Overall View
The ground-breaking Jetboil PCS just got better! Lighter, more efficient and now with free stabiliser and pot converter the new Jetboil Flash is light enough for a wild camp but efficient enough for car based camping.
Real World Test
We've been using the original Jetboil PCS for several years now and we've become quite attached to it, so the prospect of a new version promising better efficiency and a few useful tweaks immediately appealed to us.

The Flash looks pretty much like the original Jetboil at first glance but start looking closer and there's some neat tweaks to the original. After several years use we had problems with two aspects of the original Jetboil PCS; the ignition system and the burner head - and both of these have been addressed in the design of the Flash. Where the ceramic part of the ignition previously stood almost a full centimetre above the burner in the Flash it's much lower and less susceptible to getting knocked and damaged during use and even during packing. The old system also had an issue with the burner head, with the wire mesh coming loose - this has been addressed with a completely redesigned burner head which is now a single piece with no mesh to detach from the main body.

More cosmetic, rather than functional, changes include a new temperature sensitive heat indicator which changes colour as the contents get hotter and a new semi-transparent lid to replace the solid rubberised version previously used. You also get the stabiliser and pot converter included in the Flash, saving around £15 over the original where these were optional extras.

The new Flash weighs in at 496g, including the stabiliser and pot converter, which is a 10g saving over the original despite the Flash being a couple of millimetres higher - but it's in the efficiency thast you'll see the biggest differences. In our tests, which involved boiling 500m of water from an ambient 14C temperature up to boiling, we got almost 25% more water boiled on a single gas canister (100g)and a boil time down from 2:08 to 1:54. At the same time we found the Flash less top heavy, and therefore more stable, than the previous version. The flame adjuster has also gone through the tweaking process, now made of stiff wire and protruding slightly further than previously - reducing the incidence of burnt fingers as you frantically try and adjust the flame as the water starts to boil and drips down the side.

We could live without the cosmetic changes like the colour changing heat indicator but the new ignition system, better designed flame adjuster and new head design are big improvements. Including the stand and pot converter makes a lot of sense, both improving stability and versatility out of the box and making the system more suitable for a wider range of camping solutions.

Price: £85

Weight: 496g

Colour: Various via sleeves

Features:

• 1lt FluxRing cooking cup with insulating cosy, featuring Flash colour-change heat indicator
• Adjustable stainless steel burner with push button ignityion
• Drink through lid
• Insulating bottom cover/measuring cup
• Tripod base for stability
• Available in old, Violet and Carbon

Pros:

• Efficviency
• Improved burner head
• Improved gas adjuster
• Stand and pot converter included
• Lighter weight

Cons: Not as good as a remote canister in cold weather

Note: This article was restored from the archives. It's published creation date is inaccurate.