Blog

I’ve had an up and down relationship with this stove – here’s how it went. I bought the version with the Piezo Igniter, thinking that it was integrated with the stove in some way – not unreasonable given other stoves in this category. However, I was disappointed to find it's actually a separate item altogether. As I always take a Firesteel as backup, I left the igniter at home.

When I first used the stove I was mightily impressed, the time to boil water seemed extremely fast which I put down to the design of the burner head. A bigger spread is always going to have better performance than a small head and this was proving to be the case. I also liked the adjustability of the flame and that the burner head is slightly concave making it less susceptible to wind.

The next time I used it I couldn’t get the pot supports to deploy, and I’m a big bloke. You start by thinking ‘oh, that’s odd’, you daren’t put too much force on them as you don’t want to break them, then you push harder and harder and wonder what you’re doing wrong. I did eventually get them deployed but I’d clearly damaged the housings slightly.

This didn’t happen all the time, just once or twice, and once I couldn’t get one of the pot supports to stay up. The spring loaded housing had become enlarged (probably by all my aggressive deployment techniques). This was fixed by bashing it closed on a rock.

So what have we got here? A superb stove let down by badly designed folding pot supports. Now that’s a shame.

Mark Richardson
Mark was the founder of Ultralight Outdoor Gear back in 2006 and has completed long distance backpacking routes in some of the remotest parts of the world. His favourite hikes have been Torres del Paine (full circuit), the John Muir trail and the Markha Valley trail (Ladakh, India). Although semi-retired Mark has not lost any enthusiasm for minimalist backpacking and is tackling Scotland’s Munros choosing multi-day backpacking routes over the more usual guide book excursions. Read more from Mark Richardson