Items included in the set:  Wide-mouth canteen, Canteen cup, stove, canteen cup lid, and nylon carrier.

All metal items very bright-finished stainless steel.  IMHO, will benefit from being bead-blasted to reduce glare and, if desired, to provide an ideal surface for painting.

There are some unfortunate compatibility issues between the Pathfinder (PF) items and many USGI items.

PF Canteen will NOT fit into typical GI canteen cup.  PF stove will not fit onto typical GI canteen cup.  PF canteen cup lid WILL fit GI canteen cup.  GI stoves will not fit onto PF canteen cup.

OTOH, a GI plastic canteen as well as an Oasis plastic canteen WILL fit into the PF canteen cup.

Wide-mouth PF canteen has a unique flat plastic cap gasket for the untethered black plastic cap.  IDK if replacement gaskets/caps are available from Mfr, nor do I know if a common "O-ring" gasket can be substituted. Early days with this rig.  Will update, as appropriate.  It should be possible to rig a cap tether.

Canteen cup required a little bit of tweaking so that the old-style "L" handle worked and latched properly.  Very minor and obvious tweaks.

Stove is intended to work with fuel tabs, Trangia alcohol stove, and twigs.   Near clone to the "Jolmo Lander" canteen cup stove sold on Amazon, but side venting is different.  It will be interesting to test both these stoves during windy conditions.  I suspect that "elevating" the cup above the point allowed by both similar stoves might reduce boiling times in that doing so will allow heat/flame to pass around the bottom of the (elevated) canteen cup and better heat it.  Another experiment.  If using the Trangia alcohol burner, it will probably be necessary to elevate the Trangia burner so that it is about 1" to 1-1/4" below the bottom surface of the cooking vessel and the uppermost part of the alcohol burner.

The PF ensemble will fit into a typical GI "Utility/Canteen" pouch which is a good thing as the supplied pouch is, IMHO, inferior in materials and construction to the GI item, not to mention similar "high-end" pouches.  Unfortunately, the PF pouch lacks the "flap" of the GI pouch, thus always exposing the "bright" finish of the canteen.  Even the GI pouch's "flap" is inadequate (too short/narrow) in reducing the "shine" of the bright-finished, un-blasted,un-painted canteen.  Since preventing dirt/crud entering the pouch allows the items inside (entire canteen/cooking ensemble) to be kept free of crud, using an entirely different pouch which fully encloses the entire ensemble seems to make sense.  I see no sense in being forced to take the time/effort to clean the canteen cup from crud every time I wish to use it.

As is my usual pattern, I will bead-blast all "bright" metal surfaces to reduce them to a dull grey finish, and which will provide an ideal painting surface, if desired.  I usually paint bottom portions of cooking vessels with Hi-Temp paint, in order to reduce cleaning issues, and to improve heating.  Black heats up faster than bare shiny metal and is generally easier to clean.

Summary/TLDR:  Quality kit, with some "unexpected" and significant GI compatibility issues noted above.  Had PF made this ensemble with a wide-mouth canteen and designed all components to be USGI compatible, it would have been ideal, especially if the various components could be bought separately.  I bought this rig because I wanted a wide-mouth, Stainless steel canteen which could be heated in winter weather, and which would "play well" with common GI items.  Turns out GI compatibility is something of an issue, but the PF kit is all-inclusive, and will work as intended; You really don't need any GI items to make this ensemble work for you.

Owning a Brit-made Crusader Mk 2 canteen ensemble, the PF item seems to be something of a civilian-oriented counterpart.  Different, but similar in intent.

Submitted for consideration.

ETA: General Note:  I've noticed that many "butterfly" handles on a great many canteen cups (both GI and Civvy) are "inexpertly" bent and often conform poorly the shape of the vessel to which they are attached when the handles are folded.  This often causes problems with extracting the cup from the pouch; the too-wide wire handles creating a problem.   A little careful bending of the wire handles to make them better conform to the sides of their cup will pay off in much easier extraction from the pouch, and easier insertion.  Suggest making efforts to not "scar" the handles, and sanding/filing down any and all post-bending "scars".  A few minutes spent bending the handles at the workbench will save many minutes of frustration in the field.   Ask me how I know.

Not a single picture.

Picture

I try to write my responses/posts so that pictures are not required.  Perhaps inadequate on my part, but I'm assuming folks can accesses images of the items, if need be--See above link.

I'll help anyone who needs help.  Just ask, with specifics.

Thanks, Raf!

I would like to see pics of the PF kit in a USGI carrier. Have you thought of epoxying a fitting on the lid or using a small screw eye so that you can tether it to the canteen itself with shock cord or 550?

This set looks like a solid value especially for the non gear hoarders out there

USGI "Bikini" webbing strap works, but auxiliary cloth flap on MOLLE Utility/Canteen pouch is too short, thus exposing shiny upper surface of canteen.  Canteen can be blasted or sanded/painted to "kill" the shine exposed by the too-short flap.

IDK if the Pathfinder ensemble will fit into a typical ALICE (or earlier) GI canteen pouch or any pouch aside from the Molle Utility/Canteen pouch, and it's own pouch.

Yes, I have given some thought to attaching a cap tether.  Haven't decided yet.  I want something which would allow easy detachment/attachment of the plastic cap + Gasket from the canteen, in case the canteen is heated, but will prevent cap loss.  I think something can be made out of thin "fishing leader" plastic-covered cable, and maybe a very small "S" biner.  We'll see.

Overall, I agree that the PF ensemble is useful kit.  Metal GI (narrow-mouth) canteens are not getting any cheaper nowadays.

It's heavy, but well constructed. I used some 550 cord and rubber ranger band, but it's not really a tethered cap. You could probably do with with a larger band around the canteen and just remove it when you need to heat up the canteen. It has one of the widest mouth's for canteens (except for the elusive Nalgene canteen). Helikon-Tex has a great pouch for the Pathfinder canteen kit, and the Mother Canteen Carrier is kind of the tier-one for canteen carriers.








ROCK6

Double damn post

As mentioned elsewhere, I prefer to have the entire canteen/cup/stove ensemble completely enclosed, not least to prevent dirt and crud from entering the pouch and contaminating the contents.

That said, there is certainly something to be said for quick and easy access to a "ready-use" canteen.

Fortunately, I have enough pouches of both types to be able to choose.

@raf

I agree, especially if you're bushwhacking or dealing with crappy terrain that puts you on your ass or has you slipping in mud

That said, I'm pretty impressed with the Helikon-Tex "Bushcraft" Essentials Kit pouch; very versatile, great (enclosed) design, can manage just about any canteen/cook kit set with a good amount of room for a few other, smaller associated essentials. It can be attached to your pack, removed and used with a sling to keep on your person. Like you, I need another cool pouch like a I need a hole in the head, but for those looking for a quality, multipurpose canteen kit pouch, this is a good one.

ROCK6

Thx for the pics Rock6

I agree.  Our differences in opinion, as always, are trivial, and based on personal preferences.  I reckon there is room enough for both approaches, and I always give your expert comments great weight in my equipment choices.

FWIW, and just to precisely define things, I much prefer "ready-use" canteen pouches with a full-flapped top which can be opened quietly, canteen extracted/replaced, and pouch closure fastened all done easily with single hand.  More quiet is more better, so no velcro, and no zippers.  Such closure devices should be (optimally) used with heavily gloved hands.