ProView – Primus Firestick

If you are planning a thru-hike, or just a long weekend in the backcountry, you want this stove…trust me, your body will thank you for saving some weight! Primus has a variety of stove systems, but this one takes the cake for packability, dependability, and quality. 

It honestly doesn’t get more straight forward than the Primus Firestick Backpacking stove. This stove is perfect for backpacking, bikepacking, and car camping alike. Although a fairly simple design, you can tell this stove was well thought out for stability and varying weather conditions without needing any extra parts or accessories.

I’ve been looking at this stove for the last three months while sitting at home waiting for a good opportunity to sneak out of the house to go camping. I’ve used this stove each time we have camped over the last few weekends. Whether it was dessert burritos at night, or a nice egg scramble in the morning, the Firestick delivered the perfect amount of heat to get the job done. I loved having this in my pack while we hit some local trails near my home in Lyons, Colorado.

Features

First of all, this bad boy can fit right into your pocket, comfortably too — I might add. The wool storage pouch doubles as a potholder, and nicely holds the stove and Piezo igniter and a backup lighter as well…no more waiting for your stove to completely cool down to pack it up! Primus recommends using this stove with their Primetech pots, but this really works with any pot or pan you have on hand.

Weight/Packability

Coming in at 3.7 ounces (3.1 for the titanium), this stove is lightweight and leaves space and weight for the important things…beer! But really, this stove was clearly designed as a backpacking/bikepacking stove, but translated well for car camps too.  It’s super sleek design hardly takes up any more space, even when the pot supports are opened up and the stove is in use. When collapsed, this stove is the size of a roll of quarters…okay maybe a little fatter. I’m still impressed. 

Function/Performance

After using this stove a few weekends in a row, I was stoked to realize how fuel efficient it is. My fuel canister I have been using 2-3 times a weekend for 4 weekends in a row hardly feels lighter than it did a month ago. I struggled with getting the Piezo to ignite the stove the first couple tries and gave up because I felt like I was wasting fuel. I finally got it to ignite this last weekend, but I wouldn’t feel totally confident in completely relying on the Piezo to get a flame going. The recessed burner has kept my pots and pans in good shape, while the pot supports help block out any potential wind. The heat control is precise and being able to set it at a low flame helps heat up food evenly. I struggled a little bit with getting water at a good boil in a 3.5L pot. However, you wouldn’t be carrying this big of a pot backpacking, and I don’t see any potential trouble with getting boiling water in a smaller, 1L pot. 

Durability/Construction

I was surprised at how sturdy this stove was for being so small. The pot supports really don’t fold out too far, creating a small surface to ‘balance’ a pot or pan on. Although it never quite felt like I had to “balance”, whether I was cooking on a rock, table, or the ground, it felt pretty solid. I don’t see this stove ever needing to be replaced. This makes the MSRP price of $89.95 worth it.

The Final Word

This was my first time getting to use any Primus products and I was not disappointed! The Firestick is a well designed and thought out backpacking/bikepacking stove that I would recommend to anyone looking for a lightweight, easy to use, toss in your pocket and go, kind of stove. I’d recommend tossing a lighter in the wool pouch with the stove and Piezo for some peace of mind…unless you’re some kind of wizard that can get a Piezo to light on the first few tries. But all in all, this stove has taken the chore out of backcountry cooking and has made camp meals radically easier.