Home » Outdoor Skills and Tips » Wild Camping Articles and Tutorials » Classic Gear Review 3 – MSR Titan Kettle

Classic Gear Review 3 – MSR Titan Kettle

By Dave Roberts   

on August 22, 2011    5/5 (1)

Posted in Outdoor Gear Reviews, Wild Camping Articles and Tutorials, Wild Camping ReviewsMSR, Outdoor Gear Review, camping gear review, cooking, shiny shiny, ultralightweight, wild camping

Classic Gear Review 3 – MSR Titan Kettle

The least glamorous piece of gear you’ve got, bar a pair of Paramo Long Johns, is more than likely your cooking pot. Couple that with the fact that the MSR Titan Kettle is very limited in what you can cook with it and you’ll be asking why I’m raving about it as a classic piece of kit.

titan_03_960

The MSR Titan Kettle – aka Kettley Thing is the king of pots. It has to be for the price. Just shy of fifty notes (if you’re lucky!) gets you a pot that’s only good for boiling water made of shiny shiny titanium. There’s also a fetching piece of plastic sleeving over the lid handle to stop you from burning your fingers.

So, I know, you’re still wondering why. It’s expensive, mainly only any good for boiling water and after all is just a pot, albeit made from the same material as fighter planes. I’ll tell you why. This is a pot for life. A lifetime’s investment that’ll pay for itself compared to buying crappy cheap pots that fall apart after a few years. Six years and my kettly thing is only just looking worn in, I expect it to be in my wild camping kit for at least that much again and will be surprised if it isn’t still in use in double that time.

titan_06_960
While you can only boil water in it easily, with care you can actually use it to cook something more. You will burn your first few attempts, that’s the nature of titanium pots. One you realise that you just need to stir like crazy, you’ll be fine. Ideal for warming up a curry or pouch meal, or for boiling up tortellini and then the sauce. The only thing being that it’s only just capacious enough to warm a full meal and can be a bit of a balancing act once the curry’s warmed up and you add the rice. 850ml is enough but I could often do with an extra 150ml capacity, though even if it was a 1l pot I’d still be asking for a bit more space as i’m greedy.

titan_04_960

The MSR Titan Kettle is also one of the toughest and lightest pots you’ll find. At only 118g, from memory, this barely registers in your pack.  If you’re lucky, you may fit a pocket rocket stove and a small (100g) gas canister in the kettle, but it depends on the shape of the gas canister. However, it’s the perfect size to store your 250ml gas canister, even with a Primus windshield.  If you wanted to be truly spartan then you could even leave the lid behind and use foil, but who’d have the heart to split up a double act like this one?

Remember kids a kettly thing’s for life, not just the wild camp/Xmas/Other transient occurrence…..

Please rate this

Dave Roberts

Dave Roberts founded Walk Eryri in 2004, with the aim of providing routes that are off the beaten track. Walk Eryri is now part of Mud and Routes which continues to provide more off beat routes and walks in Snowdonia and beyond. Dave has been exploring the hills of Eryri for over thirty years, and is a qualified Mountain Leader. Dave also established Walk up Snowdon, Walk up Scafell Pike and Walk up Ben Nevis just to mention a few.

More Posts By This Author