First Impressions: Vargo Titanium Ti-Lite 750 Mug

I’ve been testing the Vargo Titanium Ti-Lite 750 Mug since May. The Ti-Lite Mug is one of Vargo’s most popular mugs. Its 25 ounce (750 ml) capacity is large enough for most freeze-dried meals, and it’s big enough to cook single entree meals. It also works well as a mug to sip hot chocolate or a nightcap out of. If you carry a Nalgene bottle, it will fit inside the mug. As far as other features, it has graduated measurements in mililiters, foldaway handles, a strainer lid and a mesh storage bag. Vargo states its weight as 3.7 ounce with a diameter of 3.8 inches and height of 4.3 inches.

It took awhile to find the perfect setup to get maximum efficiency out of an alcohol stove and the smaller base of a mug versus a pot with a wider diameter. Recently, I’ve been using a cat can stove for its easy-of-use and because it can be used as a stove and pot stand, but because its side burning pattern is wide, it sent the flames up the side of the mug instead of onto the bottom of the mug and took a long time to boil. I tried several pop can stoves and eventually settled on a pressurized Red Bull that I made 15 or more years ago.

The stove I used was based on the “power stove,” but I can’t find the instructions to build it anymore. It has been one of the best pop can stoves that I’ve built. I combined this with a windscreen that doubles as a pot stand that I made out of flashing. I used the template at Zenstoves for the One Piece Folded design.

Vargo Titanium Ti-Lite 750 Mug Cooking System

• 3.8 oz. — Vargo Titanium Ti-Lite 750 Mug
• 0.5 oz. – Red Bull Stove
• 0.4 oz. – Light My Fire Spork (I’ve had several of these. Some weigh as little as 0.2 oz.)
• 0.5 oz. – 8 oz Fuel Bottle (water bottle)
• 0.8 oz. — Homemade windscreen/support
• 0.4 oz. — Mini Bic Lighter
• 0.5 oz. — Mesh storage bag
• Total: 6.9 ounces

Once I dialed in the stove and windscreen/pot support, I had 5 minutes 30 seconds from starting the stove to boil using 2 cups of cold well water and over 10 minutes burn on 1 ounce of alcohol. So far, I’ve boiled water for freeze-dried food and cooked a 4-ounce package of Knorr noodles inside the mug. I was surprised the the mug worked well for the noodle package. I like using Knorr’s noodles for camping trips (I ate them most of the nights on a six month thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail).

The ability to quickly cook single serve meals or boil water, the light weight and the small size make this a great pot/mug. I’m looking forward to using this on more trips.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the Vargo Titanium Ti-Lite 750 Mug for free from Vargo Outdoors in consideration for a review.