Thoughts on the MSR cooking pot recall, and why Alex Lee will stay the course with his Reactor stove and pot.
The issue highlighted in the recent MSR recall concerns the detachability of the Reactor stove’s cooking pot handle.
I have been using the Reactor for years and have been very aware of this problem, but ultimately, consider it a feature, not a bug. I will not be participating in the recall because I like the option of popping off the handle for packability. The handle is designed to be deployed or folded over the lid. A feature set I find useful when packing for a trip, and backpack space is highly valued (meaning you are running out of room /volume). It’s nice to use the pot space for storage, leave the lid and handle off entirely, and place them securely in the pack. I have found the handle easy enough to pop back on. But I do wish this was “designed in” so the handle was more secure and could lock into place. Possibly, a locked-in-place feature may be an option down the line.
With the Reactor handle as is, I am, however, very cautious with boiling water and make sure not to twist the handle when in use.
Looking for a pot to nest a standard fuel canister and reactor stove unit, the 1.7L Reactor pot runs a bit too small for the duo. Photo: MSR
With a Reactor specific 2.5L pot, which is a large pot, a standard fuel canister and stove unit nest inside the pot. Photo: MSR
Two bigger issues with the Reactor are:
1) Its size: the 1.7-liter standard pot only barely doesn’t fit a standard medium MSR fuel can and Reactor stove head inside with the lid closed. This lack of fuel can and burner nesting within the standard pot is a huge oversight, IMHO.
2) The reactor has an internal valve failsafe that melts when overheated to prevent fuel spill. This potential melting is not a common problem. However, a melted valve is not field repairable (not practically fixable), happens without warning, and is more likely to occur with older stoves. This potential failure hasn’t happened to me, but it is also not something I want to worry about halfway through a big winter trip—as experienced recently by a friend.
Don’t dump boiling water on yourself, your friends, or your down. This recall is a great catch from MSR, ultimately I still really like the stove, but, it doesn’t mean you should. That said, my all-time favorite stove and go-to still beats the competition.
MSR
It drives me nuts the 1.7l doesn’t fit a medium can and burner. I’ve figured out ways, mainly putting the can upside down, then the burner in the concavity of the can, but you still have to pad the can from scratching the crap out of the pot and it still takes some forcing to make it work. Huge oversight for sure. It ‘almost’ works but just not enough to drive you a little nuts. Overall, still the best snow melter there is though.
MSR WIndburner 1.0L pot fits 4oz fuel canister with the burner nested perfectly, and the 1.8L pot fits 8oz fuel canister with the burner nested perfectly. The Windburner also has a field resettable thermal trip switch unlike the Reactor.
MSR has outlined some of the other differences here: https://www.msrgear.com/blog/windboiler-vs-reactor-whats-difference/
After some hemming and hawing, I went with the Windburner and have no regrets thus far.