Review: Jetboil Flash PCS

Back in what seems like the dark ages of the 90s, camp stoves were heavy and unreliable. In 2004, Jetboil changed all this with their first stove. While it may be a bit melodramatic, Jetboil has revolutionized lightweight and mountaineering cooking. Ever since that day, the competition has been playing catch-up.

MSR has since come out with the Reactor, and Primus is soon to release their own competitor to the PCS. However, Jetboil hasn’t taken this lying down. The Flash PCS is the latest version of the stove that has had several feature improvements over the years.

As the PR people for Jetboil’s competition constantly remind me, a previous version of the Flash PCS (called the PCS) had issues with the burner that resulted in a rather large recall for the company. The Flash PCS has had this issue fixed and is as reliable as ever.

So, what exactly is so great about the Flash PCS? In its essence, the Flash PCS is an insulated mug with a stove attached to it. While that may not seem like such a revolutionary concept, hear me out.

In roughly the space of the fuel bottle for other stoves, the Flash PCS stores the stove, fuel, measuring cup, and a 1 liter mug. Gone are pounds of gear that you would have had to bring along on previous trips. Instead, you have a 379g (w/o fuel) ‘cooking system’ that can be packed up smaller than almost anything else out there. Additionally, the stove is extremely efficient, reducing the amount of fuel you’ll need to bring along. Setup takes seconds and no matches are needed to light the stove as it has an included piezo ignition.

There are some limitations to the Flash PCS. Since it’s basically an insulated mug, you’re not going to be cooking any gourmet meals in it. The Flash PCS is pretty much good for boiling water, and that’s about it. If you’re looking for more involved meals, you’ll have to upgrade to a larger stove like the GCS or the Helios. A larger pot is available, but it does make the stove much less compact.

That said, if you can live with the limitations of the stove, it does what its designed to do very well. Every single piece of the stove has been well thought out. My favorite feature of the stove is also one of the most boring. Jetboil manufactured the base of the stove out of plastic instead of metal. I’ve had huge problems with other stoves rusting where the gas canister connects as there will inevitably be a bit of moisture left in the pot after cleaning up that the stove sits in. Since Jetboil manufactured the base out of plastic, the metal part that hooks into the gas canister never actually touches the ground, thus removing this problem all together. While it’s a minor detail, it removes a huge headache from my typical camping trip.

The rest of the stove has some pretty nice features too. The insulating cozy serves as both a handle and an insulator. Also, an indicator is built in to the side of the cozy that changes color to tell you when the water is hot. The lid of the stove can be used to strain pasta or to aid in drinking directly out of the pot. A ‘tripod’ is included that snaps on to the bottom of the gas canister that provides quite a bit of extra stability. Even the lid for the bottom of the unit can serve as a measuring cup.

As would be expected, performance is much faster than traditional white gas stoves. The Flash PCS does actually boil 1/2 a liter of water in the 2 minutes that the company claims. Obviously this will be a bit slower if you’re using it at altitude and starting with glacial ice. However, this is quite a bit faster than it used to take on the old expedition stoves.

I really can’t say enough good things about the Flash PCS. If you’re looking for something extremely lightweight that will prepare your freeze dried meals, this is the stove for you. It’s very well thought out and at $99.95, a relative bargain too.

Product sample provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.