Fire-Maple Lava Multi-Fuel Backpacking Stove Kit | Camping Stove Burner Compatible with Fuel or Gas Canister for Outdoors

Interchangeable with different features. Y3ah

Initial impressions were...fair, but not impressive.It is functional in a sense. There's no regulator on this, so when it's on gas (iso-butane/propane mix) the flame is a bit unstable and won't settle until the burner is red hot. Even then, it coughs and flames-out on it's own without warning. Yes, I inverted the gas bottle, same result. I suspect this is because it doesn't seem to have a preheater tube to vapourise LPG fuels that well, relying on them vapourising through the jet which isn't ideal.The only other fuel I've tested this on was with parafin (kerosene) with the supplied jet and again performance was not impressive.Once I had managed to thread the fuel valve onto the side of the pump body (very fine brass threads here makes that quite difficult without cross-threading it into a bin) it then took a long time to get it hot enough to light up and even then it would not vapourise and burn properly, even preheating the centre bulb with a gas torch before ignition did not help. I've had 50-year-old Tilley lamps that were much easier to light than this. Again, the flame was unstable and either coughed out at random or flooded until the burner burst into flames on the bench.I would not want to take this camping, especially in a tent, I don't know if mine is faulty (I suspect that the burner is not right) but the whole thing seems way too finicky and unreliable.The build quality on mine is very questionable. It leans over quite noticeably, because the support leg that is clipped onto the burner jet is about 5mm too short. It's clearly bent, but I can't straighten it because to do so would bend the jet and the burner assembly...not ideal. I'd have to ned the other two legs, but if I did that, it wouldn't fold down any more. Clearly a manufacturing issue.The flames randomly burping out from under the burner are alarming, threatening to set whatever is underneath it on fire. Not confidence inspiring at all.Additional: To add insult to injury, the last time that I fueled this up and sparked it up to preheat it for one final test run (in case I was doing something stupid the other times, doubtful but happens) the fuel line failed, sprayed onto the ignited burner and turned into a flamethrower. I am glad that I was doing this outside and was able to shut off the fuel before smothering the whole thing with a wet fire blanket.I don't know what these other reviewers have said about this multi-fuel stove being 'built to last' because mine clearly wasn't. It did not want to run properly from the start and had to be preheated repeatedly to get it to fire up more like an industrial flare stack than a cooking hob.It's now destined for the bin, unless I can replace the fuel line with something far more substantial and find a professional to fix the burner. In any event, it's not going to be fired up again anytime soon.I also don't know what's going on with Fire Maple lately, my Polaris cooking pot stove has been questionable and unreliable enough for me to not risk taking it camping and now this...This one turned out to be outright dangerous...and I'm experienced with these. For someone that isn't experienced, I dread to think what could have happened.

Stove has conventional silent type burner with an inner cap and outer cap. The burner is quite deep so has better wind resistance than some silent burners.If you follow the priming instructions for liquid fuel, all that happens is the fuel gets trapped between the inner and outer caps and fills the burner with fuel. Very little finds the preheat pad in the stainless cup. Just cracking the valve open slightly allows the fuel to dribble out of the jet, through the air holes and on to the priming pad without filling the burner with fuel.Trying the stove on propane/butane mix, white gasoline and kerosene/paraffin using both sizes of jet leads to the following conclusions.The stove burns white gasoline best using the 0.35 jet as per instructions. The stove runs a bit lean burning propane/butane using the suggested 0.32 jet, it burns better using the 0.35 jet. The stove will not burn kerosene/paraffin using the 0.35 jet as suggested, it burns very rich, orange and sooty also the vaporiser cannot keep up with the fuel flow. To burn kerosene/paraffin it was necessary to use the 0.32 jet. When properly hot it ran OK but the pan wasn't as clean as with the other fuels, it was still running a little rich.The stove has a number of poor video reviews, the main issue seems to relate to running on liquid fuel. On receipt the stove was dismantled to check it was free of manufacturing debris, it was spotlessly clean. The pump on the other hand had corrosion on the piston, the valve and the bottom of the pump tube. There was metallic debris in the air passage on the pump piston. After cleaning and applying the supplied silicone grease, the pump functioned perfectly. The pump sealing face had a pip on it from the moulding process, this was pared off with a razor blade, the o ring was greased. When tested there were no leaks.After pressurising the empty fuel bottle, the valve in the threaded connector was depressed with a small nail, a jet of water squirted out. Presumably the fuel system is tested at manufacture for leaks using water. Unfortunately with the pump unit fuel passages full of water, there is probably sufficient to fill the stove fuel line with water when first tried on liquid fuel. This may account for the poor reviews, and failure of the stove on all fuels after first trying liquid fuel. The fuel system was flushed to clear it of water.With the above proviso regarding choice of jet the stove works very well.Pros: The burner and pump are very well made, the fuel line is good quality with no loose or irregular wires in the braid, the supplied fuel bottle is good quality drawn and spun from a single piece, the supplied maintenance tool is well designed and nicely made, the burner is quiet and fairly windproof.Cons: the pump unit had corrosion and the fuel passages were full of water, the centre hole in the stainless cup is poorly finished, the pot supports are a little flimsy, the stove takes far longer than the suggested 5 mins to cool down, if the jet blocks it is not easy to access it to prick it clear, the stove is not really meant to burn kerosene/paraffin, as recieved the moulding details on the pump stop the fuel bottle sealing properly, the supplied maintenance tool does not fit the 13mm nut faces on the pump valve.In conclusion, if you can get the stove at a good price and don't mind spending half an hour fettling it and don't intend to burn paraffin it should make a reliable and long lasting stove.

This Lava multi fuel stove from FireMaple exudes quality in materials and build quality. It may not have the ultra light label but it has the ultra reliable label. You can see it's built well, and built to last. It comes with its own tool kit and spare parts to ensure you're never caught short. You can break this stove down and even replace it's jets, keep all the burning parts clean, flame muffler, heat cup etc. It comes with a premium multi fuel bottle and primer pump to make sure that wherever you are you'll be able to get fuel to cook! You can also use conventional threaded canisters which you can invest thanks to the included canister stand. Great package from a premium company of which I own many cooking pots that are also built to last. A rock solid, built to last cooking stove that'll last you a very long time! A belter!

This is an excellent stove, the multi fuel approach means you won't be left in the lurch and it works very well. Its not cheap but for a reason - Exceptional build quality means I think this will last for some time and although bigger than some of the really lightweight stores out there you can still easily backpack on walking trips with this no problem at all. Very happy with it.