I saw one review a number of years back that the early XG-K was hotter, maybe think about obtaining a older model. I also feel strongly that a stove is a very important piece of survival gear that should be well taken care of, as in meticulous with fueling, care not getting any debris in bottle on in stove or pump openings. I have the older model that I bought cheaply off a multi-trip thru hiker that had used the stove on all three major thru hikes. Runs as designed. Duane
The new vs old question of heat has never been properly tested. The raising of the pot height between the X-GK and XGK II resulted in slower boiling, but less carbon monoxide. I have not seen any clear report of the height of the current stand vs the XGK II stand. I personally suspect that the slower boil time is down to the height, and the GK jet. Well, that would be the slower gasoline boiling time. The kerosene jetting on the current stove (GK) is larger than the XK jet, and only the pot height would slow the kerosene time down. The rate of fuel flow ought to be the same otherwise. So for me, I would not worry too much re the old vs new. I have a very early X-GK and only an XK jet. It still boils water with Shellite/white gas/naphtha in 5 minutes, and 3 with kerosene/paraffin. I'm not sure more heat is required, but the current stove is specced to do both those a little faster.
I agree, even my kitchen range seems it could be hotter, but along with camping stoves, they have been designed to burn cleaner, resulting in slower boil times. Duane
Howdy, Guys, Regarding MSR X-GK boiling times, I've always been somewhat amused that MSR continued to quote the boiling times for their first offered stove, the outstanding #9, for the other MSR X-GK stoves. The pot supports on the #9 are much shorter than any others of the MSR X-GK family of stoves, if memory serves. And, in my experience, only the #9 can actually produce the boiling times that MSR used to quote for ALL that family of stoves. IMHO, the #9 is still the King of MSR boiling times, though Sweet Bride and I prefer to use some of the later, multi-fuel versions of the X-GK family, for their variety of fuels from which to choose. Just my passing thoughts...... now, back up on the roof, for continuing fun in trying to keep the plethora of Cedar Pods off the roof lines, and out of the gutters, and off the decks....... AGAIN!!! (I hate Cedar trees..... can you tell?!) Doc
@Cody Anecdotally, my (2010 made) XGK EX is the only MSR stove (of about ten in 25 years) I've ever had trouble with that needed to be sent in under warranty (I did once destroy a Firefly, but that was on me). Its jet would loosen after a few burns and then spit a candle flame from the seam where the jet meets the burner bell. It's at MSR right now. Maybe they'll send me one of these new-fangled ones that are so overtightened they shear off chunks of the jet
@paultee I have reported the issue to MSR's Warranty and Repair team. They offered a free replacement and would investigate for any potential cause. Perhaps I was just extremely lucky to get three lemons in a row. In case there was any issue, I pray they would identify and correct it before working on your repair.
I imagine they're careful with incoming repairs... and imagine they've been churning out stoves like mad. For a while through the pandemic you couldn't even find a new XGK in mainstream Canadian outfitters like MEC or Sail. They're just trickling in now and, fingers crossed for MSR and consumers, you happened to weed out the duds!
Quick update on my XGK EX. It went in back in Nov when I posted here, then arrived in March with just a new jet, spreader, and pad, but was still loosening after about half a dozen boil cycles. It would still release blue flames from the side of the jet once it reached a loose enough point. Part of the problem of diagnosing it is you have to basically spend hours heating and cooling it. It also ended up getting sent from MSR's Canadian facility to the US—a real journey. Luckily I got a great rep on the phone and they took it back on their dime to investigate further and sent a replacement that just arrived today. I feel a bit bad that mine didn't just get fixed. I would have been happy to pay what it cost, but there was no way I was ever going to rely on the old one with that issue, and the rep was clearly sympathetic to the 4+month wait to get back my still-non-working stove at a cost of $50 in shipping and repair fees. There's definitely a few of us out there with this issue, as someone DMed me about experiencing the same thing after reading about it here, too. Luckily, MSR came through for me (I hope because if I somehow get that problem on the new one, it's just going into a drawer forever!). One lesson from all this: MSR's phone service is outstanding. Their online portal is glacial. You really only get access to the phone people once you've bounced around the faceless web-repair side of things.
