MSR Alpinist 2 Cook Set vs GSI Outdoors Glacier 3L Cookset

The Alpinist 2 sits where most people actually cook, light enough to carry and even enough to cook on, with the fullest specification here. The Glacier 3L is the one to own if your heat source is wood rather than a burner.

MSR Alpinist 2 Cook Set

Buy it

Hard-anodised aluminium at 630 grams, which is the balanced answer between titanium and steel.

• 2.4 litre hard-anodised aluminium pot, a material that spreads heat far more evenly than titanium and weighs far less than steel.
• 630 grams stated with a packed size of 7.2 by 4.8 inches, so both numbers a buyer needs are published.
• The pot lid doubles as a strainer, which removes a separate item from the kit.
• Complete two-person kit at that weight: the 2.4 litre pot, a strainer lid, a removable Talon pot handle, two DeepDish plates and two insulated mugs.

• The entire product description is one sentence, so everything useful lives in the spec block.
• Hard-anodised aluminium should not go directly on coals or in a fire, which rules out the classic campfire use.
• One 2.4 litre cooking pot means one-pot meals, since the plates and mugs are for eating rather than cooking.

Check price

GSI Outdoors Glacier 3L Cookset

Buy it

Stainless steel that will sit in a fire, with the weight penalty that implies.

• 18/8 stainless steel, so it tolerates open flame and hot coals in a way neither titanium nor aluminium does.
• 3 litre capacity plus a frying pan, which is a genuine two-course setup rather than a single pot.
• Strainer lids and dual bail handles, meaning safe pouring and a secure hold over a fire.
• Materials specified precisely as 18/8 stainless, silicone and recycled PET cloth rather than described as steel.

• 964 grams, more than double the titanium set, which is a lot to carry any distance.
• Stainless conducts heat poorly compared to aluminium, so it is slower to boil and burns more easily on a burner.
• Nests to 8.4 by 8.4 by 5.7 inches, a bulkier package than the smaller sets here.

Check price

Side by side

The bottom line

Our overall pick is the MSR Alpinist 2 Cook Set - Hard-anodised aluminium at 630 grams, which is the balanced answer between titanium and steel. Choose the GSI Outdoors Glacier 3L Cookset instead if cooking over wood or coals, and anyone whose kit travels by car rather than on their back.

Want the full picture, including the other options we compared and the popular one we'd skip? Read the complete The Best Camp Cooksets: 4 Compared (and One to Skip).