Been using mine on and off a good few times now still shows little sign of wear, so I am thinking they are far more robust then I first thought. However at just on 30 quid post paid I am sorry to say I would not buy another one.
FlexiStove
- Thread starter Hammock_man
- Start date
Yeah, I paid 8£ for my stove. Would abolutly NOT pay 30£ for one.
It seems a little unfair to compare the price to an item sold off as surplus, and in a time when prices were considerably lower. This strikes me as quite a technically challenging thing to manufacture. They've had to order bespoke foil, find somewhere to make them, employ and train people, and all at UK costs rather than Chinese. None of that is cheap. Do I wish it were a lower price? Naturally. But I can see why it's not.
Much as I agree with those points it is an item that is going on to the open market.
Might be a few folks who collect such things and have to have it (cough) but you can’t count on that.
It’s got to complete against, for example, a titanium esbit burner that is under a tenner posted from Wuhan.
Yeah, FireMaple's titanium folding box stove is £16 from AE.
Nowhere did I suggest it was competitive. But comparing it to a pressed metal Chinese stove ripping off someone else's intellectual property and shipped in their thousands, or what it cost secondhand when the MOD had already footed the bill for it, is daft. Maybe compare it to a Honey Stove or something?
This stove will find its own market or it won’t.
It isn’t like any other stove that I know of. I can stick it in my back pocket and it wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. I prefer using pockets to toting a day sack. While flexible it is still able support a pan + a litre of water balanced on its top edge! I do not recommend this - just saying.
I’m not going to comment on its performance or durability as mine is modified. The bottom is cut out and I use it upside down as a stick stove.
It isn’t like any other stove that I know of. I can stick it in my back pocket and it wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. I prefer using pockets to toting a day sack. While flexible it is still able support a pan + a litre of water balanced on its top edge! I do not recommend this - just saying.
I’m not going to comment on its performance or durability as mine is modified. The bottom is cut out and I use it upside down as a stick stove.
Seems it really needs a MoD or other large customers to drive costs down.
But I can also see why it wasn’t selected.
Even with MoD purchasing it will be more per unit, say buying twenty five thousand vs bcb price.
Shelf life might not come into it, long term durability probably an unknown compared to a traditional Tommy cooker.
Market wise.
Everyone I know serving has a jet boil anyway (and a coffee press).
I don’t think it’s hugely appealing to ultra light back packers with totals mugs.
A bit specialised for most campers to pick up on.
It’s just the stove not a package. It’s designed for a specific pot and they are trying to sell it to people who have that
pot so likely a stove to fit it already.
So really a smallish pool of people who may want the rare militaira item or bushcraft “collectible”.
Don’t get me wrong. New ideas and products are good. Enterprise is good but I can’t see a sustained market for this one product unless there are other things in the works.
As to cheap Chinese knock offs. The stove is clearly not being made in original factory that had the capability. Maybe the license was bought or it’s the original developer, I am not sure. But these factors all mean it won’t get cheaper soon and there is unlikely to be massive demand to reduce the price to a more competitive level.
Perhaps a market can be created by getting some celebrity endorsements…
Bushcraft TikTok’s ahoy!
I do hope it succeeds, but I’m not holding my breathe.
Even with MoD purchasing it will be more per unit, say buying twenty five thousand vs bcb price.
Shelf life might not come into it, long term durability probably an unknown compared to a traditional Tommy cooker.
Market wise.
Everyone I know serving has a jet boil anyway (and a coffee press).
I don’t think it’s hugely appealing to ultra light back packers with totals mugs.
A bit specialised for most campers to pick up on.
It’s just the stove not a package. It’s designed for a specific pot and they are trying to sell it to people who have that
pot so likely a stove to fit it already.
So really a smallish pool of people who may want the rare militaira item or bushcraft “collectible”.
Don’t get me wrong. New ideas and products are good. Enterprise is good but I can’t see a sustained market for this one product unless there are other things in the works.
As to cheap Chinese knock offs. The stove is clearly not being made in original factory that had the capability. Maybe the license was bought or it’s the original developer, I am not sure. But these factors all mean it won’t get cheaper soon and there is unlikely to be massive demand to reduce the price to a more competitive level.
Perhaps a market can be created by getting some celebrity endorsements…
Bushcraft TikTok’s ahoy!
I do hope it succeeds, but I’m not holding my breathe.
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There are many things out there which cost a pound to make but sell for twenty; this seems like it costs twenty to make but should sell for ten!
I started this tread with a review that I stand by but was written for an item costing a whole lot less. It does pain me however that this tread seems to be killing the product not boosting it. Oh well!
I started this tread with a review that I stand by but was written for an item costing a whole lot less. It does pain me however that this tread seems to be killing the product not boosting it. Oh well!
I would wish to support an entrepreneur, especially someone promoting outdoor equipment.
I do feel that Flexistove is suffering from a lack of market research before it started production.
One might have expected the feedback it is getting here to have been learned using prototypes.
I know it was anticipated that it might be adopted by the MoD but feedback from those with military experience here is suggesting that it doesn’t fit with practice on the ground there either.
I’m sorry if you have an emotional or other investment in the Flexistove. Perhaps it can find a radically different use that will move volume. Do they need a think tank?
I wonder how well other stoves are selling in these currently hard times, indeed leisure products generally.
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