Forget what you know about portable stoves and DC powered hot pots. The world has a new portable, efficient, and easy to use system that provides a cup of boiling water in a couple of minutes. Let's look inside a Jetboil: invented and manufactured in New Hampshire.
In the heyday of the Internet boom a friend and I were driving back from New York City brainstorming product ideas. Having exhausted work related ideas, he announced:
"I have an idea that I think would be really great."
"Ok, shoot."
"The thing is, whenever you go camping or backpacking or even on a road trip like this you want hot water. Hot water for tea, hot water for coffee, hot water for soup. What if you had a portable stove that provided hot water fast, no matter where you were."
"That would be nice. Kind of like those funny looking curly metal things you plug into a cigarette lighter and stick in a coffee cup?"
"Those need electricity and they are horribly slow. No, I want something that boils a cup of water in a minute or two. Something you can take and use anywhere."
That was four or five years ago. He worked at the company for a while longer, got married, headed off to see the world and disappeared for a couple of years. Next I saw him they had moved back to town and he had started working on his product idea. Codeword: Portaboil.
A couple of years and probably a dozen prototypes go by. He teamed up with a business partner experienced in design and manufacturing and they set to work on testing and optimizing their stove design. Hacking together ideas, taking prototypes camping in the White Mountains, working with testers and refining the product.
That product, their invention, is the Jetboil Personal Cook Stove.
This is a packed Jetboil, with ramen noodles and D cell for scale (No, it doesn't need batteries). Every component needed fits together into a nice, light package. Let's open it up and remove the components from inside the cup.
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