| 922 | MSR Piezo Igniter |
2014-04-23 |
If you use a gas stove, you have to have a way to ignite the gas. While matches have always worked fine for this small but important task, matches do get wet and they also don't like the wind. Of course you could get waterproof and windproof matches, but they cost $3 a box (at REI)!
My first backpacking stove was an Optimus 8r. It did not pretend to have any form of igniter associated with it. You filled the tank, then the cup (to prime it), and then throw in a match and watch it blaze.
My next stove was the MSR XGK, even though at the time I think they just called it the MSR Expedition. The XGK had a flint lighter attached near the burner. After priming the stove, a flick of the flint usually brought a flame. My flint striker broke very early in the life of the stove.
My first gas canister stoves did not have a lighter, but then Snow Peak came out with the Giga. It was a lightweight stove and had my first piezo igniter. Wow, what a life changer. No more matches. Just flick the button. Soon, Jet Gaz also started equipping their stoves with a piezo, and I replaced my old Gaz 270 for the newer version of the stove with the igniter. Life was good.
Then I started using a Outback Oven. The baking system enclosed the stove and trapped the heat to achieve oven like temperatures. Soon my Snow Peak stove's igniter melted. Unfortunately, I did not really understand why the igniter failed to work, so I started using my wife's Snow Peak stove instead of mine. Well, soon her igniter was melted as well. I must have still not really understood what was happening, because I also melted the Jet Gaz's igniter!
I loved the piezo igniter, but what I needed was one that was not attached to the stove, a portable piezo - one that I could not melt. Finally, MSR did it. They started making the portable Piezo Igniter. I bought one as soon as possible. I wanted to show my support for the product that I had been wanting for years.
So for a few Piezo notes ...
It's pretty simple, push the button.
Ah, but it took me a few times using the igniter before I was able to start the stove on the first push each time. In a well ventilated area (outside), turn the cannister gas stove on, hold the igniter to the side of the burner, allow gas to go into the tube, then push the igniter, and finally adjust the stove's gas.
The gas filling the tube, is the key to a fast ignition.
Store the igniter in a dry area.
The igniter weighs a half of an ounce.
The igniter only works on pressurized gas stoves (cannisters).
There is a small hole in the body of the Piezo, I attached a small key ring and a lightweight lanyard to the igniter.
I have been using the igniter since fall ('13) and have had no issues.
I really do like the igniter. If my stove (JetBoil) has a Piezo, then I do not carry the igniter, but if it does not have an igniter (like the Primus Yellowstone, or our Snow Peak) then the MSR Piezo is my choice.
I liked the igniter so well, that I gave it as a Christmas gift to a few friends and my wife. I still felt a little guilty about burning up the igniter on her Snow Peak stove!
Happy MSR Piezo Igniter trails.
Oh, a special note ... never use a fully enclosed wind screen on a cannister stove. The stove gets way too hot, melts plastics, and may even explode. That is not a good thing. Be careful.