This post may contain affiliate links.

Jetboil Sol Ti – Titanium Cooking System Review

Cooking Dinner on the Jetboil Sol Ti
Cooking Dinner on the Jetboil Sol Ti

The Jetboil Sol Ti is really good for heating up water fast. Really good. With heat exchange fins, it’s also pretty miserly on canister gas. When used with a small canister it also packs up small in your backpack, a desirable feature when you need to carry a lot of other camping gear and food.

If all you need to do is boil water for drinks, to re-hydrate freeze-dried or home-packaged freezer-bag meals, or cook very simple soupy dishes like ramen noodles, the Jetboil will work admirably for your needs. I’d guess that describes about 95% of the backpacking population, which explains why this stove is so popular. It’s only real limitation is that large gas canisters won’t fit in the pot when you pack it, but if your adventures only last for two or three nights, then Jetboil Sol Ti is going to work very well for you.

A ghost cooking with his haunted Jetboil
A ghost cooking  breakfast with his haunted Jetboil

The Jetboil Cooking System

The Jetboil Sol Ti isn’t just a backpacking stove, but a complete cooking system, an important distinction when comparing stoves to one another. It consists of the following components:

  1. a self-igniting stove mounted in a plastic bracket
  2. an adjustable pressure regulator for different seasonal temperatures
  3. a 0.8 liter titanium cook pot with embossed liquid measurements
  4. an insulating pot sleeve and flexible handle
  5. a fold out stand (that most people leave at home – but is actually quite useful)
  6. plastic lid with sipper and strainer
  7. plastic cup which fits over bottom of pot, protects the heat fins, and which I use it to store a choreboy for cleaning
Jetboil Sip Lid and Strainer
Jetboil Sip Lid and Strainer

The Stove

The stove provided with the Jetboil Sol Ti is fairly unremarkable as stoves go, but it works very well as a component of the entire cook system which is optimized around it. It has a push button igniter which eliminates the need for matches or an emergency flint striker to light the gas. There’s also a pressure regulation valve set off to the side that lets you adjust the gas flow for hot weather or cold weather use, when the temperature is cold and your gas doesn’t vaporize as easily.

The Jetboil Stove Screws onto a Gas canister
The Jetboil Stove Screws onto a Gas Canister

If there’s a limitation with the stove, it’s that it is nearly impossible to simmer with, which is a common fault of cooking systems like this which are mainly intended to boil water and not intended for heating anything up except thin soups. Part of the problem is that you simply can’t see the flame when the pot is locked into the pot stand that surrounds the stove and the other is that it just goes out if you turn the stove down too low. If you want to simmer, you almost need to hold the stove at eye level, like on the porcupine board in an AT shelter or a picnic table, so you can see when the flame starts to flicker and die.

The other problem with cooking more substantive meals is that the food will float to the top of the pot and retain all of the stoves heat until the hot water erupts violently through the food – messy, messy – to avoid this, stir your food continuously. This has the added benefit of preventing burned food at the bottom of the pot. But if you need to simmer or cook 1-pot meals often, this really isn’t the stove or the pot that you want.

Simmering is difficult because the stove needs to be positioned at eye level or you can't see the flame's height.
Simmering is difficult because the stove needs to be positioned at eye level or you can’t see the flame’s height.

The Cook Pot

The Jetboil Sol Ti cook pot, like the stove, is engineered for boiling water but doubles as a drinking mug. With a volume of 0.8 liters, the effective capacity of the pot is actually quite small though, so you may need to boil water several times if you want to drink more than a pint of tea or cocoa at a time.

The Pot is just barely big enough for Ramen Noodles
The Pot is just barely big enough for Ramen Noodles

Pots like this cannot be filled to the rim because they boil over too easily, so the effective cooking volume of the pot is far less than its actual capacity. For example, the 0.8 liter pot is barely large enough to cook a package of Ramen noodles and you can’t really fill the pot more than half way with water to cook them. When you do cook them, you will probably want to keep the cover off the so you can see if a boil-over is likely. The pot cover is brown and effectively opaque so you can’t see what’s going on inside. Just be careful.

The Pot Stand

When fully assembled and filled with water, the Jetboil Sol Ti system is very unstable if you cook on an uneven surface like the ground or a rock. While most people discard it as unnecessary weight, it really is a valuable safety feature if you’re the slightest bit prone to knocking over your stove or letting it fall over while you attend to something else in camp while you are cooking.

Eating from the Pot

The cook pot serves dual use as a pot for cooking with and a cup for eating and drinking from. While the cloth cozy does provide sufficient insulation to grip the pot, you may still need to wait a minute or two for the pot to cool for it to be comfortable to hold. It can also be a little tricky to disengage the hot pot from the pot stand once it’s locked in place, so it’s best to disengage it with the pot lid securely pressed on, to prevent hot water from splashing onto your hand.

It can be challenging to cook denser foods in the Jetboil Sol Ti due to limited space
It can be challenging to cook denser foods in the Jetboil Sol Ti due to limited cookpot volume.

Cleaning the Cook Pot

Cleaning the Jetboil Sol Ti cook pot should be easy because you can’t really cook anything very dense in it. Be forewarned though. When you do clean it, make sure not to get the cozy wrapped around the pot wet, because it’s not waterproof. It wets out very easily and will make everything inside your backpack wet if you pack it away after washing up from breakfast. Best do your washing at night when the pot cozy has time to dry or pack the Jetboil Sol Ti in an outside pocket of your backpack where it can’t make the rest of your gear wet.

Likes

  • Complete cook system including stove, pot, lid and optional cup
  • Heats water really fast
  • Fuel efficient
  • Packs up small in your backpack when used with a small canister
  • Very lightweight at 9.9 ounces, without fuel

Dislikes

  • Difficult to use for cooking more substantive meals than soups
  • Limited liquid capacity
  • Pot cozy is not easily removable for washing up and stays wet when you want to pack it
  • Expensive at $149 MSRP

Recommendation

The Jetboil Sol Ti Titanium Cook System boils water quickly and efficiently for making hot drinks or rehydrating pre-packaged backpacking meals. It’s a very compact, ultralight, and self-contained when packed with a small fuel canister and is a complete ultralight cookware system for 2 or 3 day backpacking trips. If you need to cook for multiple people or want to be able to cook more complex 1-pot meals, you’d be better off getting a higher volume Jetboil cooking system or cook pot (since Jetboil components are interchangeable) because it can hold more liquid and is easier to clean up.

NOTE: This product was discontinued by the manufacturer for safety reasons. 

Weights

  • Complete system, without gas canister: 9.9 ounces
  • Pot and cozy: 4.6 ounces
  • Stove with integrated pot stand: 3.6 ounces
  • Lid: 0.7 ounces
  • Extra cup and fin protector: 1.0 ounces

Disclosure: Jetboil provided the author with a sample Jetboil Sol Ti Titanium Cook System for this review. 

31 comments

  1. I have a secrete place of love in my heart for the Jetboil Sol Ti… it is just such a freaking amazing little stove. I have been able to get mine down to 229 grams (8.077 ounces) – that is the stove, the pot, the cozy and the lid.

    You might want to make your readers aware… you voided the warranty on your Jetboil Sol Titanium if you have food inside of the pot (even noodles) while the stove is turned on. This does not apply to the Aluminium warranty, just the Ti warranty (last I checked).

    I have been able to get 22 boils of 16 ounces of water using the stove on a medium heat level. After you get the weight of the Sol Ti down another ounce via a couple of modifications, the Weight Performance of 22 boils of water for 8 ounces, becomes a rather impressive set of numbers – as you said very well, for those who just want some hot fast water.

  2. How much does a gas canister weigh, full & empty? I’ve never used any of these types of stoves. I use a super-ultralight home-made alcohol stove with a 24 ounce beer can pot to boil water (still very light with the aluminum handle I attached with JB Weld). I also have a 1-quart tea kettle I take with me sometimes (a bit heavier). I try to cook over a campfire whenever possible, and I’m really good about obliterating any trace when I’m done. I am curious about using commercial stoves, though. Thanks for the review on this one; it gave me a clear picture of it’s potential usefulness for me.

  3. The cans weigh about 3-4oz depending on the manufacturor. Coleman cans were heaviest. Volume varies a bit around 100 to 110 grams for the small cans. Rougnly, I figure the can to gas ratio is between 40-50% of the total full cannister weight. This means that even though they N-Butane/Iso-butane/butane and propane mixes have about a 13000-13500BTU/lb heat density after calculating in the can. Alcohol (say ethyl and methyl blend at 50/50) is right around 11500BTU/lb counting a 1oz “coke” bottle for carrying it. White Gas and Kerosene have around 19500/lb counting a 1oz bottle for carrying it. The mass density for Alcohol, WG and Kero is all around 0.8, so a 12floz bottle usually weighs about 10 to 10.4oz. These are not exact figures, since the composition of all “oil” based products will vary a bit due to fractionating (distilling.) For example, you get some benzine, hexane, heptane, and other byproducts in WG which will vary the heat content. Same for Canister gas, it is not 100% composed of a N-Butane/Propane blend for example. WG, Kero, Alcohol can all be carried in a PET “coke” bottle. I have had one with WG in it for about 4-5 years with no ill effects. Do not use them for Auto Fuel, though. The additives will destroy the bottle after a few weeks…they get brittle.

    JetBoils work great. The Sol-Ti, Sol, Flash and regular JetBoil are all nice little water boilers. But I think Philip was understating the cooking issue a bit. Your best bet is to pulse your heat and stirring when the heat is on, as Philip says. Don’t try for straight-up simmering. Holding the heat at about 180-210 will prevent a lot of the sticking. Straight up simmering a trail stew always meant a scorched bottom, ruining the food and making a difficult clean-up. On for about 1 minute while stirring. Off for about 3-5 minutes. The JetBoil will even burn noodles if you try to simmer them. Putting water in the pot for about half an hour, with a drop of soap, will usually make clean-up MUCH easier. But, I don’t really recommend cooking on them, though it can be done.

    The Helios system would do a MUCH better job for simmering, but is a bit heavier at around 28-29oz. Adding in about 7-7.5oz for a 110g canister, the weight sort-of kills it for UL kits.

    I do not recommend the 8oz canisters. I have had leaks with a couple canisters in the past. So, I tend to carry two with the 3.5oz weight penalty. Often the leak is slight and you don’t notice it till you go to use it…ouch. The pot is difficult to use over an open fire. I MUST have coffee…COOOFFFEEEEEEEeee…

  4. My typical 3 night set up is an Evernew 1L Pasta pot + cosy + Trail Designs 12-10 meths burner & a MYO cone, weighs around 250g; add a Vargo 8oz fuel bottle of meths (alchohol); overall weight ~500g.

    With a full 100g canister the Jetboil would weigh ~480g, only advantage over meths is that it’s faster.

    Don’t think I’ll run out & pay $250 (UK price inc tax) to save 20g & a couple of extra minutes.

  5. As a newbie ( plus old and out of shape) backpacker, I am usually pretty exhausted at the end of each day. The last thing I want to do is fiddle with a multi-part assembly of fragile pieces that make up most alcohol based cook systems. I much prefer to take the one minute needed to set up my Jetboil and three minutes later, my FBC meals is steeping into backwoods deliciousness. Likewise, making that first cup of joe in the am must not tax my mental skills.

    Virtually all of my excursions are overnights to long weekends. I get 15-20 boils out of one 100g canister. I do not like to clean pot so FBC is my preference. It is the best system for me. YRMV.

    • I’m certainly learning a lot from all the comments in this discussion, and I appreciate it. I just want to say that my DIY alcohol stove is far from fragile, and it boils a quart of water in about five minutes, using about 1/4 cup of alcohol (I’m guessing — I never measured) — which burns for about 12 minutes. The alcohol is cheap & readily available (Home Depot, etc.). My entire setup includes: Stove; penny; primer tray; zip-lock sandwich bag; aluminum support/windscreen (made from the second can) with two cut-down bike spoke supports; 8 fluid oz denatured alcohol in a plastic flask. Total weight: 8.0 oz. For boiling the water I have a Foster’s 24 oz. beer can with an aluminum door handle attached with JB Weld; a lid made from the bottom of another Foster’s can (it was really fun preparing to make this!) with the pull ring attached with JB Weld for a handle; and a 16 oz. Dixie hot cup to drink (COFFEE) out of. Total weight: 4.9 oz. So the total weight for the whole shebang is 12.9 oz. I don’t have to worry about cannisters leaking, and I don’t have cannisters taking up landfill when I’m done. The cost was negligible, it took almost no time to make (and it really was a fun project), and I got to drink some beer in order to obtain my raw materials :-) I think my biggest concern about the commercial stoves is the potential for leaks and the added trash of the cannisters (not too green). I wouldn’t try to use it for actual cooking, hence, my interest in commercial stoves. Anything I can “cook” using plain boiling water is in a large zip-lock bag, and I pour the boiling water directly into it and let it sit for a few minutes. It works great, but I do have the bag-as-trash factor . . . still less noxious than a metal cannister, perhaps.

      • Perfectly valid observations. I never have any canister garbage because I never finish them and literally have 25 partials in my basement. LOL!

      • Oh, and it takes up very little space in my pack — that’s the other concern I have about commercial stoves.

        • BTW, my understanding is that in extremely cold weather and at high altitude the alcohol won’t ignite. While I hike & snowshoe all Winter, I haven’t done any Winter camping, and I haven’t made it above about 8,000 feet yet, so I haven’t yet had that issue with the alcohol. Again, at some point I will want to do some actual cooking in some location like Shenandoah National Forest, for example, where camp fires are not allowed in the backcountry. I will need a good commercial stove for that.

        • @Yonoh, back a year ago when a lot of us were having issues with the first generation of the Ti pot, myself and a few other folks were really putting the pot to the test. One of the best cold weather condition videos done up was by sousaville and can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75bIGibpXAU in it he shows the Sol Ti being used at about 20 degrees. It should be fairly obvious that much below that temperature, bouncing over to the MSR Reactor is the better way to go.

        • Even with the reactor there’s stil the problem that the gas doesn’t vaporize under 20 degrees (f). You need to do silly things like keep the canister in a pan of warm water while cooking. That’s why gas stoves that use an inverted canister are better in winter because they can go below the 20 degree vaporization threshold. It’s also worth mentioning that liquid fuel *white gas, coleman fuel) burns down to 40 below.

      • Alcohol ignites just fine in cold temps. The Trangia stoves invented and used in Sweden bear this out. One keeps the alcohol fuel bottle under one’s coat in cold weather, so the fuel starts out warmer and burns better.
        Other tricks for cold weather Trangia operation are to make a small, twisted piece of toilet paper an inch or 2 long. dip it into the fuel in the stove and light this wick with a match. Fling the lit wick into the Trangia burner to catch it. I’ve also repeatedly dunked flaring wooden kitchen matches into the alcohol pool, to achieve ignition.

  6. I don’t own the Sol Ti but have shared and witnessed use of several alu Sol versions and used to have the original Jetboil stove… I’d like to point out that fast also means other things than minutes saved to get your meal done:

    – Fast = convenient, especially when traveling with a group. You can have a hot drink even on a short break. Heck, you can even make a hot brew with Jetboil while walking or floating down an easy river in a packraft. ;) Gives you more freedom, especially if traveling with a group.
    – Fast = fuel efficient. I’ve seen the small canisters (net 100-110g of gas) lasting for 6-7 days per person on a cool late autumn hike if used only for boiling/heating water. So in my opinion the 2-3 days per canister is very safe bet. This also affects the weight-efficiency of the system, especially on longer trips were 230g or 450g canister could be used to further improve the fuel-canister relation.

    This said, I don’t own a Sol Ti, it’s not really for me. I wouldn’t mind owning one but wouldn’t buy for one. Id I’d buy a super efficient water boiler I’d go for the MSR Reactor for the added performance in windy conditions.

    • I used a stove like this (a Reactor) on the TGO Challenge to make a cup of miso on a cold day during a very short stop and amazed my companions at the boiling speed. It really is that convenient and a great benefit of these stoves in crappy and cold weather, or for packrafting.

  7. Great article Phillip! You have quite possibly gone more in depth on the Jet Boil than any other article I’ve read! You got me inspired to figure out What to take camping so I can pick up any time and just go! Now if I can just find a way to keep it all organized I’ll be good! haha

  8. Just a quick note about the “landfill” comment. Fuel canisters can be recycled in most communities. Once they are empty, simply puncture them (I use a hammer and screw driver) and throw them in the recycling bin. You can also buy a puncture tool that liike kind of like a bottle opener.
    I love my aocohol stove for easy summer trips, but I love my Sol Ti when things are a bit less leisurely..

  9. $149. just to boil water..Well someone will buy it..I have been “Field Testing” a genuine Cowboy Frying I found at a West Texas Store which carried everything from Barb Wire to a stuffed Zebra toy..Anyway. I have fried in it, boiled in it, and Baked Bisquick Biscuits in it..all for $3.59. On Ebay I found a couple for less than $15.00. It has a five inch bottom and is an inch and three quarters deep. Small, light, and amazingly it cleans up rather fast after cooking a batch of Corned Beef hash in it which stuck a bit, but slipped right off in the wash pot..

    • Is it just the pan? You still need a fire?

      • Lols, yes I still need a fire of sorts..You know what I have been using…especially if I am Stealth Camping? Same firecakes they used for Military Canteen cups, 3-4 little rocks surrounding a small flat rock on which I set the pan an and which acts as a wind break, in less than 4 inches of space, no residue and the new Military Issue fire Gel works equally well, no residue. Lighter cheaper and if I really plan on cooking a meal that goes through a number of preparation cycles,,Charcoal Bricketts, Match Lights are the best. I always carry 2-4 for Emergencies anyway and if I plan on it I can bring a few more which will still be lighter than the Jet boil. You know what was great tasting in that Pan, some dehydrated Red beans, Freezed dried Beef, a pack of dehydrated Veggies, a dab of Instant Potatoes, and a bit of Salt. Stew! The Cowboys used to boil their beans and occasionally their coffee in that pan. I am currently looking for a Genuine Cowboy Coffee Pot but have only found Gallon to 4 gallon sized Pots which of course would NOT fit in a Saddle bag so their claim as a Cowboy Coffee Pot is a bit tainted, maybe a “Chuck Wagon Pot” is what they mean. Just for Info, Enamel ware did not exist in the U.S. til about 1850. 1865 is when the Coffee Percolator came to the U.S. similar to what you see today in the Stainless steel ones. James Townsend carries some old Revolutionary era boiling tins which I find crush real easy in my pack especially if I forget it is in there and just dump off the pack…any other questions I will be glad to answer…So I guess I saved about $134 dollars over the jet boil which I can use to buy my winter gear with..

  10. I have the Jetboil Sol Aluminum which is $20 cheaper than the Ti. I use the stove with my original Jetboil 2 Cup pot. I did 10 days canoeing on the Allagash two weeks ago and never needed to my spare 4 oz fuel bottle.
    I boiled for coffee in the morning and Mountain House Freeze dried for dinner. I also made tea a few nights. So say 24 boils on less than one 4 oz fuel can.
    You don’t need to watch the water. Just watch the steam coming out of the pour spout… and make sure that is facing away from the shutoff handle in case you do boil over!

  11. I have always thought this stove looked interesting for some types of trips. What is the consensus on winter use? I have heard some use it with the larger pot for snow melting. It would seem that the normal limitations of an upright canister would apply. Is there a hanging kit? If so does the responsible use of this in a tent negate the temperature issues? Anyway, excellent post as always.

    • The gas will vaporize down to 20 degrees F but this pot is probably too small for melting snow. Jetboil has a new version coming out called the Joule that uses an inverted canister and will work down to 10 degrees because the fuel will flow into the stove in liquid form. I’mnot certain aboutthe ship date but Jetboil is supposed to send me one to review when it’s available and frankly I can’t wait. I/m not sure if there’s a hanging kit bit you can just as easily use it in a tent with the stand with proper ventilation (really really important) and as long as you don’t set the tent on fire.

  12. I bought the Jetboil SOL Ti about a year ago and love it. I only use it to boil water which I add to home made freezer bag style meals, or to make a hot beverage. Last month I brought it with me on a week long kayaking trip on Isle Royale. There were six people in the group, and 4 of us took turns boiling water on two different stoves, mine and another canister stove (I don’t recall the brand). I brought two extra large canisters in addition to the remnants of a small canister. We only started using the second large canister on the last day.
    It has worked flawlessly on every trip I’ve taken it. I have used the pot-stand along with a GSI Bugaboo pot and it has worked well. The only major drawback is that directs the majority of the heat to a small area of the pot and doesn’t heat evenly.
    I don’t have the desire to cook anything in the pot itself, I don’t want to have to clean burnt on food or have the flavor of other foods contaminated with coffee.
    I used to use a trangia style alcohol stove, which worked well but took forever to boil water, and was unreliable in any kind of wind, even with a wind screen.

  13. I own the original JetBoil and bought the Sol Ti a couple years ago. I’ve been quite impressed with JetBoil products.

    I also have a Caldera Cone and a White Box alcohol stove. On one cold, wet and windy backpacking trip with the grandkids, I used the Caldera Cone. With that stove, It took about a half hour to make hot chocolate for our shivering group and then the better part of an hour to fix our supper. My younger grandson turned to me and asked, “Grandpa, why didn’t you bring the JetBoil?” On our next hike, we used my brand new Sol Ti.

    The cozy on the original JetBoil is thicker and holds heat better than the one on the Sol Ti. The cozy and handle on the Sol Ti has a tendency stretch and slip, which I fixed with a few strategically placed drops of JB Weld. I know they were trying to save weight but it wouldn’t have added much to use a better cozy.

    As far as simmering goes, in the original JetBoil, I’d bring my food to a boil and shut it off. The unit retained enough heat to “simmer” for several minutes. On the Sol Ti, I’ve just boiled water and added it to dried food in a freezer bag nestled into a homemade reflective cozy or a square container set into a reflective cozy. After a few minutes, the food is done. I usually crush my gourmet trail fare (ramen noodles) to fit into the container better.

    I puncture my used JetBoil cartridges and recycle them.

  14. Love my Sol Ti. My wife & I have used it the last 2 years on the AT (6 weeks last year, 4 weeks this year). We only boil water it, wouldn’t want food smells anyway or would have to Bear Bag it. So fast, it works well for 2, boil 2 cups, make a meal & split it, then a 2nd. Saw many friends with alcohol stoves switching over to canisters. Saw one German guy at Knot Maul shelter just about torch his face when he tried to blow out his alcohol stove. My stove weighs in at 10.9 ozs. with the pot stand (I always use it). Self igniter has not failed me yet. Small jetboil canister full weighs 6.8 ozs & lasts us about a week with 2-3 oatmeals each in the morning & 2-2 cup boils at night. Grandpa is right about the flimsy cozy, may try his JB weld trick. Only 2 issues I have seen with Jetboils, 1- my cap won’t stay on when cooking or in the pack, 2 – I have seen people strip the threads on their stove when putting on their canisters. Makes them unusable, must be soft metal. I’m always very careful when assembling the stove. Finally, it worked well using it down into the high 20’s in the Smokies last year (my wife slept with the canister but not the stove).

  15. I don’t backpack, but wanted a stove for traveling and longer hikes. I brought this stove for a hiking trip to Iceland, where we figured we’d need to cook a lot of our meals (we are vegetarians). We only used it to boil water. Even when cooking ramen noodles, we’d put them in a separate bowl, pour water over them, and cover them. We just got used to less tender noodles :) We also did the same for dehydrated bean/veggie soup – beans were a little under done. This is our first stove, and we wanted something super easy. It was easy and fast! We had no problems finding gas canisters on our trip (they sold them at regular gas stations). It was a lifesaver on the trip! We were often in areas where there really wasn’t much for food options.

    I’m hoping to try it on some winter hikes soon.

    I agree about the cozy being flimsy. The handle on the cozy is useless. We always picked up the pot with two hands.

    The first gas canister we used didn’t fit in the pot. The next ones we got – do fit, but really just barely.

  16. Once the cozy gets secured all the way around with some epoxy, the handle graduates from completely useless to only semi useless–kind of like me!

  17. This is a great stove. I have used it during several hikes in Sweden and in Finland. Packs small and boils fast!

  18. Just thought I would mention that the newer JetBoils have an indicator strip on the side of the neoprene jacket that helps you gauge how hot the water in the pot is. As the water heats up, the strip steadily turns orange until the whole strip is orange when water is boiling. It helps if you don’t necessarily want boiling water for tea or coffee or whatever.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Solve *