Fire-Maple Polaris

How much it adds to your pack. 8: Clearly better than most.

Fire-Maple gives 76 g on both its UK and US pages (Three Points of the Compass weighed 78 g). That sits in the 60-119 g band. Ultralight Outdoor Gear's page says 87 g, which is in the same band.

How much room it takes in your rucksack. 7: Better than most.

Fire-Maple gives 49 x 82 mm folded, worked as a roll (length x diameter): 3.14 x 2.45 x 2.45 x 8.2 = 155 cm3, about 0.155 L, in the 0.08-0.19 L band.

How fast the maker says it boils 1 litre in still air. Wind slows every stove: see Wind performance. 5: Does the job. Average for wild-camping gear.

Fire-Maple's two pages disagree: its UK page says 1 min 47 s for 0.5 L and its US page 2 min 14 s for 0.5 L. We use the slower, 2 min 14 s, scaled to 268 s for 1 litre, in the 230-299 s band (the UK figure would scale to 214 s, one band up). Neither page gives the water temperature or wind. Reviewers timed 0.5 L in 1 min 50 s (Aurora Borealis Knives) and 3 min 13 s at about 16 °C (Tom Heaney).

How well it keeps boiling in a breeze, as sold, without an extra windshield. 4: A bit below average.

Reviewers' view is mixed but leans negative. Fellmandave (Fire-Maple sent him the stove) timed 0.5 L in a breeze of about 2.4 km/h, a little under the reference: about 1 min 17 s without wind (not timed exactly) against 3 min 16 s with it, roughly 2.5 times as long, so the 150% or more row, 1. Three Points of the Compass: boil times increase considerably in any side breeze, and the flame drifts and blows out on low, 2. Aurora Borealis Knives: the recessed burner makes it more wind-resistant than a PocketRocket 2, 3. Scores 1, 2, 3: average 2 out of 5, so 4 out of 10.

Reviewers disagree on this.