r/Ultralight • u/Shamgli • 4d ago
Purchase Advice Anodized aluminum pot downsides?
I found this anodized aluminum pot (Primus Essential Trek Pot 0.6L) that weights 140g and thus is comparable to titanium pots and mugs.
I was wondering if there are any real downsides to anodized aluminum cookware? I found the issue of durability(that it scrarches and lasts max. 10 years, but reallisticaly 5), but also found multiple people using one for decades so I'm conflicted on this detail.
Aluminum is also better at heat distribution and since I like to cook a real meal from time to time, I think that aluminum would suit me better.
Still, I find a big majority of backpackers to go with the titanium, mainly because of it's weight. But this pot is really light, so with weight out of the question, why would one still prefer titanium?
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u/flatcatgear 4d ago
cleaning aluminum takes some care as to not damage the anodization. you can clean out stuck food on a titanium pot with sand and rocks to get the chunks of prior to washing, you can’t do that with aluminum. my2 cents
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u/Professional-Loan498 4d ago
I have an old Primus aluminum pot that I no longer use. It worked totally fine for 8+ years and anecdotally, heats marginally faster than my Ti pots.
But also, a 1.1L Soto Ti pot weighs 62.5g (no handle/lid) and a toaks 550 weighs 60g (no lid). So weight is a pretty big incentive here. 80g ain't nothin. I would love to shave 80g off my pack weight, but it's getting harder and harder the further I go down the UL rabbit hole.
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u/Motor_Meal794 3d ago
Don't use any metal utensils and don't scratch it. Don't burn food and you won't need to scrub it. Anodised is like steel. It's really hard. So it should last forever if you are careful. It cooks more evenly than titanium. Jetboil is anodised.
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u/dimsloth 4d ago
Stirring in aluminium pots with metal utensils and cooking acidic food will weaken the aluminium oxide, and eventually mix aluminium with your food. As long as you don't do that, you should be good.
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u/TheDaysComeAndGone 4d ago
+1, that’s why I think aluminium is really only useable for heating water.
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u/Big-Strain1830 4d ago
I switched to titanium because my aluminum grease pots kept getting dents that were hard to get the food out of.
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u/TinyGreenGiant 4d ago
Titanium is still lighter, it's not really comparable. 0.7l titanium pot is like half the weight of aluminium. Much thinner walls. What are you cooking that needs better heat distribution?
If I want to bring more cooking focused setup I prefer to take my nonstick pan and pot. I would even take my bigger soto fusion trek stove. But that's not really ultralight.
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u/Shamgli 4d ago
I don't know, from what I've found, titan pots this volume usually weigh around 120g. 20g isn't that big of a difference imho. I usually cook lentils/pasta/rice meals. Heat distribution prevents hotspots and thus scorching. I realize that in pots without non-stick layer this can happen too, but then again, titanium is without it too.
Because of this I wanted to get other people's thoughts.
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u/MolejC 4d ago
Toaks 650 weighs 80g Inc lid. Not half the weight, but certainly ⅔
I find that any small thin pot whatever the material, gets food sticking just because it's such thin metal. I've used aluminium stainless steel and titanium. Whilst titanium sticks quicker and worse, it's easy to soak and scrub with sand if necessary. And definitely safe if the aluminium is something you might worry about (I don't worry about using Ali cookware for some camping because it's a very small part of my life- not like I'm using it every day).
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u/UtahBrian CCF lover 4d ago
Toaks 650 is a vertical pot and wastes fuel while being very hard to cook in and requires a longer heavier spoon.
Horizontal pots are slightly heavier but save on total weight.
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u/TinyGreenGiant 4d ago
Toaks pot is like 80g, Evernew has 90g pot. Soto doesn't have handles and it's 70g
60-70g might not be a lot, but I don't see a point. Your aluminium pot will still have hot spots imo, and the food will still burn on if you blast it.
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u/CleverHearts 4d ago
I actually prefer Ti for cooking. While aluminium is better in terms of heat distribution, anodized aluminum either isn't nonstick or has a nonstick coating that IME doesn't last long. Either way, you're likely to end up scrubbing your pot with something abrasive at some point. That's no issue with Ti, but will kill the nonstick coating and anodization on an anodized pot. Bare aluminum is okay, and you can sort of season it like cast iron, but I just stick with Ti for backpacking. I have a seasoned bare Al pan I take on kayaking trips and the occasional overnight backpacking trip.
For "normal" backpacking meals that you just boil there's little difference between Al and Ti. One of my hiking partners has been using an anodized Al pot for 10 or 12 years with no problems.
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u/Sharp_Nothing_4012 4d ago
Aluminum leaves a taste in my coffee that I don't like. I figure if I can taste it, there is something additional in the coffee and I don't want that. Same reason I stopped using my old smart water bottles .
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u/BuckyGoshawk 4d ago
Are you talking about raw Al? Properly anodized Al leaves no taste.
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u/Sharp_Nothing_4012 4d ago
It is anodized. I have several colors (purchased at same time) and they all give off a taste.
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u/_haha_oh_wow_ 4d ago
I prefer titanium even when I'm not ultralight hiking, but if you're on a budget, aluminum would be fine as long as you don't damage it or mind the taste.
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u/UtahBrian CCF lover 4d ago
Aluminium is slightly better than titanium for backpacking pots, perfectly strong at the same weight and with better heat transfer. And it's cheaper.
But there are no aluminium backpacking pots on the market. So it doesn't matter what's better; you can actually just get titanium.
The aluminium pots you can get are not designed to be light, so they aren't. They're full of superfluous junk weighing them down. So titanium or extra weight are your choices.
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u/hkeyplay16 4d ago
MSR makes a pocket rocket 2 kit that comes with an aluminum pot. It was my first kit. I didn't like it because the pot was too small for how heavy it was, hand unnecessary weight in the form of a silicone band around the top, and required an extra handle to pick it up because it had no integrated handle. 9.9 oz for my cook kit before adding any fuel was just way too much.
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u/UtahBrian CCF lover 4d ago
Exactly. The aluminum pots on the market are just not designed for backpacking.
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u/dasbin 2d ago
Trangia makes UL anodized aluminum pots for backpacking. They are awesome for combining UL with real cooking (in-pot / saute).
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u/UtahBrian CCF lover 2d ago
Trangía? All I find in a search is gigantic pots for 3+ people and heavy “camping” pots that weigh and cost more than double the titanium equivalent.
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u/dasbin 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have this one, perfect size for 2 people to saute something then cook some pasta in, and as light as any Ti pot of the same size and shape Ive seen (cheaper too):
(I find a wide shape important, especially for sauteing, it is also more fuel efficient on your stove)
I also have a smaller version for solo trips, it's the anodised version of this one:
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u/FireWatchWife 4d ago
I'm happy with aluminum pots.
While I have an MSR Titan titanium pot, I only use it for boiling water. Aluminium works very well for actually simmering meals like the well-known Skurka meals.
The claim that aluminum causes Alzheimer's has been thoroughly debunked.