User Review: Brunton Raptor

Brunton Raptor
Above: The current Raptor, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed September 5, 2006 by EW

Rating:
Price Paid: $40

We've been using a liquid fuel Apex stove for years and I wanted to reduce weight without losing efficiency. After being impressed by the reviews of the Raptor on several web sites, I took the plunge and bought one.

Just got back from a backcountry trip that hovered near 10,000 feet the whole time. I didn't have much faith in the piezo starter at this altitude, so I brought along matches to light the stove. I didn't need to. On the first push of the piezo starter, the stove lit right up to a roar(!) and we boiled enough water for our freeze dried stew in about two minutes.

The entire trip, everybody else in our group was amazed at how quickly this little stove boiled water for our food. It is loud, there is no doubt about that, but I can live with the noise for a couple of minutes to have HUGE pot supports and something that can boil water this quickly. The pot supports can handle large weights and sizes of pots with aplomb because of how large they are, and they fold away ingeniously when not in use.

The only thing that would concern me about this stove is the lack of a wind screen. With even mild winds, the flame would flicker and oscillate in intensity. In high winds, everybody would have to huddle around the stove (not necessarily a bad thing when it is really cold out) or cook in the vestibule of your tent to get the maximum efficiency out of the stove. Other than that, though, the stove is awesome and a great deal at $35-40.