Recent Developments in Canister Stoves

Recent developments in canister stoves have the potential to upset a lot of the industry, as the leadership seems to have passed out of the hands of Western brands and into Asia. Stoves that were trumpeted as the state of the art by well-known Western brands now look a little old, tired, heavy and, well, clunky. We look at a few of the leading edge stoves from 2012 to see where things are going.

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Please note: this is a limited State of the Art review, not a State of the Market review. Not all available brands and models will be mentioned. Doubtless some companies, which don't get a mention, will be slightly miffed at their omission, but that is the price of falling behind in technology. As is frequently said in the high-tech arena, if you don't cannibalise your current products, someone else will.

It is worth noting that in our article Made in China, published in 2009, our view was nowhere nearly as rosy as will be expressed here. We commented in 2009:

'These are usually the same as what was OEM'ed but with enough cosmetic differences that they can get away with it. In some cases there are no differences at all, and the same products that they OEM are also shipped out via the back door (this applies to every single high-technology product made in China, bar nothing). The problem here, is that the designers in the West started the product at level A, and then developed it through B and C all the way to K. The Chinese who produce it only know that it looks like K - they don't understand A B C etc, they don't know why K looks like K, or why things are done a certain way. This means that they sometimes cut the wrong corners when doing their own versions.'

Actually, the quote here comes from a friend on mine who works in China, and has first hand experience there. The difference is that now in 2012 we are seeing serious design and development work happening in Asia. It only takes a couple of skilled guys at the leading edge to make all the difference.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

Introduction
Scope and Assumptions
Essential Background
Who Makes Stoves?
The State of the Art
Snow Peak Litemax Ti, Kovea KB-0707
Fire Maple FMS-116T
Fire Maple FMS-300T
Kovea KB-1109
Fire Maple FMS-118
Other Brands
The Future

# WORDS: 5730
# PHOTOS: 21

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May 4, 2013 at 4:36 pm #1983212

Gary Lawton
Spectator

@trailcred

The Fire Maple stoves featured in this article appear similar to ones sold under the name Olicamp in the United States. Am I correct to assume they are the same?

http://www.libertymountain.com/shop/product.asp?p=30907&c=2081

May 4, 2013 at 7:02 pm #1983259

John S.
BPL Member

@jshann

yes

May 4, 2013 at 11:21 pm #1983298

Roger Caffin
BPL Member

@rcaffin
Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

Of course not!
The Olicamp ones are BLUE! That obviously makes them ever so much better…
:-)

Cheers

May 6, 2013 at 6:14 pm #1983906

Hikin’ Jim
BPL Member

@hikin_jim
Locale: Orange County, CA, USA

The Fire Maple Hornet (or "Wasp" as it apparently says on the box when the stove arrives) is being sold as the Ion Micro in the US.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

Jun 13, 2013 at 9:06 pm #1996469

Roger Caffin
BPL Member

@rcaffin
Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

Hi all

Ever wondered what a BPL article would look like in Chinese??
Well, wonder no longer! This article has been translated into Chinese and published in the Chinese Outdoor magazine.

A staff member at Fire Maple asked for permission to republish in the Chinese Outdoor magazine. I said OK subject to acknowledgement being made to BPL. As you can see by the text under the photo, that was done. Not sure they have ever republished anything else from the West like this.

Cheers

Jul 8, 2013 at 4:14 am #2003640

J C
Spectator

@joomy

Roger, do you have CO measurements for the FMS-117 and 118? I would guess they are similar to the 116t but your articles have taught me not to take such things for granted.

Jul 8, 2013 at 3:39 pm #2003826

Roger Caffin
BPL Member

@rcaffin
Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

Hi Jeremy

> CO measurements for the FMS-117 and 118
Sorry, no direct measurements. Yes, I would expect them to be the same as for the 116T as they actually have the same burner head.

The 116T makes a little bit of CO at the start as the burner-pot clearance is low and there are those cold Ti pot supports in the flame, doing a bit of quenching. Once they heat up the CO is tolerable. There are some graphs of this in Part 3 of the latest 'Evolution of a Winter Stove' series – due out in a couple of weeks. You should always have adequate ventilation of course.

Edit: Part 3

Cheers

Sep 20, 2013 at 5:40 pm #2026582

stephen korpi
Spectator

@skmountainshop-net
Locale: Portland Oregon

After months of waiting, we finally received our Olicamp Ion Microstoves, which is the Fire Maple 300T. I placed the Olicamp XTS pot, which is the Fire Maple FMC-XK6, and I found it to be very unstable. The three swing out pot supports provide only 2mm of space between their contact points and the inside of the heat exchanger. With care, one can rest the pot on the pot supports inside the HE ring, but I would have some concerns with a hot stove and full pot. The Optimus Terra Weekend HE was a little better, but if this stove does indeed rely on a "vortex" effect, this pot adds 15mm between the stove head and pot bottom.

Disclaimer: I work at an awesome outdoor shop

Sep 26, 2013 at 11:20 am #2028554

stephen korpi
Spectator

@skmountainshop-net
Locale: Portland Oregon

I emailed the designer at Liberty Mountain, who is the distributor of the Fire Maple stoves under the Olicamp name in the US, he said that the Ion Micro Stove is designed to fit inside of the HE ring on the Olicamp XTS pot. Because the width of the pot supports are slightly larger than the inside of the HE ring, you have to angle the pot slightly in order to place it on the stove, which is a little odd. It is possible that it will get easier with practice, but I have my concerns.
I also inquired if they would be importing the FMS-118 as a winter stove. There is a possibility they may replace their Xcelerator stove with this one. But, he indicated that in his testing, he has not seen any performance difference with the addition of the generator tube.

Sep 26, 2013 at 2:00 pm #2028612

Roger Caffin
BPL Member

@rcaffin
Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

> the FMS-118 as a winter stove. There is a possibility they may replace their
> Xcelerator stove with this one. But, he indicated that in his testing, he has
> not seen any performance difference with the addition of the generator tube.

His comment, as reported, puzzles me slightly. If he is talking about operation in 'warm' weather, then he is obviously correct and no-one would expect otherwise. But if he is talking about operation at 10 F, then he does not have a clue. I suspect the former, although it may also be that he has little experience in seriously cold conditions. I don't know.

Cheers
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