MSR WhisperLite Backpacking Stove Review

Bottom Line

The MSR WhisperLite excels where canister stoves fail. It stands up to extremely cold weather, high altitude, and blustery winds, making it ideal for mountaineering and winter treks. The WhisperLite is extremely fuel efficient, can handle full-sized cookware with its stable foundation, and is virtually unaffected by wind. We didn’t go easy on this one during our wind testing process and it still didn’t disappoint.

As the name implies, the WhisperLite is both quiet and light, but it’s not ultralight. We wouldn’t recommend this stove for the typical three-season backpacker. It’s significantly heavier than most backpacking stoves (including the fuel), and has a little bit of a learning curve to operate, making it not ideal for beginner backpackers. For simpler and more lightweight stove options, check out our full guide to backpacking stoves.

Convenience

The WhisperLite isn’t a ‘turn a knob and flick a switch’ type of stove to operate – it has a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it it’s no big deal. There is a fuel bottle that has to be filled, then pumped to pressurize the fuel, then attached to the fuel line. Then the stove needs to be preheated (“primed”) before you are ready to turn on the main burner to cook. Oh, and don’t forget to set up the windscreen and heat reflector! When the stove is ready to be packed up, it must be disassembled and the fuel bottle depressurized. Don’t worry, it goes quickly after a while and there are valuable trade-offs to this maneuvering.

The WhisperLite is perfect for a base camp kitchen scenario. Unlike other backpacking stoves, it can handle larger pots and pans, making it ideal for cooking for a group (though it uses quite a bit of fuel, we’ve managed to boil multiple gallons of water at a time in a large pot for a dozen people).

Weight & Packability

The WhisperLite, when including all of its accessories like the fuel pump, windscreen, and heat reflector, weighs in at about 15.4 ounces. When you take into account that it’s a backpacking stove that can hold its own as a solid piece of mountaineering gear, it’s really not that heavy. Integrated stove systems come pretty close in weight. However, if your aim is shaving ounces from your pack weight, we recommend looking elsewhere.

The WhisperLite and all of its components come in a convenient drawstring carrying bag that ends up being about the size of a cantaloupe, making the volume of the stove more significant than the weight.

In addition to the overall size of the stove itself, the WhisperLite uses white gas fuel as opposed to IsoPro. White gas is stored in special oblong, MSR fuel bottles which most people like to store on the outside of their pack in the water bottle pockets. The bottles are heavier and bulkier than IsoPro canisters, but the trade off is the efficiency of the WhisperLite which allows you to carry less fuel.

Power & Efficiency

The boil time of the WhisperLite is just below average compared to most backpacking stoves, at five minutes and fifty seconds per one liter of water. It’s not the most impressive boil time by any means but chances are, if you’re using the WhisperLite, you’re probably not worried about going anywhere in a hurry.

When comparing performance in windy conditions, however, the WhisperLite excels over most other backpacking stoves, thanks to its included windscreen. The flame also comes out of a collared basin which further protects it from the wind. Most backpacking stoves’ boil time doubles, triples, or even quadruples when wind is added. The WhisperLite, even when we introduced probably an unfair amount of wind aimed directly at the burner,  only increased by less than 20%.

The MSR WhisperLite is easily one of the most fuel efficient backpacking stoves on the market. It blew away the competition in our efficiency test, using only 0.1 ounces of fuel to boil one liter of water. Given that its performance hardly faltered in significant wind, we’re confident that the WhisperLite gives you the best bang for your buck out of a bottle of fuel. This means longer expeditions with less fuel.

As a bonus, the efficiency of the WhisperLite also makes it one of the most environmentally friendly stoves out there. It not only cuts down on fuel waste, but also avoids the needless waste of empty fuel canisters, as the MSR fuel bottles are reusable.

Precision

The WhisperLite does not simmer. It pretty much just has an on or off mode. This is typical of liquid gas stoves due to how the fuel is distributed. For a similar stove that has better simmer control, we recommend checking out ones that are compatible with isobutane/propane canisters. The MSR WhisperLite Universal is compatible with a wide range of fuels including canisters.

Should You Buy the MSR WhisperLite?

We wouldn’t recommend the WhisperLite for heading out on a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike, or any other objective where every ounce of weight savings counts. White Gas fuel is harder to come by, the stove is cumbersome, and overkill for fair weather environments.

However, this stove is a no-brainer for the backpacker or mountaineer who’s looking for a lightweight stove to take on extended expeditions in extreme weather. You can set your mind at ease knowing that your stove will work despite cold temps and high winds. It’s also a great option for groups that want to cook together and disperse the pack weight amongst the group.

What Other Backpacking Stoves Should You Consider?

JetBoil Flash Review: An integrated stove system like the JetBoil Flash will give you similar stability and wind blocking to the WhisperLite but in a slightly smaller and lighter package. The canister fuel is usually more available and the Flash is known to be highly efficient with decent simmer control.