Firemaple Petrel Pot Review
The First HX Pot With Built-In Stove Arm Notches
The new Firemaple Petrel Pot is exciting because it is one of, if not the first, standalone heat exchanger pots with built-in stove arm notches that definitely increase stability and hypothetically increase efficacy. Its heat exchanger improves stove boil time and fuel economy by trapping heat and blocking wind. It features a superb Tritan plastic lid, with a flip up lid-locking handle.
Petrel is one of the very best pots on the market for solo use, and likely the single most compact, held back only by its slightly-too-narrow-to-be-optimal diameter. Oh yeah, and did we mention it’s also 800 ml, not 600 ml?
Note, this review focuses exclusively on the G3 Petrel Ultralight Pot and ignores the Hornet II Titanium stove, which is often sold bundled with Petrel. We advise against buying the Hornet II, because it is not pressure regulated, nor adequately wind-resistant.
Lastly, we also recommend the Firemaple FMC-XK6, a slightly larger, wider, and more efficient version of the Petrel heat exchanger pot, sized up to 1L for mixed 1-2 people use. FMC XK6 fits 8 oz fuel canisters, but doesn’t have the Petrel’s signature notched base. While you’re here, read more about the SuperStove paradigm, and compare Petrel to more great options in our guide to the best backpacking pots and backpacking stoves.
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Firemaple Petrel Pot Key Stats
- Price:Â $24
- Weight: 5.7 oz
- Volume:Â 800 ml to near-top (600 ml to max fill line)
- Material:Â Anodized aluminum pot, Tritan plastic lid, silicone grip.
- Nests: 4 oz fuel canister + stove burner
- Features:Â Heat exchanger ring. Siliconized handle. Handle locks down lid.
- Pros:Â Lightweight. Great price. Exceptional value. Heat exchanger base adds wind resistance, improves fuel economy, decreases boil time. Notched base stabilizes arms, lowers pot onto flame for hypothetical increased efficiency. Notches arms make pot very secure.
- Cons: Narrow diameter pot shape squanders max heat transfer potential. Confusion about mislabeled volume. Often sold with low performance burner.
Construction and Features
The most important part of the anodized aluminum Firemaple Petrel Pot is its heat exchanger base. This ring of corrugated aluminum blocks wind and collects heat, increasing heat transfer from flame to water. Ultimately, this yields faster boil times and improved fuel economy. And Petrel’s heat exchanger is as-good as the rest of ’em.
The notches built into the heat exchanger are unique and advantageous in that they add pot stability. They also lower the pot onto the flame, hypothetically improving heat transfer and likely blocking a bit more wind. In practice, we tested it with and without the notches twice and weren’t able to discern a notable performance difference beyond margin of error. See more in our data below.
One interesting wrinkle in the lore of the frequently advertised Firemaple Petrel is the mystery of its volume capacity. Let us clear this up – If Firemaple Petrel Pot is filled to within 1cm from the top rim, it can hold .8L of water. If it is filled to the etched max capacity line, it can only hold .6L with lots of room to spare above. Should the list volume be defined by true max capacity, or recommended max capacity? We think the former, and that it would be fair for them to call this an 800ml pot.
Beyond the heat exchanger semantics, Petrel’s handle and lid are really nicely made. The Tritan plastic is strong, lightweight, BPA-free, and has a very sturdy silicone grip. A big siliconized handle flips up to lock the lid in place. When stowed, the Firemaple Petrel Pot holds a small sized (4oz) isobutane fuel canister, in addition to any stove MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe sized or smaller.
Testing Firemaple Petrel Pot Against Peers
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| Pot | Diameter (in) | Volume (oz) | Weight (oz) | Price ($) | Burner | Test Water (oz) | Test Conditions | Test Time to boil, T1 | Test Time to boil, T2 |
| Firemaple Petrel, w/ notches* | 4.00 | 27 | 5.7 | 24 | MSR PRD | 16 | 55F, breezy | 95 | 98 |
| Firemaple Petrel, w/o notches* | 4.00 | 27 | 5.7 | 24 | MSR PRD | 16 | 55F, breezy | 100 | 95 |
| Firemaple FMC-XK6 | 4.75 | 32 | 6.7 | 30 | MSR PRD | 16 | 55F, breezy | 83 | ** |
| Jetboil Stash | 4.75 | 27 | 5.1 | 150 | MSR PRD | 16 | 55F, breezy | 79 | ** |
| MSR Titanium | 4.50 | 30 | 4.4 | 65 | MSR PRD | 16 | 55F, breezy | 222 | ** |
*with notches means the arms of the MSR PRD were fitted into the Petrel Pot notches. Without notches means the arms were not placed into the notches with base of pot resting on stove arms as normal
**only tested once
Takeaways From Testing
- Firemaple Petrel, while still highly effective, was the least efficient heat exchanger pot in the test. Our hypothesis is that this is because it is the narrowest diameter heat exchanger pot, and some heat is wasted off the sides which would otherwise be contained in a wider heat exchanger.
- Hypothetically, the notched heat exchanger lowers the pot closer to the flame and blocks more wind, thus yielding faster boil times. In our two tests, it yielded no difference beyond the scope of margin of error. Perhaps this is because it makes the flame output wider and more squat, which is wasted on Petrel’s narrow 4″ diameter.
- The notches do increase stability of pot on stove. The Petrel Pot also sits well on PRD without using the notches.
- MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe can fit the notches of the Firemaple Petrel Pot, however, it’s awkward as the PRD’s arms do not originate from the center of the burner, and are slightly out of alignment and not flush with the Petrel notches. They fit securely and get a thumbs up from us for backcountry use, but it might be worth cutting or filing a larger notch into the heat exchanger if it bugs you. You can also rest the Petrel on top of the PRD arms as if it were a normal pot without notches, and it sits just fine
- The Soto Windmaster with Tri-Flex arms fits better than PRD
- Friendly reminder that titanium non-heat exchanger pots are far less efficient than aluminum HX pots
- Jetboil Stash is still the best performing pot in terms of weight and efficiency, but only very marginally better than Firemaple Petrel, and also 6x more expensive
Firemaple Petrel Pot With MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe & Soto Windmaster Tri-Flex
The Firemaple Petrel Pot pairs effectively but imperfectly with the MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe burner and even more naturally with Soto Windmaster in Tri-Flex arm configuration.
The Petrel can both sit on the arms of the PRD (and it’s surprisingly grippy and well-balanced), and also notch onto the arms of the PRD. Well both configurations have worked well for us in early testing, it is awkward to use the notches. This is because the arms of PRD do not originate from the center of the burner. As such, their angle is not flush with the angle of the notches.
Each PRD arm fits into the notches of the Petrel at a diagonal, contacting two corners. While awkward at first, it might actually create more friction and increase pot security by some measures. But again, imperfect and kind of awkward at the same time. We will be using it with caution.
The Tri-Flex arm configuration of the Soto Windmaster is a much more natural fit, and lots of folks recommend this setup. Green light from us! And the notches are a great way to claw back some of the balance that is sacrificed by the Tri-Flex arms relative to the 4-Flex arms or PRD arms.
Firemaple Petrel Pot in Context
When To Choose Firemaple Petrel Pot
- Itineraries requiring no more than one small sized (4oz) fuel canister
- Solo trips
- Trips where you only ever boil water to make hot drinks and rehydrate freeze dried meals
- When you want exceptional performance-to-value ratio, good fuel economy fast boil time, and all-weather performance
When Not To Choose Firemaple Petrel Pot
- Itineraries requiring more than 4 oz of fuel, in which case use a pot that nest a size medium (8oz) canister
- When two or more people are sharing one cookpot, in which case choose a slightly larger HX pot like the Firemaple FMC-XK6
- When cooking in and eating out of the pot – Petrel is small, narrow, burn-prone at the base, and hard to scoop spoonful’s out of/clean
Stoves to Pair With Firemaple Petrel Pot
- MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe (it slots in awkwardly but stays in place very well)
- Soto Windmaster with Tri-Flex Arms
- Those are the two best stoves on the market and no other stove are worth considering at this time
- Do not use the Fire Maple Hornet II Titanium Stove, often bundled with Petrel, because it is not adequately wind resistance, and does not have a fuel pressure regulator.
Other Heat Exchanger Pots to Consider
- Jetboil Stash Pot is slightly better than Firemaple Petrel because it is wider and thus more heat efficient and easier to eat out of. It is also half an ounce lighter, but more expensive by 6x because you can only acquire it by purchasing the complete Stash Stove System kit.
- Firemaple FMC-XK6 is their 1L HX pot with a few other small differences, including no notches in the heat exchanger, horizontal fold out handles rather than flip down, and a more traditional plastic lid. The wider diameter makes it slightly more heat-efficient than Petrel, and thus yields slightly faster boil times and slightly better fuel economy. It is also easier to cook in and eat out of. But an ounce heavier.
