Pathfinder pot, zebra billy, or alternative?

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Suffolkrafter

Settler
Dec 25, 2019
525
464
Suffolk
Thread title kind of says it all; I'm looking for a larger pot, around 1.8 to 2 litres for use on a fire, with bale and handle. I love the look of the zebra billy can and it is cheap. But it has no handle which grates on me a bit. The pathfinder 1.8l has everything I'm looking for - bale and handle - but seems a touch expensive. I'm wondering if anyone has anything out there that I've missed?
 

punkrockcaveman

Full Member
Jan 28, 2017
1,457
1,512
yorks
I've got a life venture ss pot which has only a handle and no bail, it's a pain! However the lid is a tight fit and I've not struggled with perching it on embers yet. Msr stowaway is a carbon copy of it. You might be able to get a bail on it, but because it's more wide than tall I'm not sure how well it would balance
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
7,354
2,365
Bedfordshire
:lmao: :lmao:
Mr Mowmow, you have a wicked sense of humour! I think for it to work properly though, you must use your genuine Ray Mears Woodlore knife to puncture the Ray Mears recommended pot!

Sufolkrafter,
For me, having had a 12cm Zebra for quite a few years, it would be a no brainer. I won't have another Zebra "billy" pot for camping. The so called Zebra billy pots are not light, the lids are sized to fit into the shallow, round, doggy food dish that sits in the top of the billy, so when you use for cooking, the lid is a rattle fit on the billy. Pouring sucks. They are not designed as camping pots. They are not designed to pour and they are not primarily designed to hang over a fire. They are sold in Asian shopping malls in the cookware section and are used by people to carry and storing food. Zebra's own website list them in the "Food Storage" section, while they have another section for camp cook pots. The loop handle is a handle for hand carry, it is clearly overkill for a hang-over-fire bail. The width of it can make getting it to hang on a stick more difficult than a simple wire bail.

I have looked around and don't see much else in the 2litre size.

If it was me, I would be tempted by the Toaks titanium 1100ml pot, but that is about £45...and I don't have that sort of money....and I have a Snowpeak 900 that has done just fine for all my solo meals since 2008 or so! I thought I would miss the bail, and did all sorts to try to make something that would fit, but in the end I found I didn't cook on fires when out camping solo. The Zebra was really bad for use on a stove, whether it was gas, alcohol or hobo-wood; small base to volume, poor heat transfer, hard to pour, hard to hold to eat from, and the handle would flop down into the flames and had enough mass to really hold heat.

Chris
 

Lore

Forager
Dec 19, 2003
106
15
Co Meath, Ireland

Tatonka 2.5it ( this has a bail for hanging no side handle)

 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: DocG

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,438
2,859
W.Sussex
:lmao: :lmao:
Mr Mowmow, you have a wicked sense of humour! I think for it to work properly though, you must use your genuine Ray Mears Woodlore knife to puncture the Ray Mears recommended pot!

Sufolkrafter,
For me, having had a 12cm Zebra for quite a few years, it would be a no brainer. I won't have another Zebra "billy" pot for camping. The so called Zebra billy pots are not light, the lids are sized to fit into the shallow, round, doggy food dish that sits in the top of the billy, so when you use for cooking, the lid is a rattle fit on the billy. Pouring sucks. They are not designed as camping pots. They are not designed to pour and they are not primarily designed to hang over a fire. They are sold in Asian shopping malls in the cookware section and are used by people to carry and storing food. Zebra's own website list them in the "Food Storage" section, while they have another section for camp cook pots. The loop handle is a handle for hand carry, it is clearly overkill for a hang-over-fire bail. The width of it can make getting it to hang on a stick more difficult than a simple wire bail.

I have looked around and don't see much else in the 2litre size.

If it was me, I would be tempted by the Toaks titanium 1100ml pot, but that is about £45...and I don't have that sort of money....and I have a Snowpeak 900 that has done just fine for all my solo meals since 2008 or so! I thought I would miss the bail, and did all sorts to try to make something that would fit, but in the end I found I didn't cook on fires when out camping solo. The Zebra was really bad for use on a stove, whether it was gas, alcohol or hobo-wood; small base to volume, poor heat transfer, hard to pour, hard to hold to eat from, and the handle would flop down into the flames and had enough mass to really hold heat.

Chris

Sums up my experience with the Zebra pots to a tee. AliExpress may well be the place to look, I’ve got a 1.5l titanium cooking pot from there that has folding handles and houses a Svea stove, but no bail. I’m sure you’ll find something, even if you have to do the Mowmow mod. :D
 

Billy-o

Native
Apr 19, 2018
1,981
975
Canada


I use the jetboil minimo more than anything, if it's not going on a fire. Also, the MSR mentioned above is good, and affordable
 

crosslandkelly

A somewhat settled
Jun 9, 2009
26,265
2,212
67
North West London

lou1661

Full Member
Jul 18, 2004
2,178
194
Hampshire
Some good options there. For me it’s a shame they all have handles attached to the side. I am looking but only really want a bail arm.
 

Bishop

Full Member
Jan 25, 2014
1,716
691
Pencader
Big fan of re-purposing kitchen canisters myself particularly the "Minion" style ones. These are a couple of spares knocking about the shed at the moment. Apologies they are a bit grubby,I have been using as ban-marries for melting candlewax

IMAG3860.jpgIMAG3865.jpg
Mr Fenna mentioned nesting earlier and would add it's a feature that works both ways. For instance the smaller can on the left will fit inside a Molle bottle pouch, inside that will slide a 1L bottle and leave just enough room to squeeze in the dish shaped lid. Similarly the one on the right will drop nicely inside a PLCE utility pouch.
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE