JetBoil MiniMo Review

The wider pot design and better temperature control make the MiniMo a great choice for someone who wants all the convenience of the previous Jetboil models with greater cooking and simmering potential, lighter weight, and better fuel efficiency

Performance Comparison

The MiniMo is a great choice for fast and light off trail backpacking.

Fuel Efficiency

Our no-wind testing found that the MiniMo used 0.3 oz of fuel to boil 1 liter of water. This is slightly above average in a category that's all about fuel efficiency. The pot's flux ring disburses the heat nicely, and the insulated pot keeps things hot. Jetboil claims that with its redesigned regulator diaphragm and valve, this stove performs better in the cold. We used the MiniMo quite a bit in the snow though we did not perform our quantitative tests in a cold environment. Anecdotally, we found its cold weather performance satisfactory.

Lighting the stoves in front of the fan shook up the standings a bit. While the MiniMo boiled water in the 2 - 4 mph wind it used 0.6 oz of fuel to do so, 0.1 oz more than the some of the more windproof competition.

When camping above the treeline, it's almost always a possibility to make a windbreak with rocks and other natural materials lying around. Otherwise, a tent vestibule can often accommodate a small stove. Readers should be aware that MSR disapproves of cooking in your tent or shelter. Backpackers who expect to be camping in the wind and do not think they'll be able to compensate should look into the similar but heavier options that are more windproof.

We had to get creative finding ways to shelter the MiniMo from the wind.

Weight

The MiniMo sports a trail weight of 12.2 oz. This includes just the lid, pot, and burner, and leaves out the cup and canister stabilizer that come with the stove. It is the second-lightest integrated canister stove in our test. All of the small canister stoves are lighter.

Simmering

Integrated canister stoves were not initially developed for cooking, they were engineered to make water boil as fast as possible. While the MiniMo will never simmer as well as the gourmet machines that are the better small canister stoves it holds its own among the integrated canister stoves. The MiniMo burner unit seems to help with this, as does the wider FluxRing heat exchanger.

Ease Of Use

This is a metric where the MiniMo does well. Like all Jetboil stoves, the pot and burner mate securely. This means that you can pick up the whole assembly easily with one hand, even while it's lit. You can even pour from the pot with the burner still attached. And there's no fear of the hot burner falling off while doing either of these things.

We think the pot's wider, shorter shape and more distributed flux ring helps make this stove easier to cook with. We would not try to cook anything more complicated than pasta or rehydrating some beans in the MiniMo, but this is easier to do than with other integrated canister stoves. If you want to cook gourmet meals for a group, try a liquid fuel stove. This new pot shape also allows for easier eating out of the pot. You no longer need to buy yourself an extra-long titanium spoon to eat your dinner directly out of the pot.

We miss one of our favorite features from the Flash, the color-changing boil indicator. This used to be a common feature on the Jetboil stoves, and we wish they would bring it back. Thankfully, the MiniMo has a long control valve wire, because we experienced it boiling over when we weren't paying attention - and were able to shut it off without getting boiling water on our hands. Jetboil has improved the handle and added sturdy plastic coated wire handles instead of the flimsy neoprene handle of the past.

Jetboil pot lids generally fit well over time instead of losing their shape like some other models. It fits securely and stays put when we're pouring, but we found that the lid actually gets in the way of a precise pour. We wish Jestboil would come out with a lid that enhanced pouring precision.

We like that we can fit an 8oz canister in the wider pot of the MiniMo. You can also fit a 4 oz canister along with the MiniMo's burner in its pot sideways. The MiniMo is slightly more stable than the taller integrated canister stoves. We think the shorter pot makes it less wobbly when attached to a canister. It also comes with a canister support stand for stability, but our testers rarely bring it in the field.

Early Jetboil stoves were notorious for having the piezoelectric igniters die after a short time. We made a point of using the piezo lighters on all of our stoves repeatedly, each has been tested well over 100 times, and they seem to be better than the older igniters. While this feature does add weight to our packs, so do lighters, and since the piezo is always attached to the stove it's more convenient than a lighter. None of our testers are leaving their lighter (or lighters) at home when traveling with the MiniMo, be we all appreciated the convenience and wished more stoves came equipped with piezoelectric lighters that worked.

McKenzie Long enjoys a hot beverage through the MiniMo's convenient drink through lid.

Boil Time

We tested the MiniMo in our laboratory (ahem - garage) and found that it boils water FAST. In the no-wind test, it boiled 1 liter of water in 4 minutes and 6 seconds, right behind the Reactor, Flash, and Deluxe. It was a minute faster than the Windburner, and faster than most of the small canister and all of the liquid fuel stoves in our test.

Of course, our 2 - 4 mph wind test changed things up a bit, but less than we expected. All stoves, including the integrated canister stoves, suffered slower boil times in the wind. The MiniMo, Windburner, and Reactor all saw their boil times increase by 10 - 20%.

Value

We think the MiniMo is a good value. It has more to offer than some of the less expensive integrated canister models and performs better overall than some of the more expensive ones.

Conclusion

Jetboil has made cooking simple meals easier with the MiniMo, as well as created an easier vessel to eat out of with more reliable handles. The burner is respectably fuel-efficient. The reliable piezo igniter and reassuring pot-to-burner mating make the stove easy to use. These reasons, combined with the overall low weight of the system win this stove our Top Pick For Integrated Canister Stoves.

We were impressed with how quickly the MiniMo boils water, even at elevation. Here it performs the all-important task of making some morning VIA.