User Review: Primus EtaPower Pot 1.7L

The design, build quality and overall feel of this product is excellent. It marries perfectly with my Whisperlite and is nicely stable.

However I did some real-world tests to gauge exactly how much one gains from the heat sink technology. I would have expected the gains to be substantial, but read on:

First some background: I'm using a White Gas Whisper-lite at full power. Ambient air temperature is 70 F, water temp at start is about 38 F, I'm using one liter in all tests. There is no wind whatsoever.

I'm comparing between a 2-liter cheap aluminum pot with lid, 225 grams and the EtaPower Pot with lid, 320 grams. The biggest functional difference is that the aluminum pot does not have a non-stick surface. In some tests I use the heat/wind reflector that comes with Whisperlites, this reflector weighs about 7 grams and is not too fun to set up.

To heat one liter to boil took 6.8 minutes with the EtaPower Pot and heat/wind reflector. This took 7.0 minutes with the aluminum pot and heat/wind reflector. A negligible difference especially considering the weight increase.

Without the heat/wind reflector, the EtaPower Pot took 6.8 minutes to heat. The aluminum pot without the heat/wind reflector took 8.0 minutes to heat. Without using the 7 gram heat/wind reflector, the EtaPower Pot shows its advantage here.

If there were some ambient wind, without the heat/wind reflector I would expect a large improvement from the EtaPower Pot over a naked aluminum pot.

Conclusion:
Carry and set up your heat/wind reflector that comes with your Whisperlite stove, and unless you can't live without non-stick or only have a stove without a wind/heat reflector, go with a cheap and lighter aluminum boiling pot. The non-stick and possibly it's cool look are the only real reasons to consider this pot unless the flame from your stove is unshielded.

-Michael