MSR’s literature for the Reactor camp stove makes the claim that it will boil a liter of water in three minutes, but that wasn’t quite right—we got a rolling boil in 2:45. That seemed pretty fast, especially for a watched pot, so we timed boiling a liter on another canister camp stove we had on hand: 7:45. The Reactor even outpaced a kitchen range, which took 6:20 from a cold start and 4:50 with preheated, glowing element.
The Reactor has two unusual features. The burner head has a diameter of about three inches, and the combustion of the fuel takes place in a grainy-looking disk covered by a heavy wire screen. There is no visible flame, only the glow of the burner head. The bottom of the pot looks like the front end of a jet engine. It has radial vanes that are rimmed by a cowling that routes the hot gases for the stove around the bottom of the pot. The transmission of the heat into the pot is very effective: You could hold your hands an inch away from the pot and not get burned.
The pot has a folding handle and a clear plastic lid. The butane/propane cartridges and the burner head fit inside the pot. A small square of pack towel supplied with the stove keeps things from rattling around.
The stove and the pot are designed to work as a unit, and there’s nothing to support any other cookware over the burner, so you won’t be doing any sautÈing over it. But for the fast-and-light crowd, just boil up some water in the Reactor, simmer a dehydrated meal in a thermos and dinner is served.