G4Free 2/4/13 PCS Camping Cookware Mess Kit Hiking Backpacking Picnic Cooking Bowl Non Stick Pot Knife Spoon Set

I like that it’s small and light but big enough to fit a standard size isopro canister and my pocket rocket stove. And the hands stay tucked in and don’t flip around. Great for kayak camping.

This set was not at all what I was expecting. I did a lot of review look up to find something for my backpacking trips. I got these based on many different site reviews stating it was a great kit. Amazon had many good reviews as well. I've taken this out one multiple trips now.Before I got this, I purchased the  Stanley Adventure Camp Cook Set 24oz Stainless Steel  cook-set I'd like to compare these two. First and most obvious thing is the G4Free set comes with 4 cooking pieces, the Stanley you get only one cooking piece. The second things is the price, this one is not very expensive at all, but the Stanley comes in under 12 dollars. The Stanley set is lighter as a whole than this set, and smaller over all as well. I don't like caring rocket stoves (I'm sure in the future it'll be something I do more) so I put what I'm cooking on an open fire normally. In this situation the Stanley beats the G4Free by leaps and bounds. I can put the stainless steel Stanley right in the fire with no real concern about what will happen to it, and it does well at finding spots to sit against, only down side is make sure you grab the handle with your hand covered. The G4Free feels as though it is built more for rocket stoves or portable stoves. The silicone handles covers melted my first trip out very disappointed in that. The handles do not lock in place when pulled from the sides of the pot meaning they move all over and sometimes swing back closed. With the Stanley the handle locks when it's put down. The Stanley comes with 2 cups as well which was nice (I removed one) they came in handy many times, especially for coffee in the morning. I am able to fit one of the Stanley cups, a cleaning scour, my mess kit, and coffee in the G4Free. One down side to the Stanley is I can't fit all the things inside of it that I can fit inside of the G4free only just by less than an inch of height my mess kit does not fit in my Stanley, I'm sure that could be changed with a different mess kit. The G4Free set does not have a true LID to cover any of these pots to prevent ash and debris out, or heat in. The smaller pots fit over the deeper pots in a way that COULD be used as a lid, but it requires that you keep the handles tucked to the side of the pots or else the smaller pot just tilts off the top of the taller pot (of course you could just set a rock or something heavy on top of it to prevent it from falling). The Stanley comes with a vented lid that could double as a strainer. The mesh bag the G4Free comes with is great and all, but if you chose NOT to use it, your cooking set would not stay together, the smaller pots and taller pots don't really fit snugly on top of each other and could separate in you bag and jumble, or spill the contents on the side with out the bag. Also, the kit is a little annoying to get in the bag. The G4Free's larger pot holds about twice the liquid (over 1000ml) as the Stanley (around 700ml) and the smaller tall pot still holds more than the Stanley, but the G4Free are both obviously larger in dimensions as well.The fact that the Stanley is stainless steel has it's pros and cons over G4Free kit. Stainless steel is more robust than the none-stick surface of this kit. To me backpacking is situation you would find your self needing something that would last and take a beating, the G4Free kit does not seem like that, where as the Stanley I'd trust it as a weapon to bludgeon someone. You wont have to worry about what cooking utensils you use inside of the Stanley. The G4Free's none-stick surface means you can't use hard materials if you choose to cook inside of the pot, anything harder than cooking grade plastic utensils may scratch the sides of the aluminum/Teflon surface of the G4Free. This kit is in general more likely to bend, or break do to it's material, which would be a plus side IF it meant it was lighter, but it's not. Normally you sacrifice weight for durability and visa versa, in this situation that's not the case. Even removing half of this kit does not make much of a weight difference as far as I can tell, how ever I don't have a scale to tell how many oz the difference is. Checking the information in the details of the product information, the G4Free is 1lbs 2oz, and the Stanley (w/o the cups) is 7.5oz. However the none-stick aluminum/Teflon surface, if well cared for is MUCH easier to clean, and actually heats up faster and more evenly than the stainless steel (I mostly boil water so the even cooking means really nothing to me).Pros 1. More cooking surfaces 2. Space inside to store things 3. Reasonable price 4. Good for multi-person camping 5. Easier to clean (than Stainless Steel)Cons 1. Takes up too much space inside pack 2. Could be build better. Especially the handles 3. Not good for direct camp fire cooking. 4. Silicone handle covers melt 5. Extra pieces drive up price. 6. Not Robust, needs care when handling 7. No Lid.Conclusion: I would not recommend this to a person who is backpacking alone or carrying everything for only one person. I also would not recommend it for lightweight or ultra-lightweight backpacking due to it's size and weight. If you are packing in 4 cooking pots for multiple people so they have more room in their packs for other things, I could see this being a reasonable option.

I am really liking this set. I took it out fishing so I could make hot water for tea and lunch and it worked very well. The bottom of the pot shows no sign of heat damage and the stove jack works without a lighter. It comes with enough accessories for most cooking situations for one to two people meals.

I bought this kit for a two-person backpacking trip in which the two larger pots would become cooking vessels, and the two smaller ones would become our serving/eating dishes, and/or mugs, depending on the occasion.I had the following observations:1. I didn't think I would miss having a lid as much a I did. I know the small pots fit directly onto the larger ones as pseudo-lids, and I ended up having to use them in this way a lot, to cut down on boiling time. However, that meant that the "lid" pots had to be clean enough to turn upside down, and could not be used as drinking cups (or as bowls) while cooking was in progress. I might improvise foil pot lids for next time, but it's a bigger deal than I thought it was going to be when I chose this set.2. Soot build-up and discoloration. Because we were cooking over wood flame, there was a fair amount of carbon deposited on the bottom of the larger two pots. I'm not clear what the long term effect of that will end up being. I have run them through the dishwasher and scrubbed with paper towels, but they're still sooty. I'm not inclined to put too much more effort into trying to get them back to spotless; after all, I'm just going to do the same thing again the next time I use them. However, I'm interested to see if this has any adverse affect (pitting?) over time.3. I knew from other reviews to avoid exposing the handles to the heat directly over the fire, because the rubberized coating might melt. This ended up not being an issue for me at all.4. Size. This set was a good balance of "just barely large enough to cook for two people" while still being relatively compact. Any smaller than this and we wouldn't have had enough hot water to make two cups of coffee or two rehydrated entrees at a time. Cooking actual food directly in these was tight quarters, but I managed it.Overall Impression: The quality of these was good, especially the fit and finish and how everything was nonstick and just-right-sized. I would even consider bringing half the kit if going out solo. I missed having more surface area to work with in general, but, I think that is more just me getting used to the idea of single-vessel-single-serving cooking than a comment on the product itself. If the soot caused my pots to pit some day, I would consider buying this again.

As the title says, the rubber coating on the arms comes to close to the heat source as it comes out of the box and will melt/burn. Easily solved by trimming them back with a sharp knife.Other than that this little kit is maybe the best 30 bucks I've ever spent. Light, well thought out and works well. I've taken it in many backpacking and car camping trips and it works great, if a little slow to boil. That problem was solved with a little lightweight clip on wind shield. Will use this until it breaks and then I'd probably buy another.

I bought this in 2016 and been using it since. I don't like writing reviews until I have used the product for awhile. For the price I would say its excellent. I store a scrub and a micro towel inside the smaller container when packed away. The handles work good not an issue when you use common sense. My only criticism is that the top lid of the bigger pot doesn't lock for packing purposes, you need to use the bag or some other way to secure the pots so they don't fall out of each other. Other wise I would buy again.

Nice to have a couple of sizes available so I can choose the right size for when I go out camping alone versus with friends. The handles have a tendency to melt if exposed to direct heat, but that doesn't affect the performance of the pots so I don't really consider it a downside per se. Not the lightest pots on the market, but they still work well if you're budget backpacking. The small pot with lid and a homemade cozy made from reflectix came out to about 250g. The large one with lid and homemade cozy came to a little under 300g.

Really nice pots. I used them as bowls, cups (okay very wide cups but they worked for tea just fine)For some camp foods, tea, etc. you need to cover the pot, the trick I found was to use a bigger pot on top. Because they collapse into one another it's quite easy and keeps the food hot.They were easy to clean.I was at another store looking at pots and for something similar you're looking at paying $70-$80 or more!One nice thing is I was able to put my camping stove and fuel inside them - I used a bit of paper towel to pad it so the stove and fuel didn't move around. (the bonus being when I ate I had some napkins!)Over all great buy, worked well for me and one other person on a short camping trip.

Despite being included in many of these budget kit options, he bowls,ladle and loofah are useless garbage and detract from the overall impression of the kit. I would have rather they weren't even included. As others have mentioned, the handle grips catch fire VERY easy. I just cut mine back an inch and haven't had any issues since while being aware of the issue. Otherwise no real complaints so far. Have used the pots on the stove and fire for cooking with and am happy although it should also be noted the anodizing is fairly thin and will wear/scratch fairly easily. Having the volume gradients stamped into the side of pot is totally handy and i wish all the cheap kits had this. I would recommend this kit for the price with a stove.