Review: Jetboil Flash

You know you're arrived when you get genericized—meaning, people refer to all products in a general category using your specific name. (Think Kleenex, Thermos, Q-Tip, and Frisbee, among others.) These "proprietary eponyms" indicate a breakthrough, a first-to-the-party originality in the marketplace—but also hegemony over it, which Jetboil most certainly enjoys, at least in the common parlance. Their new Flash one-liter personal cook system heats up coffee, soup, or a dehydrated meal in, well, a flash, and it's got all the other features that make it a household name: compact size, light weight, simplicity, reliability, and your backpacking partner's earnest admonition: "Don't forget the Jetboil!"

The Flash is available in a variety of limited-edition patterns and colors. $130; jetboil.com.