Negative onces from the GSI Minimalist! $22.95
We are talking about the GSI Halulite Minimalist. This little baby has everything going for it, including a great price! At $22.95 you get a collapsable spork, pot grip, cook pot, insulated cozy and a lid that you can drink out of. The beauty of it all is the size and it’s multi-functionality. It’s everything you need and nothing that you don’t at only 6.2oz for the whole kit. AND…. because of the versatility you can actually save more weight than what you are adding to your pack.
Let’s break the Minimalist down to the individual pieces.
Cookpot: At .6 liters it can boil the standard 2 cups of water safely (no boil over). We found the size to be perfect for 1 person, but 2 can definitely share the unit. Playing “King of the 50 foot bluff that drops right off into the river” was a great way to decide who got to use it first when we did our testing. The included lid simply flips over (non-drinking position) and sits on top to increase heating efficiency. The pot is a hard anodized aluminum that saves weight and increases durability. And because it’s simple, and probably obvious by the price, it does not have a nonstick finish. So you’ll need oil if you are doing more than boiling water. And speaking of boiling water, that’s the main use behind the design of this particular pot. So if you plan on catching that 15lbs. bass while packing, get the grater out in order to fit half of it in! The other bonus is that a standard 220 gram fuel canister will drop right inside with room for everything to still cram in.
Lid: This sipping capable lid is a wonderful addition to a standard basic pot to boil water. Once we were done boiling water for our dinner we could fire up a littel more hot water to make a nice cup of joe and drink it right from the pot. Hence saving the bulk and weight of a seperate mug. Now the lid is definitely a tight fit and the instructions say “To ease insertion, moisten seal with water as necessary”. Doing so really helps. But it’s still a little fight to get it off. The easiest way we’ve found to remove it is to firmly grip the pot with on hand and place your other hand over the lid gripping the plastic (not the silicone edge) with your four fingers and pry back.
Pot Grip: This is cool. No matter how lame you think a pot grip can be (and pot grips are probably the least exciting piece of gear we can think of), this is sweet! It’s high temp silicone that two fingers fit into and a flap for your thumb to squeeze against when lifting the pot off the stove. Warning! Don’t hold the freshly boiled pot of water for too long, it will get very warm even through the silicone grippy. Also, a cool but not necessary feature for most is the magnet built right into the grippy. The magnet allows you to literally stick it on your canister while cooking. Now if your that person that wanders large parking lots for half an hour trying to find were you put your 3500lbs. metal box on wheels, then this may help you…. But for the rest of us, it’s bright orange and you can just put it in your pocket.
Collapsable Spork: To us, probably the least exciting part of this whole kit, but none the less it is mostly functional and your getting one whether you like it or not. First of all, we think sporks were sent from the heavens to make society a better place. So we cannot complain about getting a free one. However, the handle is so micro sized don’t even think about dipping into a Mountain House bag without getting covered in sweet and sour pork with rice! But the biggest issue is in it’s stabing ability. And we aren’t talking about hunting squirrels….. Sporks are useful because it’s a spoon AND a fork, but the fork portion couldn’t even stab a hunk of well water logged tuna out on the trail. Oh, but don’t worry our knuckles managed to grab a hold of the tuna as a our fist slammed into the tuna pouch from the spork prematurely collapsing against the pressure.
In the end, this kit has been a real pleasure to use and is one of our most favorite pieces that have come out in a while. We would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to go light and simple or to just keep a way of boiling water handy. This system is worth getting, just get yourself a different collapsable spork. And don’t worry, the spork it comes with is still very useful. Just hold onto that for when your “I’m too cheap to buy my own stuff” friend wants to tag along and mooch.
Your review here is spot on. I did some time to boil trial testing against a simular sized titanium pot and the Minimalist won out by 25%. Finally got it out on the trail and loved it far surpassed what I’ve used in the past. Very compact packing and light wieght to boot. Thought my stove or collapsable titanium spork might scratch the enterior surface, but it did not. I actually put my preped food bag in the cozy to keep warm while “cooking” as my tea steeped and cooled to a drinkable temp. Switched the cozy to keep the tea warm with dinner and life was great !