Elaboration: The Cheetah Windscreens

When properly designed, Heat Exchanger (HX) Mugs are known to improve fuel efficiencies by 20%-30%. In particular, HX mugs benefit from design integration into a complete stove system. JetBoil and MSR are known as the worldwide leaders in this class of stove systems. While they are excellent system, these products tend to be significantly heavier than regular cooking system, in general they can weigh between 12 and 16 oz. A simple cook set can weigh as little as 5 oz.
The Cheetah Windscreen is a critical part of a Do It Yourself (DIY) strategy. This kit allows you to select the best components to best meet your needs. Optimization can be based upon total weight, Price, Pack volume or features. The Cheetah System allows to customize the hardware in multiple ways.
As of 5-22, we support 3 different stoves and 3 different HX mugs. There are nine configurations you can configure from, and we expect to expand upon this over time.

Introduction

Wind robustness comparable the

MSR WindBurner and superior to JetBoil

The MSR WindBurner is the Best of the Best (black line) when it comes to wind robustness.  It easily outperforms any of the JetBoil systems (blue & yellow lines).  The Cheetah Systems are comparable to the MSR WindBurner with respect to robustness in the wind.  Above is the response of Cheetah Version 1 (green line) compared to the golden standard (WindBurner).  All of our version have a similar response.

Here, we compare and contrast Cheetah to the WindBurner and to JetBoils

 

Once you select your stove and HX mug, you can use the chart below to identify the correct Cheetah Windscreen for that combination.

How to choose your Cheetah WIndscreen

 

Stoves

The Cheetah system is an intricate design and can be configured using one of three stoves: Fire Maple 300t, the MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe or the Soto WindMaster 4-Flex

Cheetah (Fire Maple 300t) – is out most basic system. The stove itself is unregulated and must be lit manually. The user modifies the Fire Maple stove in order to integrate the burner plate onto the stove body. From there on, the stove operation is simple and basic.
Cheetah (Pocket Rocket Deluxe) – is our premium system: the stove itself has autoignition, is regulated and can be used directly with the burner plate (no modification required). The user can use the Pocket Rocket Deluxe as a standalone product with regular mugs/pots.
Cheetah (Soto WindMaster 4 Flex) – The stove itself has autoignition, is regulated and can be used directly with the burner plate (no modification required). For this version, the cheetah is used universally with all HX mugs/pots. The user can use the Soto WindMaster as a standalone product with regular mugs/pots.

HX Mugs

We currently designed our stove systems around 3 popular HX mugs: Sterno Inferno, WideSea and Fire Maple 1 liter mug. Other HX mugs may work, we have just not verified them at this time.

Sterno Inferno – at this writing the Sterno Inferno has been discontinued online. They typically are sold out at major retailers and stores with a good web presence. Sterno has no plans to re-activate this product. That being said, they often can be found at local hardware stores: I recently acquired 6 HX mugs with way. The Sterno Inferno mug is ideal for the Ultralight backpacker, it is the lightest, lowest volume HX mug on the market. The volume is 640 ml to the brim.
WideSea – This is an HX cooking set that is available on AliExpress for approximately $20. We recommend leaving the upper pot at home and just use the HX Mug. You can use a 1-quart yogurt top (Costco) as a lid. The HX mug has a capacity of 850 ml and is a good general backpacking mug for heating water. This mug is the same size as the JetBoil Flash.
Fire Maple 1-liter – The 1-liter volume is a common size that matches most of the JetBoils as well as the MSR WindBurner. This HX mug can also be found on AliExpress and usually cost less than $25.