Behind the Gear: The Switch Stove System
Jim MeyersThe location is selected, the time off approved and now the logistics begin. After you’ve settled on the type of tent and sleep system that fit your trip, your next considerations are fuel, food and stove. Like all gear, these choices are tied to pack weight, distance, objectives and overall vibe of the adventure. Are you out for an intentional type-2 sufferfest where grams count, a relaxing car camp with friends, or something in between?
These choices often dictate what sort of meals you’ll cook, and you’ll need to pick a stove to match. On one side, there are the compact, nesting designs of ultra-efficient, fast-boiling stove systems. They’re hard to beat on that sufferfest when grams count and you just need to boil water or melt snow, but you’re going to need an entirely different monster if you have higher aspirations for dinner than eating out of a foil pouch.
Or do you?
The all-new Switch Stove System bridges this performance gap. It switches seamlessly between a hyper-efficient, boil-only stove system for ultralight trips with one or two people, and a more conventional stove that works with a range of traditional, flat-bottomed pans that open a world of options for cooking complex meals and with larger groups.
Let’s look at the two distinct use modes of the Switch System and how, together, they make it one of the most versatile stove systems available.
Use It As a System
The Pot
A stove system is generally defined as a stove and cookware that are designed to work exclusively together. Building the pot around the stove creates superior efficiency through optimized heat retention, transfer and wind resistance. When used as a system, the Switch stove utilizes a now-familiar, custom-engineered 1.0L pot with a drink/strainer lid and integrated heat exchanger. This pot sits securely on the stove’s ring-style pot support and is perfect for 1-2-person groups in the backcountry. Less familiar is what you see at the bottom of the pot.
The Switch system utilizes a more traditional burner under the pot to gain its versatility, but this came at the cost of some wind resistance. Therefore, we looked for other opportunities to boost efficiency throughout the design process. The result was the Switch 1.0L pot’s patent-pending hemispherical bottom. This unique design spreads heat more evenly and efficiently than a flat-bottomed pot, increasing the surface area that the stove’s flame comes into contact with. It’s a subtle but highly efficient change and, combined with its integrated heat exchanger, the Switch can boil a half-liter of water in just 2.5 minutes.
To further please the gram counters, the pot also features folding handles and a removable (and sustainable!) cork cozy, allowing you to cook and eat from the same pot—a real plus when trying to lighten your load and keep your pack small. If you don’t want to eat from your cookpot, you also get a BPA-free bowl that nests over the outside of the pot. And speaking of packing, the stove and a 4-ounce fuel canister pack neatly into the pot, along with the included canister stand for added stability.
The Stove
The key to the Switch stove system’s versatility is a more conventional burner design, compared with the advanced primary air combustion of our other stove systems. In fact, if you’re familiar with MSR stoves, you might think that the stove in the Switch System gives off some pretty strong PocketRocket vibes, and you wouldn’t be wrong. However, it is its own beast, offering a more robust design and a slightly larger burner head for better heat distribution. Combined with an internal pressure regulator for improved performance at higher altitudes and in cold and windy conditions, the stove also comes with an easy and reliable Piezo ignitor. Though familiar in design, this is what allows the Switch to be so versatile.
Use It as a Conventional Camp Stove
Typically, the efficiency and wind resistance of a stove system are the result of the integrated design of the stove and pot. To prevent overheating the specialized primary air burners of the WindBurner™ and Reactor® stoves, you are limited to using the cookware designed exclusively for each system. However, the Switch stove’s hybrid design lets you quickly ‘switch’ over to using traditional, flat-bottomed cookware without the worry of overheating those specialized burners. Simply flip out the integrated pot supports, and you can instantly use any cookware up to 8 inches (20.3 cm) in diameter. This quick change means you can now use non-stick cookware, boil large pots of water for group meals, and so much more, all with one stove and your existing camp cookware.
In either configuration, if wind resistance is a big concern, you can run the stove from the comfort of a LowDown™ Stove Adapter, providing yet another level of versatility and performance. With the stove mounted remotely on the LowDown adapter, you can take advantage of a lower, more stable base for peace of mind with larger pots and busy camp kitchens.
So, Who is the Switch Stove For?
To be entirely honest, there is no single stove that can solidly cover the entire range of outdoor cooking options and styles, and you should run away from anyone who promises such a thing. From boil-only meals hanging from a big wall to full-on glamping with all the bells and whistles, the best stove for each of these extremes is a highly specialized tool. However, if you tend to play in the middle ground, doing the occasional long backpack, mixed with 2-3 day trips and car-based weekends with straightforward meal plans, the Switch stove system really deserves your consideration.
For ultralight solo backpacks, it will serve you exceptionally well in system mode, with its compact, nesting design, high efficiency, and light weight. Backpacking with friends? We all know that trying to cook pasta in a tiny pot for two or three people is a hassle, so grab one of the larger pots from your Quick 2 Cookset for the trip, and use that for dinner, reserving the 1.0L pot in system mode for your speedy cup of morning coffee or tea. Cragging with friends for the weekend at a campground? Bring a skillet for eggs and a larger pot for that great curry over some rice. And bring the 1.0L pot too, for warming dish water and hot drinks in just a couple of minutes.
Of course, those are by no means the limits of what you can do with the Switch stove system, but if those situations sound familiar to you, it might just be your next favorite stove.
Check out the Switch™ Stove System here.
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