Fire Maple FMC-XK6 Aluminum Pot

Pot heats evenly and very quickly. Lightweight yet big enough for two. Lid is the only weak point.

I really like the Fire Maple Petrel, but 600ml capacity was a little too small for two people. I make some dehydrated meals that require actual cooking. So the extra size of the XK6 helps keep things in the pot vs boiling over, or sloshing out when stirred. The XK6 will actually handle 1.05L if you fill to the brim. I don't recommend this as it can easily boil over.

A 230 or taller 450 gram isobutane tank will fit inside the XK6. The pot weighs 6.8 oz with the lid. The lid is .72 oz by itself, and the pot is 6oz without the lid. Specs show 190 grams or 6.7 oz, just a hair off, but also seems my scale is a little off.

Fill markings are fairly visible on the inside, in metric only, so for us US folks that occasionally get directions in cups, be ready for some conversion.

Time to boil is what really attracted me to the Petrel and the XK6 produces nearly the same boil time. 

Starting with 2 cups of water at 70 degrees, the pot and my MSR PocketRocket 2 produced boiling water in 1 min 22 and 1 min 20 seconds during two timed tests. This is a little slower than my same tests with the Petrel at 1min 17 seconds. However, it was a little bit more breezy today, so I think it's a pretty close call. My non-heat-exchanger pot was 2 minutes 9 seconds for a 200 degree boil. So quite a bit of time and therefore gas is saved. Both were boiled with the PR2 on full blast with a full tank of isobutane with 2 cups water @ 70 degrees.

The XK6 bottom lacks the slots of the Petrel, and that does make a difference with the stability. With the Petrel, I could lift my stove using the pot. Not so with the XK6, just like any regular pot, you

 hit it and your pot will slide right off. However, the upside is the XK6 is compatible with most if not all stoves.

The spout on the lid is also not very functional. It can be used to drain, but there is no secondary hole to allow for air to come in and water to escape, so it has to be poured very slowly. I tried to capture this in the pic below. If you pour too fast, the water dribbles out, goes down the pot a bit and ends up everywhere.  

Overall the pot is what I wanted; its bigger capacity will allow me to cook a bit better for two and should reduce my fuel usage. It's not much heavier than the Petrel, but is missing the Petrels' slots, which I really liked. I may get out a file and DIY some slots. We shall see. 

Background

Used the pot on a few meals so far without any issues.