Primus FireHole 200 Stove Review
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If you are looking for a large camp stove that heats up quickly to feed the entire campground, the Primus FireHole 200 may be your new best friend. While Primus offers many variations of the same product, the FireHole 200 is the biggest and sturdiest of the bunch. At 13.5 lbs, this stove is clearly made for car camping, so don’t think you should be lugging it around while backpacking in the backcountry.
Features of the Primus FireHole 200
This campstove consists of two burners which each let out 12,000 BTU/h, which is plenty to get your food cooking. At 19.9″ by 19″, this is larger than most stoves. This is nice as you can use larger pans to heat up dinner quickly, and the stainless steel grates are also strong enough to hold cast iron.
The fuel line is built-in to the bottom of the stove, so there is no worrying about leaving it behind or locating it in the bottom of the trunk. It clamps into the bottom of the stove so as not to swing around when not in use. I did notice that the clamps that hold the hose in place aren’t super sturdy which could become an issue after a few years of use.
The Primus FireHole 200 comes with adjustable feet, which unscrew to even out the stove while cooking. However, the feet only adjust about half an inch, so they won’t make up for any steep slopes. Also, the stove is equipped with a double handle (one on the base and one on the top), so the top doesn’t swing open while carrying around.
Performance
The first thing you will notice about this stove is the quality construction. At it’s price point, this is to be expected. This stove is very well designed, and the burners put out plenty of heat to get your food cooking right away. The boiling time on this stove is advertised at 3 minutes. When boiling 4 cups of water in a 7″ pan, I was able to go from off to boiling in about 4 minutes. Not too shabby to get coffee going in the morning. The twist-click piezo-igniter has right away every time.
It cooks bacon? Sold.
When cooking, the stove is sensitive on the low end of the scale. In other words, you have to pay attention when cooking at low heat, as the flame increases pretty quickly to a higher temp. For example, when cooking eggs you have to monitor the heat, and adjust the “low setting” to get the perfect temperature. This is not a huge deal after a few minutes of practice.
The size of the “windscreens” are nice, as I have been using these mainly as extra space for cooking utensils. The windscreens do not latch to the back as is typical in other stoves, but instead are magnetic. This is nice when using in low winds, but I imagine this could also cause an issue in extreme high-wind situations.
The stainless steel grates stay locked in place while cooking, but remove quickly for easy clean-up. They are also very durable. I took about 20 swings with a hammer to the grates, and there was barely a scratch, let alone a dent or bend. Yes, I went there…
Trying to damage the stainless steel grates!
Final Thoughts on the Primus FireHole 200
Botom line: you get what you pay for. The Primus FireHole 200 is not the cheapest stove on the market, and that is a good thing. If you are looking for an easy to use campstove to last for years, the Primus FireHole 200 fits the bill. For more info visit www.moosejaw.com/primus.
