Toaks Titanium 750 mL Backpacking Cookware Review

Bottom Line

The Toaks Titanium 750 mL cookpot is the poster child of ultralight backcountry cooking. It is the lightest and most compact of all of our favorite backpacking cook sets, making it perfect for thru-hikers and ultralight backpackers. 

Although this isn’t the best for backcountry culinary connoisseurs, it boils water and cooks basic meals efficiently. All of the most necessary components are there: a lid, drain holes, and handles. The result is a quite capable and lightweight cookpot that isn’t too spendy. It lacks a non-stick coating, but is still impressively easy to clean for titanium.

The thin titanium thrives at heating up extremely quickly, but backcountry gourmets might be disappointed with its poor heat distribution (it has a tendency to create hot spots). The thickness of the material is also prone to warping over time. The pot and lid handles are also a bit flimsy, although we haven’t experienced any major failures yet.

Overall, the Toaks Titanium 750 mL offers a ton of value for ultralight thru-hikers who prioritize weight savings over cooking performance. Backcountry chefs looking for more control or cooking capacity might want to look into thicker alternatives not made of titanium.

How We Tested

Our team has thru-hiked extensively with this pot, logging thousands of miles and hundreds of nights in the backcountry. They’ve used it to cook a wide variety of meals in varied terrain, including the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Spanish Pyrenees, and the rugged Appalachian Trail.

Cooking Performance

The Toaks might not be the best choice for the backcountry gourmet, but it’s perfect for most ultralight thru-hikers. The thin, quick-to-heat titanium boils water in no time, so you can quickly get dinner or coffee started and move on to other camp chores.

This small, 750 mL pot even has a decent-sized diameter, further increasing boil time and enhancing overall cooking performance. It strikes the perfect balance of being compact while offering a wide enough opening to cook and eat out of.
Titanium isn’t the most non-stick material, but the Toaks stood out amongst other titanium pots during our “egg test.” More egg was left behind compared to ceramic or non-stick pots, but the Toaks only required minimum elbow grease to clean.

The biggest downside for cooking performance, apart from its small size, is the titanium’s inability to distribute heat evenly. The Toaks is prone to hot spots directly over the flame, meaning extra attention is required to avoid burning food on the bottom of the pot.

Weight & Packability

The Toaks Titanium 750 mL shines when it comes to weight and packability. At just 4.1 ounces, it is the lightest cookset we tested. For even greater weight savings, the Toaks Titanium is available in a 550 mL option, although this size is limiting for most cooking styles (best for boiling water).

We also view weight in terms of its capacity-to-weight ratio. With the Toaks Titanium 750mL, you’re getting about 250mL per ounce of weight, which is average when compared to other titanium pots.

Despite its small size, the Toaks Titanium 750 mL easily nests a small 4-ounce fuel canister, an ultralight backpacking stove, and a mini lighter.

The ability to pack all of your necessary cooking items into a single package of about 72 cubic inches significantly increases packability. The tight packing space also decreases the potential for annoying rattles, especially if you pack a little cloth or sponge.

Usability

Lacking in fancy bells and whistles, the Toaks focuses on functional simplicity to keep the overall package compact and lightweight. All the necessary features are included, such as folding handles, a lid with drain holes and a pressure release valve, and a soft mesh stuff sack. 

It’s worth noting that some of the components could be improved. The folding handles tend to get hot over a stove, including the one on the lid. While the drain holes are nice, there are only three, which makes the feature a bit limiting and difficult to use.

The mesh stuff sack has its own set of pros and cons. It fits nice and snug, keeping the lid and the pot’s contents secure. Although it can be used as a pot holder for the hot handles to some extent, it is vulnerable to melting at high temperatures, so one should take caution.

Another potential downside is the pot’s incompatibility with larger stoves. The Toaks Titanium 750 mL is best suited for ultralight and lightweight backpacking stoves and is too small to use for larger stoves like the MSR Whisperlite.

Durability

Titanium naturally has a very good strength-to-weight ratio. If treated with care, the Toaks Titanium 750 mL will hold up for many years of use. 

However, despite titanium’s impressive strength-to-weight ratio, the thinness of the material sacrifices some durability. After hundreds of meals cooked and pots boiled, we’ve noticed some warping on both the bottom of the pot and its overall round shape.

The lid doesn’t quite fit as perfectly as it did when it was new, and the bottom now has a bit of cupping. Luckily, the bottom has cupped inward so as not to create a wobble. The warping isn’t a complete deal breaker, but the Toaks is affordable enough that we’ll likely be swapping it for a new one.

Other weak points to note are the handles on both the pot and the lid. Although we haven’t experienced any structural failures yet, they feel flimsier than handles on some more robust pots – another compromise for weight savings.

Overall, the Toaks Titanium holds up well for such an affordable pot, but if you’re hard on gear you might want to look for something with a little more heft.

Should You Buy the Toaks Titanium 750 mL Cookpot?

The Toaks Titanium 750mL is best suited for the ultralight thru-hiker who does little more than boiling water in the backcountry. Its superior packability and featherlight weight make it a minimal addition to an ultralight pack weight. It’s just big enough to hold fuel, a stove, and a lighter in a secure stuff sack without separating any cookset components.

While you probably won’t be using the Toaks to cook up elaborate meals, all of the necessary features are there to accommodate basic cooking needs. The pot includes a lid with a handle, pressure release, drain holes, as well as compact pot handles for lifting and pouring.

This pot is the lightest and smallest cookset we tested without making any major sacrifices to durability. Although it can tend to warp over time, the affordable cost to replace it makes this a near non-issue.

Overall, the Toaks Titanium 750mL provides a ton of functionality for basic cooking in a minuscule package. Ultralight thru-hikers will appreciate the value offered at such an affordable price point.

What Other Backpacking Cookware Should You Consider?

Check out our full guide to backpacking cookware for the entire spectrum of cooksets.

Evernew Titanium Pasta Pot 1L Review: The Pasta Pot weighs less than a half ounce more than the Toaks while offering significantly more functionality. It features a large diameter with one full liter of cooking capacity as well as insulated handles, more drain holes, and a pour spout.  

Snow Peak Titanium Mini Solo Review: For people who like to enjoy some coffee along with breakfast, this two-piece cookset comes with a 900mL pot and a separate 540mL cup. Both pots nest together neatly and accommodate fuel, a stove, and a lighter, although adding a couple ounces of weight. 

MSR Trail Mini Solo Cookset Review: This aluminium pot, although heavier than titanium, is thicker and more durable. It also offers a few more handy features over the Toaks such as a more usable lid, two different pot handles, and a nifty measuring cup. All components pack neatly together along with fuel and a stove.