I was talking to a member off here at SSUK in Yorkshire a couple of weeks ago .... can't remember who... sorry ..
They gave me loads of BP advice and said to get the smaller 400ML mytimug and had good reasons for it .... wouldn't the 650 be more versatile?

Any real reasons for choosing the smaller mug at the risk of losing versatility.?

Smaller and lighter?

I have a load of Snow Peak stuff and my 450 mug fits inside my 700 pot, but I only take my 450 mug most of the time

I can brew up in it and heat water for food in it. It's smaller and lighter so gets used more

I only take a bigger pot on trips where I need to boil more water or I'm doing a boil in the bag meal

Been a long term cyclist, walker and camper but only really just getting into bikepacking.

So what I have found in packing my bikepacking gear is where to put your kit on your bike.

I've got a snowpeak titanium pot with a small pot on the outside of the bigger pot. Sorry can't remember it's l but if the pot is too big then where do you actually put it?

If your pots too big then it's probably too wide for a frame bag. The best place I have found so far for mine is in an alpkit feed bag that goes onto the stem and handlebars. It's a snug fit and I have to fold my pot cosy up and put it inside the actual pot.

Firstly ask yourself what you're wanting to do.

If you just want to make a brew or boil enough water to rehydrate a meal the 400 is great ... light and small but just big enough.

If you want to heat something up, boil in the bag, etc buy the 650 or even the 900.

My 'cooking' kit generally consists of a 400ml or 450ml mug, 8g stove and windshield. Everything apart from the fuel packs inside the mug inc' coffee.

I usually stick my mug/brew kit inside my seat pack

My stove, fuel (for 1 night, 2 nights max), coffee sachets and scraper all fit inside my cup, which goes inside a MYOG cosy. Lid goes underneath and an elastic strap holds it all together

My Snow Peak 450 is one of my most loved pieces of kit. It's been on nearly every camping trip I've done - from bikepacking to bushcrafting, it's always with me

Which is the biggest mug that will fit into a stem cell? My current mug fits in but doesn't come out

650 doesn't fit in a stem cell sadly.

I haven't used a smaller mug but I'm quite happy with the bigger one probably because I eat a lot.

Snow Peak 450 fits in a stem cell, so I suspect the Alpkit 400 will too

ctznsmith wrote:because I eat a lot.

I often have 2 packs of supernoodles for dinner. I have one pack in a mug, sometimes with a packet of soup mix as well, twice over. Spaces out my mealtime

If I'm doing a homemade meal like couscous then one mug's worth of water makes a massive meal!

Obviously, you'll need dessert on top!

benp1 wrote:

ctznsmith wrote:because I eat a lot.

I often have 2 packs of supernoodles for dinner. I have one pack in a mug, sometimes with a packet of soup mix as well, twice over. Spaces out my mealtime

Sometimes I struggle with the motivation to cook once, let alone twice!

True, but to be honest it's not really cooking, it's boiling water (if I'm going for the 2nd michelin star then I sometimes add a sachet of tuna)

Once the stove is out then it's straightforward, usually. I know what you mean though, sometimes you're tired and just CBA

I guess I was thinking of jack of all trades really, cup of tea, or heat up a tin of curry or somesuch .... tins of food are usually 400g so I'm guessing they'd only just fit in to the 400..... :/ There was a good reason for going for the 400 , but I'm damned if I can remember what it was... :/

ctznsmith wrote:650 doesn't fit in a stem cell sadly.

I haven't used a smaller mug but I'm quite happy with the bigger one probably because I eat a lot.

I was told by AK themselves on Twitter that a 650 would fit in a stemcell..... If not, my shopping list is about to change.

I'm hang fire and wait for a verdict

I've just tried the Stem Cell / 650 mug interface ... and although snug, it fits fine

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I've just tried the Stem Cell / 650 mug interface ... and although snug, it fits fine

How snug is snug? Snug as in a bit fiddly with cold hands, or snug as in possible to part them but only with industrial equipment?

From the Stem Cell page on the alpkit website "Stem Cell is the perfect place to store a MytiMug 650 for space-saving cookpot carrying system. It is also the perfect fit for a 600 ml water bottle or a 750 ml Nalgene bottle. The small exterior net pocket makes the ideal place to keep hold of those empty gel sachets."

The older stem cells are smaller though - it was only last year they started to make them that bit bigger https://www.alpkit.com/develop/stem-cell-research

How snug is snug?

Snug in a 'it's fine' kind of way, rather than a 'f**k me, this f**king f**kers f**king tight' kind of way.

Apparently AK can also custom build stem cells to fit BruKits, however I'd imagine it would be huge, like riding with a bin bag hanging off your bars.

ayup martin it was me, never filled the 650 with anything yet, also I think it is a bit to big for the 8 gram stove, if I take anything in a tin I cook it in it

Hang on. Really?

Will retry mine but sure it doesn't fit. Which means when I bought one last year they sent me an old one.

paramart wrote:ayup martin it was me, never filled the 650 with anything yet, also I think it is a bit to big for the 8 gram stove, if I take anything in a tin I cook it in it

Ah -ha ! I suspected you'd pop up sooner or later :) My memory failed me , but heh ! SSUK was a beer heavy weekend .... followed by the Belgian SSC ... the same but with Belgian beer .... ....

Heating something up in the tin it comes in seems fraught with burning & stirring issues to me....

I have a new Stem Cell so suspect the 650 would fit in ok. It just seems the added versatility would be worth the marginal extra grams....

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I've just tried the Stem Cell / 650 mug interface ... and although snug, it fits fine

I finally got around to trying this after thinking mine didn't fit and behold...it fits!

However yes it's definitely 'snug', in a "going to have to take that stem cell off the bike everytime I want to put it in/take it out" way.

Which would probably annoy me.

Something doesn't add up here.
"Stem Cell is the perfect place to store a MytiMug 650"
Mytimug 650 external diameter = 103mm
Stem Cell internal circumference (who measures bags by circumference?) = 307mm
307/pi = 97mm
No wonder I'm having trouble cramming it in there with a 6mm interference fit, and that's before you take the handles in to account.

Yorlin wrote:The small exterior net pocket makes the ideal place to keep hold of those empty gel sachets."

BUT whats the clip inside the net pocket for? Im yet to find something usefull for it to do - Any suggestions??

Oh and I now use the smaller 400ml of my pots (I have a few different sizes to choose) Its the one I go to most and fits great on the 8g Stoves
Clever designed windshields from bearbones HQ make it very robust and stable