BRS-3000T Stove Review: A Year and a Half With the $15 Ultralight Backpacking Stove I Still Carry
I’ve carried the BRS-3000T ultralight stove for about a year and a half, and it’s been on pretty much every trip since. It just lives in my pack with the rest of my cook kit and comes out whenever I want coffee or hot water. I paid something like 15 bucks for it on Amazon. For a budget backpacking or camping stove, I think it’s great, and you really can’t beat the price.
It’s a tiny titanium burner that screws onto a fuel canister, weighs almost nothing (around 25 grams), and folds down small enough to disappear in a pot. If you’re comparing the little pocket stoves and trying to figure out whether the cheap one is good enough, this is my take after a year and a half of using it.
Reasons to buy
- Budget friendly
- Ultralight, 25 g
- Nests in your pot
- 3-minute boil
- Stable pot supports
Reasons to avoid
- Struggles in wind
- Needs a windscreen
- Basic burner
BRS-3000T specs at a glance
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Weight | About 25 g (0.9 oz) |
| On my scale | 26 g, see my weight table |
| Output | Around 2,700 W (about 9,000 BTU/hr) |
| Boil time | Roughly 3 minutes for 1 liter |
| Fuel | Screw-on isobutane canister |
| Material | Titanium alloy and steel |
| Packed size | Folds down to nest inside a pot |
| Price | Around $15 |
What I actually use it for
Mostly coffee, and boiling water for meals. That’s what a stove like this is built for, and it does it fine. The boil time isn’t insanely fast, but it gets the job done, and when you’re standing around a trailhead waiting on water, another minute doesn’t really matter.
I’ve heard people cook more elaborate stuff on these little stoves, scrambled eggs, steak bites, actual meals. I haven’t gone that route. If I want to really cook, that’s what my Coleman 2-burner and cast iron are for, off the truck. The BRS is the setup that goes in the pack when weight matters.
The wind, and the tinfoil trick
The downside is wind. If there’s a lot of it, good luck. The flame is small and exposed, and a breeze will fight you on both lighting it and keeping a boil going. That’s the one thing people warn you about with the BRS, and they’re right.
I figured out the fix in Zion. I was just outside the entrance, it was super windy, and I was trying to boil water for coffee. Nothing was happening. So I built a little barrier out of tinfoil to block the wind, and it worked. It blocks the wind enough to light easily and hold a boil. Now a strip of tinfoil rides in my cook kit as a windscreen. It weighs nothing and it fixes the one real problem this stove has.
Set the foil up as a partial wall on the windy side, a few inches out from the burner, and don’t wrap it around the fuel canister. A windscreen that traps heat around the canister can overheat it, and that’s the main safety warning with any stove that screws onto the top of a canister. If the canister ever feels hot to the touch, shut the stove off and let it cool.
Pot stability and fuel
The pot supports look tiny, but they work great. I set my pot on it and it holds fine, no wobble that’s ever worried me. For fuel I use the small MSR canisters, mostly because my whole cook kit nests inside my TOAKS 750ml pot with the canister and the stove, so the whole thing packs down into one tidy bundle. That’s a big part of why it stays in my bag. It takes up almost no room.
Not sure which canister size to bring? My backpacking fuel calculator works it out from your trip length, meals, and the weather.
Would I buy it again?
Yes, with one caveat. I bought this one because I was on a budget, and for the money it has been hard to argue with. If I were buying again today with a little more to spend, I’d probably step up to something a bit nicer. But that’s not a knock on the BRS. For a cheap, ultralight stove that boils water and packs into your pot, it does exactly what I need.
If you’re backpacking on a budget and you want a stove that weighs nothing and costs about 15 bucks, the BRS-3000T is an easy one to recommend. Just pack the tinfoil.
BRS-3000T FAQ
Do you need a windscreen for the BRS-3000T? In any real wind, yes. The flame is small and exposed, so a breeze fights you on both lighting it and holding a boil. I use a strip of tinfoil as a partial windscreen on the windy side, a trick I figured out in Zion. Don’t wrap it around the fuel canister, since trapping heat there can overheat the canister. It weighs nothing and fixes the one real weakness this stove has.
How long does the BRS-3000T take to boil water? Around three minutes for a liter in calm conditions. It’s not the fastest, but standing at a trailhead waiting on coffee, another minute doesn’t matter.
Are the BRS-3000T pot supports stable? Yes. They look tiny, but they hold my pot fine with no wobble that’s ever worried me.
Is the BRS-3000T worth it? For a cheap, ultralight stove that boils water and packs into your pot, it’s hard to argue with at around $15. If I were buying today with more to spend I might step up to something nicer, but it does exactly what I need.