Reader Reviews

Rating: 4 / 5

The ThermoJet MicroLite is a great little stove system. It's light, fuel efficient, stable and boils water fast. The simmer band works well too. All components roll into a nice and neat package for storage. It takes ~4:00 mins. to boil 1/2 liter of water and it will burn for ~6:30 mins. on 1 oz. of alcohol (using Klean Strip S.L.X.). Compared to other alcohol stoves I have used, the MicroLite is by far the best.

Edited by oiboyroi on 11/11/2006 20:36:28 MST.

Rating: 5 / 5

Using 95% ethanol: fast, efficient, clean burning system. The stove takes up very little space. The stove is reliable in all wind conditions.

The only reason I might not give this stove the 5 it deserves is that I worry about loosing one or both of the steel rods that support the pot. I guess that is my problem and not the stove's problem.

Rating: 4 / 5

I have purchased several types of soda can stove over the years and whilst they all have there strengths and weaknesses, this is by far the alcohol stove set up I use the most. This openjet stove, is quick to get going and in your pack makes a tidy package. The supplied sturdy windshield, pot support, fuel bottle and stove all roll up together. It has a nice simmer band which wraps around the wind shield and when you want to simmer you simply slide the band down over the air intake holes. For this to work properly though you need to use the right size pot, that just fits inside the windshields diameter, leaving only a small gap around the edge for exhaust gasses. This pot diameter varies depending on which size Thermojet Microlite you purchase. If your pot is too small, then shutting the air ports will make no real difference, but get it right and this little stove simmers perfectly!!! A great stove, who's main drawback is that during use, once you slide the simmer band down over the air intake holes (Using a stick or similar), it is extremely difficult to slide the band back up to bring to the boil again, mainly due the fact that the simmer band and wind shield are so hot. Remember, the Thermojet Microlite is a complete set up, ie stove, support, windshield. It's the fact that they all work so well together that makes this stove worth the money. The soda can stove element by it's self is pretty unremarkable but combined with the supplied windshield and simmer band, it rocks. If the simmer band control had been easier to work in both directions it would get a five, otherwise this set up earns a respectable four out of five.

Edited by waterloggedwellies on 08/07/2005 18:26:15 MDT.

Rating: 3 / 5

From the reviews, I would expect this to be a good stove, if it is ever delivered to me.

I feel that I must warn prospective buyers of my bad experience in attempting to purchase this stove.

I ordered a ThermoJet MicroLite stove on 17 June 2005 (paid $48.30 through PayPal), and still have not received it as of 21 August 2005.

Furthermore, numerous attempts to contact the seller have failed, as I have received nothing but an automated response such as the following:

=======
From: info@thermojetstove.com

Thank you for your interest in the ThermoJet MicroLite stove. If you are writing to inquire about your order, please note that all orders are processed and shipped in the order that they are received. We currently have approximately a 4 week backlog of orders.

All of our customers are equally important to us. Consequently, we cannot accommodate requests to move an order ahead of others, provide a specific shipment date, or similar requests for "special handling" of an individual order.

We appreciate your understanding that this is the only way we can provide fair and timely service to all of our valued customers. We regret any inconvenience that this may cause.


Synergy EC
=======

So as of now, more than 8 weeks has passed since my order, I'm out $48.30, and have no stove. This transaction does not meet PayPal's requirements to file a dispute so there is no recourse to pursue getting a refund.

Note that there is no phone number on their website to contact them, which is unfortunate since I am unable to get a reply when I send an email to either tim@thermojetstove or info@thermojetstove.com.

My last course of action is to write them (snail mail) and request a refund.

I do not doubt that this is a good stove, but be careful purchasing from a merchant such as this that is unable to provide ANY customer service.

===========

Update:

Hi Hector, perhaps this isn't the best place to discuss this, but..

I understand your reply. My concern is that I've been told to expect delivery in 4 weeks, it has now been more than 9 weeks with no delivery, and absolutely no way to get a response from this guy (I'd be happy with a human response telling me that they've received my order and that it is in fact still in the order queue).

I understand that they have a backlog, but I do not feel it is unfair to complain if they are 5 weeks overdue on their estimated delivery time, and have given no further indication that this is to be expected. (you'll notice that their current auto-generated email response says the backlog is 4 weeks)

I'll happily increase my rating appropriately when I either (a) receive the stove and it performs well or (b) when I get a refund.

I just wanted to make other people aware of this situation. I'm aware this is probably a great stove, but if they cannot fulfill their end of the deal in a timely manner (or, *at least* within the timescale that they specify to their customers), then people should be aware of that.

===========
(Sept 2 2005)
Update:

Hi Joel, maybe you can send me the extra one you received? :-)

It has been 11 weeks as of today. I still haven't received the stove I ordered or received any feedback from Thermojet/Synergy.

Still waiting.

===========
(Oct 12 2005)
Update:

Still haven't received the stove which I ordered on June 17. That's over 16 weeks!

As usual, my email inquiries go unanswered and I continue to get the automated reply telling me the backlog is 4 weeks. Additionally, I've moved and since there is no customer service and no replies to my email, who knows if they even received my request to ship to my new address.

I've pretty much given up on ever receiving this stove (or my money back). So, I just ordered one from outdoorequipmentsupplier. He replies to my emails within 24 hours and also he let me know that he could fulfill my order BEFORE I paid (unlike Thermojet). I like it better already and haven't even seen it yet.

If I ever receive the Thermojet stove, I'll update this posting. Buyer beware!

===========
(Dec 13 2005)
Update:

I finally received the stove, after nearly 6 months of waiting.

In all fairness, I'm pleased with the quality of the stove. So I'll increase my rating to a 3.

This would be a '5' if the delivery didn't take so long and if someone would have replied to any of my many emails along the way when I was trying to find out the status of my order.

Chris

Edited by ramblinwreck001 on 12/13/2005 09:55:26 MST.

Rating: 5 / 5

For the previous rater who gave this stove a rating of 1/5 - the notice that Synergy/Thermojet gives out to its customers is that due to the very favorable reviews given on backpackinglight.com, they have been swamped with orders for their stoves. I'm only guessing here, but Thermojet is probably not a big operation. As such, their focus at the moment is properly directed to filling all of their orders. Moreover, this notice or warning as it may be, is given on the website, BEFORE YOU ORDER. If you still ordered a stove knowing this, it's not fair to complain. As far as getting replies - they have stated that they have been inundated with emails and inquiries as well, and just like getting orders out, they are trying to answer all their emails. I would suggest patiently waiting (as I am) before passing judgment.

Update: Got the 2 stoves I ordered in under 4 weeks. As per the backpackinglight review, it works so well because it's a complete system. However, each piece of the system - the windscreen, the simmer ring, even the stove itself (which is only an open jet energy can stove) are made and finished very well. I've tinkered around with alcohol stove systems and none of the pieces I came up with look (for whatever that's worth) or operate quite as well, so I feel the purchase was more than worth it.

Point taken, Chris. Sorry to hear you still haven't received your stove. I can appreciate your frustration, but maybe he's been on this forum and didn't appreciate not being given the benefit of the doubt. That is arguably a unprofessional, but then again, no one likes being flamed in a public forum when he is probably doing their best to fulfill his obligations.

Edited by flipside72 on 09/20/2005 16:55:59 MDT.

Rating: 5 / 5

I too am waiting rather patiently for my stove. Hopefully they read their own reviews and concerns. When you claim that you will get an order out in ~4 weeks. You should make an effort to contact those people when you cannot meet that goal. At least have an accurate auto responder to inform people that the wait is 10 weeks or whatever. I am into week 7 weeks with no response. I also am confident that this will be a great stove but a little customer service would go a long way. Underpromise and overdeliver would be a better strategy for them.

I will increase my review to a 5 when I get the stove.

Well ... I received the stove (actually they sent me 2 of them in error) It is very well designed and so simple it's brilliant. It is the fastest and most efficient alcohol stove I have ever used. Kudos for the product and keep working on the customer service. I am upgrading to a 5 from 3.

Edited by joelbowman on 08/30/2005 19:47:49 MDT.

Rating: 1 / 5

Same problem with no communication. Will change rating when product delivers. Even though I would rather refund at this point but no one answers. Maybe they went hiking.

Rating: 1 / 5

I have not yet received a stove after four months of waiting and numerous unanswered e-mails (except for the automated response saying there's a four week backlog). I'm glad to see from other reviews that I'm not the only one but I may hold the record for length of wait. Any suggestions for getting a stove (or getting my money back) would be appreciated. Steve

Rating: 5 / 5

After the review here, I ordered the stove from Thermajet. It took awhile, but I did get the stove along with a letter apologising for the long turnaround. I'll be taking the stove to Yosemite next week.

The letter cited the large set of orders received after the review.

steve

Rating: 1 / 5

Here is a copy / paste from the dealings I had with the maker of this stove WAY before the excellent reviews came out. The excuse of slow delivery due to increased orders is BS!

"Thermojet "company" burned me!!! ON 04/10/2005 22:28:29 MDT POST REPLY

Yep, I was burned by this guy!

First, I placed my order on March 1st (before the review) and it was over two weeks in arriving. (He explained in an e-mail that he had a family emergency) But when I opened the package, the stove burner itself was partially crushed!!!

I spent the next 3 weeks trying to get him to respond to 5 different e-mails with no success. It was like he had dissappeared off the face of the earth! I finally complained to Paypal and BPL. A few days later he e-mailed me back using an "alternate" e-mail. (It was a yahoo account) He claimed that I must have his original e-mail address blocked or something and that he had respnded to every e-mail that I had sent. (Yeah....right!)

He has refused to replace the crushed stove for a different one and said that he is frustrated in dealing with me now (No surprise after I complained to Paypal and to BPL) and just wants his whole kit returned. He said he will credit my Paypal account once he receives it!

Anyway, I sent the whole kit back a couple of days ago. It remains to be seen if my account will ever be credited. <note: it FINALLY was>

Bottom line: I'M NOT IMPRESSED WITH THIS PERSON!!! BEWARE!!!"

Edited by Hoosierdaddy on 09/16/2005 21:42:11 MDT.

Rating: 1 / 5

0/5: Stove ordered 6/21/2005. It has been over 4 months and I have not yet received the stove or any non-automated reponse to emails.

Also, I think backpacking light should strongly consider retracting its original recommendations / editorial picks for this stove. Enough of us have written in not having received any stove after months! A responsible company should not be recommending controversial sellers (especially without at least a disclaimer of some sort).

12/22/05: No stove or replies to email after 6 months! There is simply no excuse for not returning emails after taking 45.00 in payment. If this guy has time to file for a patent on his product, then he has time to email buyers and let them know that they have not been forgotten about, where they are in the queue, or give them the option for a refund. Backpacking Light should remove its high rating of this product as it is largely extant. It's akin to giving me a high rating for the time machine that I've built. Send me $45.00 and I'll see that you get one...however, please be patient, I'm a small operation and process your orders one at a time.


2/10/2006: Over 7 1/2 months and I have not received the stove. He never even has the courtesy to respond to email (I don't count the automated response that says there is a 1 month backlog in orders).

2/28/06: RECEIVED A REFUND 8 Months after the stove was ordered. "We had contracted with a third party to fulfill your order, and on reviewing their records we discovered that they had incorrectly flagged the order as shipped. Please accept our apologies..."

In the meantime, I was quite happy with the Brasslite alcohol stove which performed well in the Sierras at 10000 feet. Bought a Jetboil which I'm also looking forward to using in the field.

Edited by busotti on 03/08/2006 13:40:53 MST.

Rating: 1 / 5

Thought I'd relate my experience trying to purchase a Thermojet stove...

I placed my order in early September (2005). I figured I'd be waiting a month or two, or more, which was no problem since I wouldn't use the stove until next year. I did not email Synergy/Thermojet afterward to ask about the status of my order, etc.

Then on Dec. 2nd, out of the blue, I received an email from Tim saying he had refunded my purchase because "One of our shippers made an error with your order, and incorrectly recorded it as having been sent. Due to the age of the order, and in keeping with our customer service policies, we have issued a full refund of your payment."

This was the only communication from Tim; he did not ask first if I wanted to continue to wait or if I would prefer a refund.

I tried several times to contact Tim at info@thermojetstove.com (the one email address he says he actually answers) to request that my order be reinstated, but have only received automated responses in return.

So, although I'm sure the Thermojet is an excellent product, I'd have to say that actually getting ahold of one is problematic, and that their customer service is just about non-existent.

If I ever do hear back from Tim, I'll update my report accordingly.

(In the mean time, I'll build a Penny Stove [http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/penny.html], which looks like it performs just about as well.)

Rating: 4 / 5

I did not buy this stove, in fact, I have never bought a alcohol stove, but have many of the MBD stoves and tonight added this wonder to my collection. I actually made the stove on my own so I am actually reveiwing the design
anyway the design works great for simmering and my stove working with tent stakes, weighs only 2oz.
it is compatible with any top burner stove and the windscreen/pot suport will hold a pot of full water no problem.
and is much more sturdy rhan the side burner designs

I would give it a 5 but me having to make it, brang it down to a 4

Edited by ryanf on 12/09/2005 22:02:48 MST.

Rating: 5 / 5

Haven't actually fired it up yet...just came tonight.

Just wanted to say that the folks at Synergy / Microlite got my stove to me in just a week. Ordered it over the weekend last weekend and it arrived today. I think that is pretty darned good.

Read the above reviews after I had placed the order and went into panic mode with hearing all the stories about long lead-time. We have a trip planned out to Sequoia and Yosemite at the end of April. Wanted the stove for the trip.

Will pick up some fuel tomorrow night on the way home and fill in with a real review later

Edit....

Finally took the time to try the stove out. Not in the woods but in my garage. Put three cups of water in my MSR Kettle and had it boiling in just over five minutes on less than an ounce of denatured alcohol. It wasn't an official time test by any means. I am now enjoying a fine cup of hot cocoa and am very please with the product.

Steve

Edited by sim on 04/07/2006 14:14:58 MDT.

Rating: 5 / 5

After reading earlier reviews of this stove I was both excited by its high Backpacking Light rating and fearful that it would never be delivered. In fact the fear was not warranted because I received the stove within a week of ordering, though I never received any correspondence from the manufacturer except for automated email.

The stove is every bit as good as Backpacking Light says: cleverly designed and quite well made. In an indoor test (70 degree air temp and coldest water from the tap) the Thermojet boiled two cups of water in 5.5 minutes. So, my experience with Synergy, Thermojet's company, has been perfectly fine: very good product and relatively quick service.

Rating: 4 / 5

The stove is easy to fill, light, and use. I found the Microlite to be reasonably fuel efficient, and had a pretty quick boil time for an alcohol stove. The windscreen was more effective than most windscreens I have used when facing moderate to high winds. The integrated windscreen / pot stand provides a very stable platform for a pot. The whole package rolls up into a fairly compact cylinder.

As fair as the purchasing experiences... communication wasn't great. but my stove arrived within a month after I ordered it. I order the Microlite a month or so after the BPL article. The stove around in a few weeks after I placed my order, which is better than I would have expected given the problems some other people have experienced.

Rating: 4 / 5

I bought this stove last October, and after worrying about delivery from reading previous reviews, it showed up a week later. Sweet. I had the same experience as everyone else on fuel efficiency and boiling time - this little stove works really well. I always use Everclear for fuel, so I don't need to worry about any toxicity (besides getting accidentally drunk!). The included container is more than sufficient for a weekend outing. Some of the things I did not like: The wind shield is rather crudely cut and I always feel like I am in danger of slicing my finger open when setting up and taking down. Also, I ordered the "standard" size, but the sizing is still too large for my Vargo Ti-lite cooking mug and prevents the simmer function from working effectively. Maybe they sent me the wrong size?

Rating: 5 / 5

Probably what I like best about the Thermo-Jet is the design of the windscreen/pot support. Then again - maybe what I like best is that this stove burns hotter than any other stove we saw on our 5.5 month AT thru hike. While others had stoves that didn't seem like they could quite get water past the boiling point, our thermo-jet was fast and fuel efficient.

What I didn't like was the simmer feature. Maybe I was doing it wrong, but I couldn't get it to work. First of all the band that covers the vent holes on the windscreen was so tight, it was't easy to move - especially if the stove is running with a pot on the stand. Even with the holes closed - it didn't seem to damper the flame enough to simmer. THIS STOVE BURNS HOT!!! Our solution was to take a small peach can, cut two holes in the bottom, then flip it upside down on top of the stove. This let the flame only come out of two holes which gave us the simmer effect we wanted.

Overall - it's a great system. It works better than anything else we saw on the AT. We simmered often and cooked all kinds of food and never had a problem in over 2000 miles of hiking.

BTW: It took 2 months for our stove to come in...

John

Rating: 3 / 5

A month ago we ordered a Thermojet Microlite stove system, after reading the good review in Backpackinglight. They only accept Paypal, so we ordered it through my wife's Paypal account. Five days later, it arrived; I was impressed by how light the package was. On opening, I found out why... only part of the stove system was shipped. The alcohol burner and fuel bottle (part of the system I paid for) were not in the package. No problem, an honest mistake, I thought. We politely emailed Thremojet. NO RESPONSE! We waited a week and emailed again. Again, NO RESONSE! After another week we emailed Paypal to complain; they passed it on to Thermojet and, guess what... NO RESPONSE! We entered a claim with Paypal, and they were no help. Paypal says they would honor the claim if he shipped nothing at all, but that this is a "quality of goods" issue, which they will not handle. So, for $44.90 (with shipping), I am the proud owner of a very expensive wind screen!

So, I bought a Packafeather Featherfire stove. It arrived in only a couple days, perfectly shipped. It works exactly as advertised- a super stove, easy to operate and adjustable.

This comment is a follow up a week after posting the above. Thermojet emailed and shipped the missing parts, five weeks after my first email. It is a nice stove, works well, and is especially compact for a system. But I prefer the Featherfire- it is more complicated in design, but does a better job of controlling heat and it's more of a fuel miser when simmering.

Edited by kswarren on 08/04/2007 20:59:11 MDT.

Rating: 5 / 5

This is my second Thermojet stove. (I thought I left my first on the trail ... but actually misplaced it). Having read many of the reviews, I was reluctant, wondering if I would receive it. Delivery was less than 2 weeks. The second stove is identical to the first. I like the boil times (4-5min), no priming, nicely integrated windscreen/pot support and much lighter than my canister stove. I can't compare to other alcohol stoves, but the Thermojet has burned over 4L of alcohol with no problems.