Mountain Laurel Designs 475 ml Titanium Mug
- Measured Weight of Mug: 1.4 oz (40 g)
- Measured Weight of Stuff Sack: 0.2 oz (5 g)
- Measured Height of Mug: 3-1/2 in (9.8 cm)
- Measured Diameter of Mug: 3-1/8 in (8.9 cm)
- Measured Volume: 450 ml (15.2 oz)
- Material: Titanium
At almost a full 2 cups (maximum capacity) the Mountain Laurel Designs (MLD) 475 ml mug is a wee-tinny little thing! It is small enough to serve as a comfortable sized mug, but also large enough to serve as a minimalist cook pot. It is made from titanium which gives it the ability to be both lightweight and durable. The top of the mug features a rolled lip which further increases the mug’s strength and durability. And last but not least, MLD keeps it simple, as there are no handles anywhere on this mug! (This is one of my favorite features!)
As a surprise, MLD also sent a stuff sack with the mug which is made of black nylon (?) mesh and closes with a simple cinch cord and a cord lock. I say surprise because there is no mention of the mug coming with a stuff sack on the MLD web site. However, as can be told by my measured weights above, the listed weight of the mug on the MLD site must also include the stuff sack. (This is the real bonus since this means the mug actually weighs less than listed! 🙂 )
When I ordered this just a few days ago, I must say that I was a little unsure exactly what I was going to use it as… a cup or a cook pot… or both? And even now that it is in my hands, I am still unsure, but I will have fun playing around with it and seeing just how I want to use it.
As a cup:
- It is lighter than my REI Campware cup that I have been carrying in the past.
- It will require a cozy to protect my hands when it is filled with a hot drink.
- It can double if need be as a second cook pot.
- It can (comfortably) serve as both my cook pot and my cup in the summer time.
As as cook pot:
- It is lighter than my current Backcountry 700 ml cook pot for solo use.
- It is more durable than some of my other cook pots.
- The capacity is large enough for either a meal or a drink, not both.
- It can (comfortably) serve as both my cook pot and my cup in the summer time.
So, I will just have to think about it and see how I want to use the mug. I also recently ordered (and am still awaiting) a Suluk 46 small Titanium windscreen that I can use with the MLD mug as a cook pot (and my other tall/narrow pots too). And I will admit that I am pretty excited to see how this mug will work as a cook pot. At the moment, I imagine that it could save me weight on fuel as well since I would be boiling less water in this mug than normal. That is as long as I can get away with just boiling water once per meal.
Also, I want to give a huge thumbs up to Ron at MLD! I have placed a few smaller orders from MLD over the past couple of years and have had great experiences so far. This one took the cake though… Long story short, I did not check my “ship to” address when I ordered this mug this past Saturday afternoon. I noticed it was wrong the following Tuesday morning and immediately called MLD. Ron answered the phone and listened to my story. He informed me that the mug had shipped out Monday morning, but said he would get another one in the mail to me that day, but to the correct address! This was my mistake, but he went out on a limb to fix it for me. Then, to make it all even better, today (Thursday) the mug was in my mail box! So, Ron exhibited superb customer service, and I feel certain that in the long run, the mug will be just as good! So,thanks Ron & MLD…
So, now it is time that I go and figure out what I am going to do with this thing exactly… Until then though, here is a quick video that I did in which I compare the MLD mug to several other cups and cook pots I have…
Thanks for reading/watching!
~Stick~
Stick's Blog 
NEW 520ml Mug. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y71kbhlIlXs&t=7s
LikeLike
Ron,
Nice! I’ll admit I have been out of the loop for the last couple of years, however my MLD mug has still been my go to cup. I keep a cozy with the bottom cut out and some Hot Lips with it and it’s just perfect. It’s great to see that you/MLD is still pushing the boundaries though.
Chad
LikeLike
Pingback: PHGT: October 2016 Mt Roger’s/Grayson Highland Hike | Stick's Blog
Hey Chad,
Just ordered a new mug from MLD, and in watching your video, what size cozy do you have on your mug? I’m looking to emulate your kit, thanks for the informative videos, I appreciate it!
Chris
LikeLike
Chris,
The cozy I am using is an ordinary, $0.99, beer can cozy, which I have cut the bottom out of.
~Stick~
LikeLike
Hey I got the 850 mld cup a few days ago, I like it but man it looks just like the stoic one. Makes me think that they are made by the same people. It is super light though.
LikeLike
Roc,
Don’t quote me, but I have read in other places that many of the ti mugs/pots essentially come from the same plant in Japan I think. There are obviously differences though, such as size & volume, however, I believe that some are also different thicknesses. Then of course they label them to match their destination.
Either way, I have ti pots from Backcountry.com (now branded “Stoic”), Toaks, LiteTrail & MLD. They are all great pots though.
Anyway, enjoy your new cook pot… I have been tempted to get one of their 850 ml pots with a matching Caldera Cone… 🙂
~Stick~
LikeLike
ok, thats what I figured. The MLD seems like it is a nice pot, one of the lightest on the market. Thanks for the videos and blogs. I took my first real hike this year doing the North trail at Land Between the lakes. I hope to go back in the fall. Ive been looking at making my pack lighter.
LikeLike
See my comments above (May 13th and 14th, 2012).
LikeLike
Thanks Sam! And I knew I had read that somewhere… 🙂
~Stick~
LikeLike
Roc,
I am quite sure that it is a nice little pot. And good luck with lightening your pack before your next hike! It is definitely worth it though…
~Stick~
LikeLike
Hey Stick nice video. I gave myself one of these for my B-day…yay! Now I’m faced with a stove dilemma, so many choices :-). Since your initial review of the mug what stoves, pot stands have you used and which one seemed to work best with the mug?
LikeLike
JERMM,
Sweet, nice Bday present for sure! As far as what stove to use with it, I personally prefer a center flame stove with these narrower diameter cookpot, however, the ones I favor (my DIY mini atomic…or the real thing) can still be a bit much flame for this mug. It works though, but there will be some flame licking over the sides. The only thing that I found that doesn’t really lick up the sides is a tea light stove, but, these don’t quite hold enough fuel to get a full boil. But, if you are using filtered water anyway, as long as it is hot that should be fine and the tea light will work for that.
But, I recently picked up one of Smokeeater908’s Rollover stoves and it works ok with the mug too. It is a side burner, but for the most part, most of the flame stays underneath the pot, however, as it heats up more, flames will end up licking up the sides pretty well.
Anyway, enjoy the new mug! I will be carrying mine with me on a trip in a couple of weeks again as my drinking mug.
~Stick~
LikeLike
Check out the cook system that Jason McSpaddon uses towards the bottom of the page. Im really interested in stoves and windscreens that would work efficiently with this as a cook pot.
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=61204&skip_to_post=528110
LikeLike
Luka,
I actually posted a good deal in that thread…and since then, I have changed my system up a bit…
My lightest set up is my full size Heine can with foil lid (1 oz), DIY hardware cloth stand (0.2 oz), Suluk 46 small Ti windscreen (0.35 oz) and a small aluminum disc (0.1 oz). This comes to 1.6 oz. To use it, I simply place the Esbit directly on top of the aluminum disc, which is simply set on the ground. The hardware cloth pot stand is sized to use with the Esbit tablet sitting on the aluminum disc the most efficiently. This is the lightest set up that I can think of one having, unless they used a smaller can/pot to boil water in. The cool thing about the Heine can though is that the pot stand nest in the bottom and the windscreen coils up on top of it just perfectly, so everything fits inside the cook pot. With a shorter cook pot, either the windscreen or the pot stand will have to be outside the cook pot.
I can use my MLD 475 mug in the place of the Heine can which would increase the durability, but at a (justifiable) 0.4 oz weight penalty.
The windscreen is quite nice, but I feel like I could get the same weight (or at least very very close) if I made an aluminum windscreen of the same dimensions. Next time I pick up some more of the tooling foil, I will give it a try to see what I come up with.
I really like my gram cracker stove, but it will require a little bit taller pot stand. From my understanding, you want about a 1.5″ gap between the Esbit tablet and the bottom of the cook pot to make the most of the flame from the Esbit tablet (too low and you are smothering the flame and too high and you are wasting the heat).
Anyway, thanks for stopping by and commenting. And mentioning that thread agian…it has been a while since I have read it…
~Stick~
LikeLike
Hey didn’t realize that was you! I don’t spend much time on the forums but search them for info quite a bit. I ordered a mug today. I also picked up an esbit titanium wing stove which will fit inside of it. Need to spend some time thinking about windscreens. I plan to shave at least 10 ounces off (counting the difference in fuel weight) by switching to this stove setup vs. my old trangia mini 28 that I had been looking to replace.
LikeLike
Luka,
No problem man… 🙂
Let me know what you think about the mug when you get it. I used it as a cup on our recent overnight hike and it worked pretty well for that. Enjoyed it… 🙂
I will need to check to see how the mug fits over the Ti Wing stove…I wish that the wings came in a little more on that stove so that the smaller pots would be a little more stable on it. I have actually started to simply set the Esbit tablet on a small cut titanium disc so it is ground level. This has worked out pretty well so far in my testing, but no trail use yet. I will use the set up with my heine pot on a 3 day hike next month.
Anyway, good luck with your new system!
~Stick~
LikeLike
Ah yes, the knock off of the BackingLight Trapper Mug. Neat little thing regardless of whose name is stamped upon the side. I’ve been carrying mine for about four years with an insulated beer coozy wrapped ’round it for my morning coffee. A great little Ti mug.
LikeLike
Sam,
I really think that they are all the same pots, but as you say, there is just a different named imprinted on the mug. This MLD mug looks just like my Backcountry 700 mug, except that the 700 is a little bigger and has the harness for the handles.
Anyway, thanks for the tip on the beer cozy…that cosy should be slimmer than the reflectix cozy I made for it…
~Stick~
LikeLike
Literally all the same actually. There are only a couple Ti manufacturers and since most are located in China they don’t follow the same patent law as is required in the states. A company can create a new design, have it cold pressed in China and then a year later that company may allow other companies to purchase products made on the same press with no royalties paid to the original company.
Only the huge powerhouse companies like Snowpeak and Evernew can create their own product and be safe from these situations since they own the designs AND mfg’ing equipment.
LikeLike
Sam,
You know that is interesting. I was a bit curious about this too because the ti pots that REI sold were the same as the Evernew pots…in fact the Evernew brand was stamped into the bottom of the REI pots, but REI was imprinted on the lid…
Strange…
~Stick~
LikeLike
I have also been interested in this mug/pot for some time and its nice to see such an informative review on it……it really helps me know if I might also want to add one to my set up!
LikeLike
Joe,
I am not going to use it on our hikes coming up (at least I am not planning to) but I will bring it along so you can put your hands on it!
~Stick~
LikeLike
I’ve been so focused on cutting out as much weight as possible, I totally have been forgetting that the lighter I go, I can actually add in one or two comfort items! A separate cup to drink from is one of those things I’ve given up on as something I would take, but I just realized, watching your video that it fits great inside an Imusa mug and is still a really low weight!
One thing I think is worth mentioning too is that being more durable, the MLD mug can be thrown in a pack without a protective container, thus saving weight that is needed for something like a beer can pot. I’d have to do some number crunching but if I were to replace my alcohol stove with an esbit stove, the MLD mug just might make a lighter setup than my Tiny Heiny pot/cup.
Great Review!
LikeLike
Joslyn,
TBH, I sorta did that too…but then when I look at the spread sheet, and then as I am packing it, I question myself again if I really need it…and most of the time I don't so I still decide to leave it behind… I really wish that I had a list of all the items I took on my first hike… because now, it is hard for me to think of what all I needed to pack to have almost 60 lbs of gear on my back! 🙂
I agree with you about the durability issue. This is a huge reason why my Backcountry 700 ml Ti pot became my favorite solo pot over my beer can pots. But, I will admit, both of my SUL trips this summer I will be packing my Heine cook pot due to lighter weight and actually rather large volume content. I plan to pack it on the very top of my pack, above everything else. All of my "kitchen" stuff will be inside it and it will all be inside a cuben stuff sack to hold it together.
As far as Esbit, I am playing around with simply not having a "stove" for it. I have an aluminum tooling foil disc that I cut to match the footprint of my new Suluk 46 Ti windscreen. I simply set my Esbit tablet directly on top of the tooling foil, then I have a DIY hardware cloth pot stand that supports my cook pot. So far it works pretty dang good, and it is light! The weight of the disc, pot stand, pot with aluminum foil lid, windscreen, 1/2 lightload towel, Mini Bic and the stuff sack comes to 2.4 oz, so I am very excited about that!Add in my cup and spoon that I will more than likely be using, it goes up to 2.9 oz…
Anyway, thanks for stopping by and commenting! And I am looking forward to meeting you on our hike!
~Stick~
LikeLike
I’m quite excited about it myself! I’m hoping to get one more thing to lighten my load even more but It’s looking like I’ll come in at under 8lbs bw and under 12 fso, a personal best!
LikeLike
Nice! I am not sure on my exact weights just yet, but they will be light!
LikeLike
Stick, I don’t mean to be a downer, but a $27 mug/cup? Yeah, it’s 1.4 oz. It’s lightweight; I get it. But 27 bucks? I’ll take my $2 Imusa mug any day of the week. It’s, what? 3 oz? Holds lots of water (over 2 cups–glad you cut the handle off of yours, too) and has a slightly wider base so it accepts a greater variety of flame patterns, thus is more versatile when it comes to choice of stove. I imagine the MLD cup needs a very narrow flame to keep the heat concentrated on the base. I just never have understood using such an expensive mug. I’d rather spend my $ on different gear. To each his own, I suppose. Don’t get me wrong, Stick. I still appreciate your reviews, my man. Keep up the good work.
SoCal Mike
LikeLike
Mike,
🙂 Thanks for stopping by and commenting. And to try and answer your question/comment, I can’t really do so just yet. What drew me to this piece though was it’s pure minimalist design based on features (or lack of) and more importantly (to me) weight. TBH, I have not really been a big fan of my IMUSA pots, but to be fair, that is probably because I have all of these other pots too…
I think that I bought this mug/pot simply because I wanted as much as I needed and no more. The meals that I have been playing with require about 10 oz of water to rehydrate. This mug will fill that need and no more.
Also, the stove I will use with this will be my DIY knock off Mini Atomic (I actually like my DIY one better than the real one I have…) or Esbit. Both of which have narrow flame patterns unlike my other side burning alcohol stoves (White Box Stove and Gram Weenie Pro…although it may work on this one…) so the diameter of the pot will still not be too small for these options and should actually work well.
Anyway, thanks again for stopping by and I appreciate your honesty!
~Stick~
LikeLike
Sweet, thanks for doing up this video Stick!! Going to pick up one of these for my XUL setup. Think I will still with the Evernew 900ml ECA267 for primary SUL hiking though. It can hold the BushBuddy plus make enough water for a full meal and drinks. But, I think in the XUL world this MLD 450 is going to beat out my SP400 and MSR Titan Cup!!
LikeLike
No problem John. Just curious though, what would make you say that this one beats out the SP and the MSR cup? I assume it is because of the lesser weight (which I am sure is due to the handles), but not sure if I was missing something else.
LikeLike