MSR PocketRocket 2 Review: 73 Grams of Dependable Flame
At 73 grams the PocketRocket 2 disappears into a pack, yet it lights on the first flick and holds a steady flame from a whisper to a roar. It is the stove thousands of thru-hikers carry because it does one job, boils water, with almost nothing to go wrong. Pair it with any pot you already own and you have a complete cook kit for the weight of a chocolate bar.
What we liked
- Seventy-three grams, which is light enough to forget you packed it
- Folding pot supports are genuinely stable under a full two-liter pot
- Simmer control is smooth and precise, unusual for a stove this small
- Reliable piezo igniter and a wide flame that resists being blown out
- Threads onto any standard isobutane canister with no adapters
What to watch
- No built-in wind protection, so you need a screen or a sheltered spot
- Pot supports get hot and there is no handle or lever to fold them safely
- Cold weather and low canisters make it struggle where liquid fuel would not
In depth
How a canister stove actually works
A canister stove burns vapour drawn from the top of a pressurised canister of isobutane and propane. The mix matters: propane vaporises at much lower temperatures than isobutane, so a canister with a higher propane percentage keeps producing pressure when a pure isobutane canister has slowed to a weak flame.
This is why the same stove behaves differently in July and January. In the cold, the canister cools as vapour is drawn off, which lowers the pressure further, which weakens the flame further. Keeping the canister warm, in a jacket pocket or inside a sleeping bag overnight, often fixes a stove that appears to be failing.
Understanding this also explains why a nearly empty canister feels weak: there is less liquid surface to vaporise from, and the canister is lighter so it cools faster. Using the last of a canister for a hot drink rather than a full meal is the pragmatic approach.
Wind, pot choice and fuel efficiency
Wind is the largest single cause of fuel waste with a bare burner. A breeze that a person barely notices will push the flame sideways and stretch a three-minute boil into six. Picking a sheltered spot, using your body or a pack as a windbreak, or building a small rock wall around the stove costs nothing and saves real fuel.
Pot choice matters as much as the stove. A pot with a heat exchanger base captures far more of the flame than a plain one, and a lid keeps heat in the water rather than letting it escape. Wide, shallow pots lose more heat than tall, narrow ones on the same burner.
A windscreen designed for canister stoves, one that wraps only the burner and leaves the canister outside, can improve efficiency noticeably. A fully enclosing screen that traps heat around the canister is unsafe, since it can raise the internal pressure of the fuel.
What you can and cannot cook on it
This stove is excellent at boiling and at rehydrating. It will boil water for freeze-dried meals, noodles, coffee and tea all day without complaint, and the simmer control is smooth enough for oatmeal or a simple sauce as long as you stay with it and stir.
What it will not do well is anything that needs even heat over a large area: pancakes, stir fries, or a real one-pot meal with several ingredients added at different times. The flame is concentrated in the centre of the pot, so food on the outside edge of a wide pan will not keep up with food in the middle, and the pot supports sit high enough that a heavy pan feels precarious.
A practical compromise for people who want more than boiling is to carry a slightly wider pot than the stove needs and to cook one-pot meals with quick-cooking ingredients such as couscous, instant rice or dehydrated refried beans.
Fuel planning: canisters and trip maths
Fuel planning is mostly arithmetic plus a safety margin. Estimate the litres you will boil per day, multiply by days, then check that against the canister's rated boil capacity rather than its burn time, which is measured at a low setting and is misleading for real use.
The variables that push consumption up are cold water, wind, altitude, a hot drink habit and any actual cooking. The variables that push it down are a lid, a heat exchanger pot, a sheltered pitch and pre-soaking dehydrated food. A margin of about a third on top of your estimate is a reasonable buffer for a trip where running out means cold food.
Canister compatibility is worth thinking about for travel. Standard threaded canisters are widely available in North America and Europe, but in some regions you will only find pierceable or local formats, where a different stove is needed entirely.
Care, safety and troubleshooting
The most common problem with any canister stove is a poor connection at the canister threads. Grit in the threads or a worn O-ring causes a leak and an uneven flame. Wipe the threads, inspect the O-ring, and replace it if it is cracked or flattened. Thread the canister on by hand and stop when it seats rather than forcing it.
The piezo igniter is convenient but not infallible, especially when wet or at altitude. Carrying a lighter as backup costs almost nothing and prevents the situation where you have fuel, food and no way to light the stove. A wet igniter usually works again once it dries.
Carbon monoxide is the serious safety issue. Cooking inside a closed tent or a zipped-up vestibule can produce dangerous concentrations of CO, which is odourless. Always burn in a well-ventilated space, and never leave a stove burning as a heat source while you sleep.
When to step up to something else
An integrated system makes sense if speed is the priority and your food is boil-in-a-bag. The flux ring and the enclosed burner beat a bare stove in wind and cut boil times noticeably, at the cost of flexibility and a bigger packed volume.
A liquid fuel stove is the answer for sustained sub-freezing conditions, for melting large volumes of snow, or for travel where canister availability is unpredictable. Liquid fuel works from a pump and a bottle and is unaffected by the cold in the same way, though it is heavier and requires priming.
For most three-season hiking, though, a small canister stove paired with a pot you already own is the lightest and simplest solution, and the reliability of a design with almost no moving parts is a large part of why it remains the default.
Questions we get asked
How many litres can one canister boil?
A 100 g canister typically boils well under 20 litres in mild, sheltered conditions. Cold water, wind, altitude and actual cooking all reduce that, so plan with a margin rather than to the last boil.
Is a windscreen safe with a canister stove?
A screen that shields only the burner is fine. A fully enclosing screen that traps heat around the canister is not, because raising the canister's temperature raises its internal pressure. Use natural shelter instead where possible.
Can it use any gas canister?
It uses standard threaded canisters with an isobutane and propane mix. Pierceable canisters and some regional formats will not fit, so check what is sold where you are going before relying on buying fuel locally.
How does it perform at altitude?
The flame burns normally, but the lower boiling point means food may need longer soaking to rehydrate. Choose a mix with more propane and keep the canister warm, since cold is the bigger limiting factor than altitude itself.
Why does my stove suddenly burn weakly?
Usually a cold or nearly empty canister, or a partially blocked jet. Warm the canister, check that it still has fuel, and if the problem persists, clean the jet according to the manufacturer's instructions rather than poking it with wire.