BioLite Wood Burning CampStove

[Smossy]

Hey thanks for the post. Looks like a good product worth owning. Love the capabilities and the "Stay green" foot-mark.

[chef bama]

Got one.  It's the cat's meow, a game changer. The reviews seem to mostly be by city people who don't know how to build a fire to begin with.  After years of trying to build the perfect smokeless hobo twig fire, here's a thing that will do it perfectly for hours if you find the right dry twigs. The idea that it can charge itself to keep the rocket fan going is pretty revolutionary. To be able to charge a phone or a GPS or a flashlight beyond just charging the fan battery makes it an even more practical useful thing.

This year I am pre-clipping all my yard trimmings (shrubs, apple trees, cherry trees) to just the right length to drop in this stove.
What was previously annoying yard waste is now months and months of rocket stove fuel carefully disguised as compost piles ... we are going to be roasting a lot of marshmallows. Gonna get the grill attachment next.

So far the 8" lodge fry pan works best.  It will boil 12oz of water in one fueling/firing, then keep the charger going as long as you keep dumping in dry twigs. It will not heat the 10" lodge fry pan evenly or with any speed. Too bad, as that is the best size for a bone-in ribeye.

I also want to try a kelly kettle in combination with this thing. Rocket stove + chimney stove.

BTW the manual says don't use charcoal or accelerants. I think the problem is that the fan plus the charcoal would get too hot, like a mini-blower-forge, and melt down your unit.

[quadrafire]

Mountaingear in spokane has these for $99.96 starting 7/17.
Mountaingear.com

[Skillet]

I have boiled a LOT of water and cooked a LOT of mountain house and oatmeal with this stove.  Weighs just a few ounces, solid fuel so no sloshing bottles or fuel spill issues.  Cheaper 'n dirt, available everywhere for 5-8 bucks.  Had mine for well over 10 years now.  Have a MSR whisperlite that I rarely fool with, as I prefer this.  It fits inside my nesting pot/pan set.  Easy to make a wind break out of any available materials at hand.  Just perfect for backpacking or pack-in hunting.  Sometimes I think we spend too much on making life too difficult...

 

[jackelope]

I have boiled a LOT of water and cooked a LOT of mountain house and oatmeal with this stove.  Weighs just a few ounces, solid fuel so no sloshing bottles or fuel spill issues.  Cheaper 'n dirt, available everywhere for 5-8 bucks.  Had mine for well over 10 years now.  Have a MSR whisperlite that I rarely fool with, as I prefer this.  It fits inside my nesting pot/pan set.  Easy to make a wind break out of any available materials at hand.  Just perfect for backpacking or pack-in hunting.  Sometimes I think we spend too much on making life too difficult...

 

These may work well at not too high altitude, but anywhere of any significant altitude and they don't do squat. We boiled water twice in my cheapy Brunton stove and the water that my buddy was trying to boil on that stove never boiled. +/- 9k'

[Skillet]

I can't talk about 9K+, but have used it many times at 6-7K and extensively at 5K and never had a problem.  Water boils at a lower temp up high, so it must have been the fuel you were using?  I've found not all alcohol tabs are made equal.  Also, there is a definite technique to using it - I always use it with the legs folded at the 45 degree angle.  Less stable, but doesn't seem to lose hardly any heat.

[Smossy]

I have boiled a LOT of water and cooked a LOT of mountain house and oatmeal with this stove.  Weighs just a few ounces, solid fuel so no sloshing bottles or fuel spill issues.  Cheaper 'n dirt, available everywhere for 5-8 bucks.  Had mine for well over 10 years now.  Have a MSR whisperlite that I rarely fool with, as I prefer this.  It fits inside my nesting pot/pan set.  Easy to make a wind break out of any available materials at hand.  Just perfect for backpacking or pack-in hunting.  Sometimes I think we spend too much on making life too difficult...

 

I have one of these also, boiled water just fine at 8000+ feet so what some others are talking about.
I have a msr pocket rocket also.

[jackelope]

I was using the regular stove. Can't comment on the technique or the fuel.

[ICEMAN]

Link to a $6 stove I built years ago to burn the esbit, wood, alcohol....

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,24872.new.html#new

Still carry it today around my Ti Kettle.

[Special T]

Got a kelly kettle from my wife so i'm gona give it a test fire this weekend.

[owmygulay]

I have one of the biolite stoves and it is pretty sweet. I don't really know how well it would do it you needed to actually cook something on it but it is very nice as a phone charger if you are going to be camping for a week or something. Here is a pic of me giving it a test run. I had just fired it up. When the fan turns on, the fire gets a lot bigger.

[jbeaumont21]

I ended up getting one of these.  I figured at 18 bucks it wasn't too big of an investment and might be fun to try out while camping.  I can see the advantage of using one of these versus hauling a pocket rocket and all that fuel.  Plus you would have some nice ambiance while in the woods with no worries of running out of fuel.

http://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Products-Foldable-Pocket-Cooker/dp/B000HR95NO

[swanny]

Just put one up in the Classifieds, brand new in box!