Robens Fire Moth System Review: The good and the bad

Review Score

This was a hands-on product review. The product was supplied to us to test and conduct the review.

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Robens Fire Moth System Review: The good and the bad Videos

Robens Fire Moth System Review: The good and the bad Photos

Our Review

We've had some extremely good gear from Robens over the years. Great quality, lightweight, and innovative space-saving designs.

Now our youngest is a bit older, we're also doing some more adventurous camping, such as backpacking and bikepacking.

I was really impressed with the Robens Fire Moth System and very pleased that Robens agreed to send me one over to review :-)

Why the Robens Fire Moth System

A few things drew me to the Robens Fire Moth System.

1. It has a large pot, making it easy to cook for more than just one person.  The pot is 2.4 litres.
2. It has a built-in heat exchanger and windshield stand, so my gas supply should go further.
3. Everything packs away inside, so the entire cooking system for more than one person can fit in a small-ish lightweight pack. It only weighs 579 grams with a pack size of 18.5 cm wide and 12.8 cm high.

So, big tick marks all round.

I could easily fit this in a bag for both me, the Mrs, and the lad.

Plus, if you just have a 100g gas canister, it will fit inside the system too, further saving space. :-D

The Non-scientific "how long to boil water" test

So, in this simple test, I half-filled the pot with water (which would be about 1.2 litres), lit the burner, and tried to see how long it would take to get to a rolling boil.

After eventually getting the stove to work (more on that in a minute), it took about 5 minutes to get to a rolling boil.

Not too bad, given the amount of water.

Review Video

This is a basic test, and it worked. But, not everything went completely smoothly, especially when we took it camping, as you can see in our video below.

The Not So Great

First, there's no Piezo Electric ignition. Not that I could find on it nor, mentioned anywhere.

At an RRP of £80, I would expect that.

I know they don't always work, but I would have liked to have the option, even if it is a few more grams.

Secondly, the first time using the stove, I had no gas flow.

It was a simple issue. The stove needed to be really tight on the gas canister for it to make a good connection. I put it down to the rubber on the connection being new.

And thirdly, and this was the big let down, when I took it backpacking with my family, the gas control knob came off and I couldn't use the stove! :-(

This was a big surprise. Not something I was expecting. Unfortunately, I could not get the stove working on our trip. Fortunately, I had a small Hexi-stove as a back-up.

I suspect I just had a faulty one. It happens sometimes. And I was unfortunate that it didn't fail when testing it at home.

If this had been bought in a shop, I'd be able to exchange it or get a refund.

After searching on the internet, I've not found any other people reporting this problem, so it probably is just a one-off. However, based on my experience of the product, I'm going to have to mark it down.

This is a big shame, as in all other aspects, it's a great bit of kit. I think Robens need to upgrade the burner though.

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