STOVES (inspired by my trip to EMS)

The fates seem to have smiled on my AT aspirations in so much as an EMS store opened up not two miles from my house! I stopped in yesterday and thought some thoughts about... Stoves. And other things, actually, but I'll keep this post limited to stoves.

I must tell you, I love the design of the jetboil system. If you haven't seen it, it's a sweet looking, self-lighting fuel canister unit (6 oz) that clips into an insulated cup (9 oz). It boils two cups of water in two minutes and Eric and EMS man say it can do four cups. The design is brilliant for a solo hiker in that you do not need any other cookware, bowls, cups, hot pads, etc, at all, just add instant whatever to the cup. It would be hard to burn yourself. How would it work for four? We could 1. buy one combo and boil water back-to-back, 2. buy two seperate units or 3. extra cup/s (Red, Blue, Green and Camo) ($30) w/ or w/out extra unit. Part of me says we should splurge on two stove- as it will allow us to split up as needed and keep cooking prep time (waiting for water to boil) to a minimum allowing us to all have hot water ready at the same time. I cannot help but think that it would be fun if we each had out own insulated cup. Drawbacks are expense, $90 per unit, $30 per cup. Also you can only boil water, no pancakes in there- but I think we can deal. Prices can be lower online.
One alternative is the whisperlites, of which my family already has two. I think after a $15 gasket-replacement kit they would be ready to roll. These stoves weigh 14 oz. w/out fuel. But we'd need at least one pot and then additional bowl/cups for all. While I am afraid of them, I have been thinking that is because I never learned how to use them. They are better at high altitudes and cold as you can pump up the pressure in the fuel bottles. The price is obviously nicer. Also we can decide to take one or two, I still like the idea of two in case one doesn't work or we end up splitting up for any reason. Major drawbacks are the trickiness of starting them, which I might reevalute, and weight, if we take two. They are still highly efficient, boiling 1 quart of water in 4 minutes and can be used to cook other stuff, not just water, but don't expect souffle or anything.
Other alternatives not at EMS: The wonderfully free coke can stove weighs in at less than 1 oz. They are less efficient in fuel burning and run on denatured alcohol, diffficult to find. However, we could carry up to 30 oz. of it and still be lighter than the other options. Additionally, you can carry the fuel in any sort of lightweight container, no need for a special fuel bottle which can be heavy. According to one study, it was the only AT stove with zero percent failure rate. There is the risk of disturbing the stove and setting something on fire, but that seems not too high. The big drawback is inefficiency and finding fuel. We'd certainly want at least two along, as it takes 6-7 minutes to boil 2 cups of water, requiring additional cooking pots.
The Esbit pocket (pellet) stove. The stove costs $10 and the fuel packs ($6/12pk). It weighs in at just 3.25 oz, pellets are just 0.5 oz each. I can't say much as I haven't seen one, but it seems light and cheap.

My gut instinct based on what I have seen says buy two jetboil systems. They are so easy and well-designed and will only cost $45 each, perhaps less if we get them online (I saw them for $75 there). I even saw a nice deal where you can get their sweet coffee press, fuel canister and some free coffee with the unit for $90. Fuel goes for about $4 per unit which lasts 1.75 hours. When you consider not having to buy (or carry) any other cookware, it also seems cheaper. I think cooking should be as easy as possible, who wants to fiddle around with complex stoves, pots, etc after a day of hiking? Having 4 seperate cups seems a trifle luxurious, perhaps unneccessary and expsensive. It would require carrying at least two bowl/cup things- but they are light and cheap anyway. If two seems like too few, we could always order more en route. BTW, does Eric or anyone else we know, want to donate his stove to us? Lastly, jetboil does have a cooking pot and skillet even, but these aren't as handy-dandy efficient. Considering the gernerally sub-stellar quality of trail food, it seems not worth the extra weight and expense of pots. Just for reference, the jetboil pot unit is $120. We could buy one pot unit and one water unit... But I just don't like the pot, I've seen it and it looks not cool.

Others, please respond!

Lastly, campmor has a "light my fire" spork value pack with four (yes, four) sporks for $9.99- red, yellow, green and blue. Isn't that cute??! Are we into these or what?