Jetboil Flash 1.0 review: safer and easier to use than the original, still boils water at a blistering pace

Jetboil Flash 1.0: first impressions 

If you like to get the camping stove going so you can boil water while you pitch your tent and inflate your sleeping pad, the Jetboil is not for you. This camping stove cook system gets water boiling so fast you'll barely have time to find the tea bags, but that's old news.

The new and much-improved Jetboil 1.0 has taken all the things that made its Jetboil Flash predecessor great – blistering boil time of under two minutes, fuel efficiency and ease-of-use – and simply made it all better. We've no doubt the complaints department at Jetboil's parent company Johnson Outdoors got tired of people writing in to say the ignition switch at had failed or they'd burnt their fingers trying to detach the pot, so they did something about it.

The biggest upgrade on the Jetboil 1.0 is the turn-and-click ignition, which works just like your stove at home. Just attach the pot to the stove, turn the switch to the left, and when it clicks, the stove comes roaring to life. You can turn the heat down by turning the dial clockwise.

Other upgrades are what the brand calls the new grip zone – essentially a silicone grip at the base of the stove that makes it easy to handle safely when hot. We love that it's bright orange so you always know exactly where to place your hands.

Finally, the improved pot-to-burner connection means you can just place the stove on the ground (or the stabilizing feet) light it, then easily place the pot on top and turn it once to click it into place. You're never in any doubt that you've set it up correctly.

Like the original, the whole package is quite large, but it makes up for its bulk with a light weight, and it all packs neatly inside itself. It's still got the heat indicator on the sleeve that changes color to let you know your water is boiling, it's still extremely fuel efficient and it's still the same price. So is it worth the hefty price tag? Absolutely. Read on to find out why.

JetBoil Flash 1.0: in the field 

The Jetboil has been the gold standard for camping stoves for a while, and pretty much the only complaint it ever got was that the ignition switch would fail. This just meant that people had to use a lighter, which isn't the end of the world since you should really carry one on any camping trip, but for the price of this piece of gear, you do want it to work properly, for a long time.

So when Jetboil reached out to say that they'd finally fixed this flaw, I jumped at the chance to take this up a mountain and use it to cook up noodles, coffee and hot chocolate on a recent backpacking adventure.

Here’s how it performed:

Design and features

The design of the 1.0 is in most ways similar to the original Jetboil, but in case you’ve never seen it, it’s a burner that more or less fits in the palm of your hand that screws into a gas canister. It comes with optional fold-out plastic legs that clip into the canister, and then a one-liter pot sits on top and clicks into place. It’s important to note that you’ll buy the stove and pot as an integrated system, and the stove won’t work with just any pot.

What makes Jetboil a masterpiece in engineering is the “FluxRing” on the bottom of the pot, which acts as a conducting collar that concentrates nearly all of the heat produced by the burner upwards, allowing very little to escape out of the sides. As well as cutting down on the time for the water to boil, this heat-harnessing collar is also excellent for keeping fuel consumption to a minimum. That means your water boils faster, and you spend less money on fuel. It’s genius.

So, focusing on what’s new, this 1.0 has a click and turn ignition switch, and all that’s required is a simple turn to the left to fire it up. From there, you can turn the ignition switch back towards 12 o’clock to reduce the power if you want to. The new pot-to-burner connection has an added dimple and means you can just sit the pot on top of the (lit) stove with one hand, hold the (also new) orange grip zone on the stove with the other hand and easily click the two together.

The pot still has the sleeve with handle, which is a little bigger than the original, that makes it easy and safe to handle when hot, a lid to keep the contents hot for longer, and the heat indicator that turns orange when water is boiling.

It comes with a measuring cup, which you can certainly leave at home, but may be useful for preparing meals and helps protect the bottom of the pot in transit, which is important because that’s where that magic collar is.

Weight and packability

The Jetboil isn’t the lightest or most packable stove on the market, especially when I compare it to something like my tiny Alpkit Kraku, but for the size, it’s surprisingly light. The whole kit packs inside the pot, so the entire cylindrical package actually ends up being about the size of a one-liter Nalgene, making it not crazy at all to bring this backpacking.

I easily fit it inside my Sierra Designs Flex Capacitor backpack along with my tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag, but it could also be secured to the outside of your pack or might fit in a side pocket if you were short on space. Also, you can pack things inside it to make up for the size.

Ease of use and performance

The Jetboil 1.0 comes with an easy-to-follow instruction guide, and I was wise enough to bring it along for my first backpacking trip, but honestly, I don’t think I really needed it.

It’s simple enough to thread the stove into the gas canister if you’ve ever had a backpacking stove, and I stabilized it on its feet, even though on flat ground and without wind, it probably wasn’t necessary.

Then I turned the ignition switch, and at about seven o’clock, it clicked and the stove roared to life, pretty much like a jet engine. To my delight, 90 seconds later the water was bubbling away. I’d only caution that you make sure you’ve tied your hair back before you light it.

The Jetboil 1.0 is tall, and I’ve not had to test it out in especially windy conditions, but while it doesn’t look aerodynamic, it does behave in a very stable fashion. As long as you find a good, clear and flat area and stay close by, I can’t see why you’d have any issues with stability.

Like any camping stove, the Jetboil 1.0 has one job, and that’s to boil water, and it does it better and faster than any other stove on the market.

Durability and value

One thing I really like about the Jetboil is its excellent build, and compared to my Kraku it’s definitely much more robust. Obviously, the problem with the original model was the ignition switch breaking, and I haven’t had it long enough to say that’s been solved, but the company seems confident, and I hope they’re right because if so, it’s very difficult to gripe about this stove.

Is it pricey? Undoubtedly. Can you find better? Not on this planet.

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