist lock connection that the Jetboil has and thus I have never seen anybody hang one, which is necessary when you are using a portaledge (which I also like to do).

I would also be interested to see what Jetboil could do in the liquid fuel stove realm. Currently all of their stoves use propane/butane canisters. Offering a stove that used white gas and/or kerosene would expand their appeal.