Jetboil Sol Review

Likes
This is one of the best stoves we tested. It’s small, light, speedy, easy to set up, and stable. Many useful features make this our top pick for minimalist activities.

Our favorite feature on the Sol is its neoprene covered pot. This has a webbing handle, clip-in point, and coffee-mug-style lid. Slip your hand in and use the pot as a mug. Clip in a carabiner and you can cook on a big wall. Regardless of how and where you cook, the pot and the burner lock together, forming a one-piece unit that’s secure and stable. We found the pot to be incredibly well insulated – almost too insulated. The coolest feature on the Sol: the large flame logo is also a water temperature indicator. As the water approaches a boil, the flame turns bright yellow. This helps you save fuel, especially if you are heating water for tea or coffee and don't need water to reach a complete boil.

Beneath the pot is a color coordinated and revised burner assembly. In our tests the stove boiled two cups of water, the maximum amount Jetboil recommends, in an average of 1:35 (much faster than Jetboil claims on their web site). The burner is capable of maintaining a reasonably good simmer in low wind conditions, something most canister stoves cannot do. A conveniently long control valve is easy to use and tucks away under the stove when not in use. All Jetboil stoves include a built-in igniter, which we believe is wonderfully convenient but not to be trusted in the long term (we've heard so many many stories of them breaking).

The burner assembly, pot support, and a 100g fuel canister all fit neatly inside the pot. Yes, that means your entire kitchen fits in a 4” x 6.5” package.

Dislikes
While the neoprene covered pot is pretty and fun, it’s most assuredly not versatile. The deep and narrow design makes the stove best suited for boiling water. With a great deal of additional stirring we were able to successfully make a pasta meal for two. This, however, was painfully laborious. It’s also challenging to boil safely more than .65 liters of water.

We appreciate Jetboil’s stylish and snappy approach to stove design but we also value durability. In the long haul, after five years of extended use and abuse, we predict the igniter will have long ceased functioning, the colored neoprene cozy will be brownish and tattered, and the plastic burner housing may have broken. The Sol is a fast and light stove. We recommend using it only for your more extreme exploits and trusting a more durable workhorse for casual camping and expeditions. A friend who has had two of these stoves has had both plastic igniters break after a few months. It is not a big deal, it just means that you then need to light the stove manually with a lighter. Our friend does not like the stove any less; a broken igniter just comes with the territory.

Best Application
Alpine climbing, backpacking, solo trips.

Value
The Sol is solid buy but not nearly the Value of the Flash, which is bigger and at least $20 cheaper (it can often be found on sale). Long term, the Flash replacement parts cost less than the Sol.

Accessories
This stove is compatible with the light and compact Jetboil Hanging Kit ($30), which turns this into a hanging stove. The kit also works with other Jetboil stoves, including the Jetboil Group Cooking System. It also works with the Jetboil Coffee Press, which is a $20 accessory that turns your Jetboil Flash or Jetboil Classic into a reasonable effective French press. There is also the Jetboil Pot Support and Stabilizer that gives more stability to the setup while making it compatible with other camping pots.

The Jetboil Sol Ti Cup ($69, 6.3 oz, 0.8 L) shaves another 1.5 ounces off the Sol Aluminum Cup by using titanium.

The Jetboil Sumo Cup ($49, 12.5 oz, 1.8 L) is over double the size of the standard Jetboil Sol Cup. It is just the right size to store an entire Sol or Zip system inside.

Chris McNamara's Recommendation
The Flash or the Sol are my favorite stove for big wall climbing. I used the Flash on El Capitan once without the hanging kit and once with. It is definitely a lot better with the hanging kit in a big wall situation…but also works without it. The stove was light, compact, and did everything we needed it to. I can't imagine a better stove for big walls where space, ease of setup, and takedown are so important. The MSR Reactor would have been a little over-kill, especially since it is harder to handle in a hanging situation.