I recently acquired a set of the new Primus Eta cooking pots – anodized aluminium, outdoor camping pans with heat exchangers on the base designed to improve fuel efficiency.
I have used them on an induction period of two cycle tours and will be taking them away in my panniers for 12 months as I cycle around the world over the coming months.
[UPDATE SEPT 2014: I’ve been using the pots for over a year now in combination with the Primus OmniLite Ti titanium stove. I reckon they’re the best pots I’ve used].
Primus Eta Pots: 10 Second Review
The Primus Eta heat exchangers significantly increase the rate of cooking (i.e. boil a pot of water faster) and will thus improve fuel efficiency (i.e. your gas will last longer).
In addition, the build quality and functionality of the pots is excellent: the non-stick coating is really hard wearing, the handles are stable and easy to use, and the plastic lids are inspired.
The only downsides for the ultralight outdoors enthusiast are that they are slightly taller and heavier than equivalent standard pots (although you may save weight on fuel).
In short, they’re an excellent cookware range (the best I’ve used) and will cook your meals quicker.
Primus Eta Cooking Pots Review
I have the Eta Pots in 1.8-litre and 3.0-litre. The 1.0-litre version is exactly the same design. Let’s go through a few cookware basics before looking at the heat exchangers specifically:
Primus Eta Lids
I’ve never seen it utilised elsewhere but the Eta range uses plastic lids. I was a little suspect at first but they’re excellent. They don’t get as hot so you can remove them with your hands when cooking – avoiding the awkward act of levering off a hot metal lid with your spork or using the invariably tiny handle provided.
They don’t bend or get bent either which means they fit snugly on top without rattling with steam or when packed in your bag. They also act as a colander with a series of holes on one side.
The only down sides are that you can’t use them to fry as you can with some pans (though not most) and they could conceivably break (although they feel pretty tough, like the material used in Nalgene bottles).
Primus Eta Handles
It’s a simple thing but handles on outdoors cookware can be a pain – collapsing at the wrong moment or losing grip when you stop squeezing tightly, dashing your hard earned dinner on the floor. The Eta handles are good. They are attached to the pans, don’t require a tight grip, cannot collapse and are plenty big enough to operate with gloves on. Top marks.
Primus Eta Pot Stacking
Pans that don’t stack properly are annoying (and one of the key reasons I didn’t get the old Eta pans – see below). By virtue of the tight fitting plastic lids and the rigidity of the pans’ shape (see below), these pans stack together perfectly.
Primus Eta Non-Stick Coating
It sounds like a luxury until you’re scraping the burnt remains of cold porridge off the bottom of your pot in an icy cold stream in darkness. Hard ceramic non-stick is definitely better than the coatings that scratch off easily (the coating on my last pan set didn’t last a month). The ceramic non-stick on these pans is the best I’ve used.
The Primus Eta Heat Exchanger
As mentioned, the key feature of the Eta range is that they have a heat sink on the bottom. The idea of this is to improve efficiency by avoiding lost heat around the sides of the pan (see heat image at the bottom of this page) thus saving you fuel in the long run, and making for a faster cooking speed.
(The Primus Eta Solo and Primus Eta Express stoves use similar technology on their built-in cookware.)
Cooking speeds on the Primus Eta
I could see how the heat exchangers would improve fuel efficiency but was a little sceptical about the idea that it would increase the rate of cooking. So I tested it out.
I filled an Eta pan and another aluminium pan of the same size with 700ml of water (enough for two cups of tea) and heated them simultaneously on my gas burner stove at home. The Eta pot boiled the water in 2 minutes 8 seconds, a full minute ahead of the regular pan at 3 minutes 11 seconds.
I didn’t quite believe it so I repeated the test, switching stove burners around, and found the exact same result. The Eta pot cooked about one-third faster. Pretty impressive.
Primus Eta Fuel efficiency
I’ve not conducted my own tests for fuel efficiency but if it heats food/water quicker (see above) then it must necessarily use less fuel (and that’s what all the tests claim). This can only be a benefit when you’re restricted to a bottle of petrol or a gas cannister.
Other benefits of the Primus Eta Pots
The addition of the heat exchanger on the base has a number of other beneficial side effects which include:
- A more even cook across the pan, with less hot spots and burning points.
- Food at the bottom of the pan stays hotter for longer (less grim mouthfuls of cold, dank pasta at the end of a meal).
- The heat sink cools off much more quickly than the base of a normal pan would when filled with hot food/liquid so you can put it on the tent floor or your lap sooner after cooking with less risk of burning.
- Whereas most pans get a bit bent and buckled quite quickly, meaning the lids don’t fit properly, because of the reinforced ring at the base, these pans hold their shape rigidly.
Disadvantages of the Eta range
The downsides of these pans are pretty up front and can be summarised as thus:
Large pack size
The heat sink and the raised lid make these pans notably taller (2 or 3cm extra) than most which might be an issue for some when it comes to packing into a rucksack. For me, it means the 3.0l is too big for my smaller front panniers and thus can only really fit in the panniers at the back.
Primus Eta Pot Weights
Eta pots come with a slight weight penalty from the heat exchangers. As such, they’re heavier than other equivalent aluminium or titanium pans but still lighter than steel. If you’re into ultra light outdoors activities though then the increased fuel efficiency may be a compensatory factor (i.e. the pan’s 100g heavier but I can take 100ml less fuel).
Here’s a weight comparison with a few other pans:
1-Litre Pans
MSR Alpine Stowaway 1.1l (steel) = 440g
Primus TiTech Pot 1.0 (titanium) = 230g
MSR Quick Solo Pot 1.3l (aluminium) = 213g
Trangia 1l (aluminum) = 192g
2.0 Litre Pans
MSR Alpine Stowaway 1.6l (steel) = 550g
MSR Alpinist Pot 2.4l (aluminium) = 306g
Old ‘EtaPower Pots’ vs New Eta Pots
The Eta 1.0l, 1.8l and 3.0l are the second generation of Primus pans with heat exchangers. The previous incarnations were EtaPower Pots 1l and 1.7l.
The most obvious improvements are:
Protected heat element
The old EtaPower pots had the individual ridges of the heat exchanger exposed, leaving them liable to catch on clothing, collect dirt and scratch the inside of your pack. The new pots have them covered which is much better.
Stackable
It may seem minor but the fact that the old 1.0l and 1.7l pans didn’t stack at all meant that I had always ruled out using them because they’d take up so much extra space. The new range stack perfectly.
And…
They’re bigger: the inclusion of a larger 3.0-litre pot is a good addition (as a couple, a 1.7-litre pan would have been too small); they have better fixed handles (at least compared to the 1.7l) and they use the new plastic lids.
Primus Eta Pots: In Summary
The Primus Eta pans are a really well designed set of pots, even without the heat exchangers. The addition of heat sinks makes them remarkably more efficient and quicker to heat food. If you don’t mind a few extra grams and can fit them in your rucksack then I would recommend them highly as the best pans I’ve used.
Want One?
The Primus Eta potst are not prolific in the UK or America. Ellis Brigham stocks the 1.0 and 1.8 litre pots, and Cotswold Outdoor have the Primus Eta Power stove which comes with the 1.8 litre Eta pot. However, the best place to look for the whole range is Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. and you can often find them on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
39 Comments
Korpijaakko
Just a note: There were also 2,1L and 3,0L pots on the old Eta series. The first I own and the latter I used on Svalbard expedition in 2011 so they have also been around for some time.
I don’t really like the new plastic lids (heavier, more prone to damage) but otherwise the new pots look a lot better. I assume that the protected ehat element also adds fuel efficiency.
Tim Moss
Ah, thanks for the update Korpijaakko. It’ll be interesting to see how the lids hold up over a year’s daily usage.
annabelle
The new eta pots state not to let stove flame touch the heating element. It says that carbon monoxide will develop. Do you know why that is?
Thanks
Tim Moss
Hey Annabelle, I’ve no idea about that one I’m afraid. That sounds like “covering their backs” to me. It would be hard to avoid the base of a pan being touched by the flames of a stove onto which it is placed!
Tim Moss
Annabelle, I emailed Rosker (the UK importer for Primus) and received this explanation. I. Hope it helps:
” The simple explanation is that carbon monoxide is produced when carbon-containing compounds [such as LPG, gasoline etc] are burned. Usually a very small, harmless amount of carbon monoxide is produced when operating a stove as opposed to much more carbon dioxide. When the flame burns in the heating elements, there’s not enough oxygen to form carbon dioxide from every oxidising carbon molecule. Therefore it forms more carbon Monoxide rather than Carbon Dioxide.
Even simpler, the Carbon Monoxide is produced when fuel burns with insufficient oxygen supply and this can happen in small spaces like tents. This is never a problem in the outside or in a well ventilated area. It is in no way dangerous to use the Eta Pot, but it increases the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if using it in enclosed and insufficiently ventilated areas.”
Andreas Olausson
Can i pack everything with the 3L pot in the bag?
Tim Moss
The pots all nestle inside each other if that’s what you mean. So, for example, we have a smaller red pot inside a smaller pan which are both inside a 3l red pot inside a 3l pan, all carried in the mesh case provided.
Hope that helps?
Marco
Is there enough space in the eta packing bag for a additional pan? I think i can store a 1l pot inside the 1.8l pot in the whole package and there should be enough space for the burner and one gas cartridge, right?
Tim Moss
Hi Marco, the pans are designed to be stackable so, yes, you can fit the 1l inside the 1.8l etc. There is also, of course, room inside the smallest pot (whatever size that is for you). Our smallest is the 1-litre and we fit our Omnilite Ti inside along with spares and repair kit.
I’m not sure about fitting a gas canister in though. That’s what I think every camper wants for their pans but it rarely seems to work. The tiny 100g gas cartidge might fit but I suspect that’s all.
Tim Moss
Marco, I’ve since checked and I was wrong. There is plenty of space for a gas canister inside even the smallest pan/pot. You might fit a really small stove in too (e.g. pocket rocket) but otherwise, probably better stuffed with coffee sachets or the like. Just emailed you with this correction.
Frik
Hello,
I’d like to buy Eta Spider and occasionally I will need to use 3.0l pot.
I see that diameter of spider is 155mm but 3.0l pot is 200mm, so is it possible to use this together or I have to buy bigger Eta Power with 210mm ?
Tim Moss
I don’t know about the Spider Frik but Ive just emailed my Primus contact to see if they can help.
Tim Moss
Hey Frik, got this back from Primus:
” The ETA Spider set & 3L Eta pot are compatible but the difference between the radius of the heat exchanger on the bottom of the pot & the stoves pan support isn’t that great, meaning that the pot could be knocked off stove if you’re not careful. ”
Sounds like you’re OK if you don’t mind the tight fit. We have a similar issue with the 3.0l ETA pot on the Omnilite-Ti. It’s annoying but eminently usable (we’ve been using ours for the last 9 months of cycling).
doug
When using the 3 L eta pot on the omnilite does the heat exchanger ring rest on top of the stove supports or do the stove legs fit inside the ring and rest on the bottom of the pot?
Tim Moss
In theory you can do either. I only ever have it resting on top of the heat exchanger ring though. It’s a delicate balance and, honestly, can be pretty annoying as it’s so easy to knock off.
It’s easy to fit the stove legs inside the heat exchanger when the stove’s turned off but removing the pot when it’s burning would be awkward.
Hope that helps,
Tim.
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Michael
Hi
I recently bought a ETA pot. It is unsuitable for use on a wood stove. The smoke goes into the pot under the Lid and contaminates the food making it inedible. Other than that it is a nice pot.
Michael
Tim Moss
Thanks Michael. That’s an interesting one. Is there a particular reason you think it’s happening with the Eta pots? Is it the draining holes in the lid?
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Guillaume
Hi! I’m looking for a *second hand* “Primus TiTech 1.0L”, if you are selling yours, I’ll be glad to receive your offer through 20000km.com
ciao!
Tim Moss
I’m not selling mine I’m afraid.
Raf Reyes
Hello,
I’m thinking of getting an ETA Spider stove system (which includes a 1L ETA pot) and want to use a 1.8L ETA pot as well. I’m thinking if they’ll pack and nestle well to save space. Would you know if the Spider system which includes a wind screen will fit inside the 1.8L pot?
Tim Moss
Hey Raf. I’ve not tried it myself but the Primus website says “Burner, 1-litre pot, windscreen, plastic bowl and a 100-gram gas cartridge simply pack together into one compact unit in the accompanying insulation bag” (and the video on the same page shows it happening) so I am sure they would fit into the larger 1.8-litre pot as well. I can email them to ask if you like, though?
travis
Not sure if this thread is still active but you seem quite knowledgable on these and I can’t find the info I seek anywhere. Do you happen to know if this would be compatible with a whisperlite? Perhaps even nest inside an empty 1 liter pot? Thanks!!
Tim Moss
Hi Travis, thanks for the message. I haven’t personally tried to put a 1-litre Eta pan on top of a Whisperlite or put a Whisperlite inside one. I am confident that the pan would fit on top though as it has a small diamater. As for fitting inside, my OmniLite Ti fits inside the 1-litre pot easily. The Whisperlite is probably slightly larger. I reckon there’s a good chance it would fit but couldn’t say for sure. Sorry not to give a more definitive answer. Do let me know if you try it.
Thanks,
Tim.
P.S. All threads on the site remain open!
Travis
Thanks Tim! Your response and opinion are much appreciated! I think I’m going to give it a try and will update here if I do.
RonanS
Hi Tim, just bought one of the ETA pots / with hear exchanger. There isnt any reason I can’t use this on a small BBQ, is there? (Heading off on a family holiday for few days and trying to compromise on space as we’re flying to get there.) Thanks, Ronan
Tim Moss
Don’t think so. It’ll probably just get black with soot. And watch you don’t melt the plastic coating on the handles.
Skipper Lay
Thanks for all the threads on Primus ETA pots. I have older ETA pots (1.7 ltr and 2 ltr. nesting pots with conventional lids with “D-ring” holders) that I have coupled with the MSR Superfly canister stove. The SuperFly is extremely light and fits all canisters, whether with threaded top or not. The heat exchanger rings were too small diameter for the wings of the SuperFly, so I carefully cut out a small segment of heat exchanger with my Dremel drill/grinder for each wing, then used a paint pen opposite the cuts at bottom of pot for “3” and “4” wing stoves. The SuperFly is 4-wing (4.6 oz.), but the MSR Pocket Rocket is 3-wing (3 oz.) The fit on/off from pot to stove is still not perfect, but works with practice. I just wish the pots were lighter, although mine have turned out very durable over many trips.
Tim Moss
Thanks for that Skipper. I’ve seen other people try that with their heat exchangers: cutting out sections so the stove legs fit inside. Neat idea.
I’ve done a big comparison of different stoves, including the SuperFly and Pocket Rocket here: http://thenextchallenge.org/camping-gas-canister-stoves/
Shaun
Hi Tim,
Great blog – it helps the hours pass in work before the next trip! And this ended up longer than planned too, so hope it helps – it’s all intended to be constructive.
I haven’t read through all your comments so apologies if this has been said. As an engineer I can’t help but point this out to you! You suggest that the downside is the weight but this is offset by the fuel saving in that they are more efficient “i.e. the pan’s 100g heavier but I can take 100ml less fuel”.
Only comment is that 100ml fuel doesn’t equal 100g, more like 70-80g depending on fuel type – working on liquid fuels here. At 70g/100ml this would mean you’d have to leave out 140ml+ of fuel to offset the same weight. Thats almost half of the small fuel bottles! OK, actually 40% and proportionally less of the 0.6l and 1l sizes.
So boiling times were 2m8s and 3m11s, thus 128s and 191s which is pretty much bang on 50% longer! – thats a great bit of info. The inverse would be to say the ETA pans use about 67% of the fuel than a standard pan does.
With the above in mind then if 33% of the fuel bottle volume (i.e. 100% – 67%) is greater than 100g, or more easily quantifyable 140ml, then the weight offset would be worth while.
Now we probably wouldnt set out to only fill our fuel bottles to 2/3rds full nor only to 140ml less than the max; but usefully a 350ml fuel bottle is 58% of the 600ml. And the 600ml is obviously 60% of the 1L. Which isnt too far off comparable to the increase in fuel efficiency. Providing you weren’t planning on running on fumes and had a little spare capacity then you could probably get away with carrying a 350ml bottle instaed of a 600ml and a 600ml instead of a 1L
Anyway, only nit picking, its a great and very informative article. Feel free to copy any of this into your article if you were to want to – no royalties needed!
Keep up the good work.
Shaun
http://www.ChasingTheSunrise.org
Tim Moss
Thanks for the analysis Shaun. I think I meant ‘offset’ in the general sense of fuel efficiency is an advantage which you might balance against the extra weight.
If you need enough fuel for two month’s in Antarctica then that would be a big advantage. For one night’s camping, it won’t be.
Still, your number crunching’s a great addition. Thanks for doing it!
Mark
Hi Tim,
Would you be able to tell me the internal diameter and height of the 3L and 1.8L pot. I want to make a mock-up to see what I can fit inside. Also what is the internal diameter of the heat exchanger – I want to know if it will work with my stove.
Thanks!
Tim Moss
Hi Mark,
I just dug out my pan and a tape measure for you.
3-litre pot: 19.5cm diameter, 10.5cm depth. Internal diameter of heat exchanger: 14.5cm.
I hadn’t noticed you wanted the 1.8-litre pot as well so will get back to you with that.
Tim.
UPDATE:
Hi Mark, I got all the stuff out again to check the measurements for you:
3-Litre Eta pot dimensions
Diameter: 19.5cm
Depth: 10.5cm
Heat exchanger internal diameter: 14.5cm
1.8-Litre Eta pot dimensions
Diameter: 17cm
Depth: 8.5cm
Heat exchanger internal diameter: 12cm
I hope that helps.
Tim.
John Hamilton
So, only six months since the previous post… I just got a Eta 1.0 liter pot, and I’m wondering how the nonstick is holding up for you? What kind of utensils do you use in yours (wood, plastic, metal)? Really, I’m wondering if I can use my titanium spork to eat right out of the pot, or if I need to go to a plastic one.
Oh, and Merry Christmas!
Tim Moss
Hey John,
We used our non-stick for over a year on the road and it held up fine. We used a wooden spoon for cooking but frequently ate out of it with metal sporks. It’s got a few scratches but is otherwise pretty good.
Happy New Year!
Tim.
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Debbie
Hi Tim
Can these pots be used on any stove e.g. 2 ring gas stove?
Thanks!
Tim Moss
Yes. If the rings are very small then the pots can be a bit unstable, but otherwise they’ll work on any stove.