User Review: GSI Ultralight Soloist Cook System

GSI Ultralight Soloist Cook System
Above: The current Ultralight Soloist Cook System, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed January 13, 2009 by Perry Clark

Rating:
Price Paid: $29.95

When I venture into the woods, I tend to seek solitude. Many of my trips are solo ventures, and so factors such as weight, packability, dependability, and so forth are important.

The GSI Soloist cook kit is my most recent camp-cooking purchase, and I'm very pleased with it. It is very light, made of a proprietary anodized aluminum alloy that GSI claims is as tough as titanium but a better heat conductor--and a lot less expensive. The kit packs up well, and is properly sized so as to receive for packing purposes an IsoPro fuel canister and SnowPeak Giga stove.

The fold-up handle for the pot works well and locks firmly into position both for pot handling and to secure the lid and contents when packing. Also included is a serving bowl/mug with sleeve for handling, and the pot lid, made of clear Lexan, also serves as a strainer, or, by using the other side, a sip-lid for the mug.

It cleans easily, and as a final nice touch the cylindrical bag into which the kit goes also serves well as a small water basin, holding about a liter of water in a remarkably stable manner for cleaning, etc.

My only quibble is that the "mug" doesn't fit the hand in a way that makes drinking from it as comfortable and mindless as I would like, especially when I'm enjoying the view on a frost-tipped morning.

But, that said, this kit will be in my pack whenever I head out on my own.

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