I usually don’t bother cooking while I am backpacking, but when we went to Norway, I knew it was going to be cold. I thought it would be nice to have a hot meal at least once or twice, so I decided to finally pick up a travel pot. This pot is…. all right…

As far as cooking goes, it works fine. The titanium heats up and transfers the heat very well, and it didn’t take too long to get almost a liter of water boiling. The lid also doubles as a tiny pan, which is neat, although I have yet to use it for anything but a lid.

The main problem is the handle, which is way too short and gets to searing temperatures. You cannot grab it with your bare hands, and I had to use a glove to pull it off the embers we were cooking on.

Another time when I was using a travel stove, the pot started to tip over and I instinctively reached out to grab the handle and save the water, and I ended up really burning my hand to the point where it blistered. That was not fun to get near the beginning of a backpacking trip. The fault there lies more on the stove than the pot, but if the pot would have had a longer handle that didn’t get so damn hot, then that crisis would have been avoided.

The other annoying thing about this pot is that the carrying bag is much too loose. The lid doesn’t snap onto the pot, and since there’s so much empty room in the carrying bag, the lid comes off and then clangs against the pot, making quite the ruckus in your backpack.

I solved this by wrapping an elastic band around it to keep everything together.

Not only is the bag too big but it’s also a mesh, so any soot on the bottom of the pot will rub off and easily go through the holes and get all over the inside of your backpack. You need to either expertly clean the bottom of the pot after every use or use an entirely different carrying bag that won’t let soot sprinkle all over everything else.

At first, I was doing the first option, but I will just switch to a different bag from now on.

This pot wasn’t cheap at about 50€, so I must confess that I am not all that satisfied with it considering the price. I will keep using it for sure because it does work, but if I am ever in the market for another travel pot, I will definitely look into one that packs more securely and that has a better solution for the handle.

Pros:

Packs small

Heats up and cooks effectively

Cons:

The handle is way too short and will burn you

Carrying bag is worthless

Needs an extra strap to not open and make lots of noise