Just got one of these as a present: BioLite Camp Stove

It is a small wood burning stove with a battery. When you fire it up the battery runs a fan to make the flame burn hotter and more efficiently in the fire chamber. A thermoelectric device uses heat to keep the battery charged. When it is hot enough, you can use it to charge your iphone or other small electronic device from a USB port.

I just recieved it as a present, and fired it up today for the first time. I charged my iphone and made a cup of coffee. I didn't really do a systematic test, but it all seemed to work as advertised. Seems a bit heavy for backpacking, but could be usefull in a disaster situation. After Sandy, I saw articles about people running generators just to charge phones, this seems to make more sense. Heat some water for coffee, tea or soup, and charge your phone at the same time. They have a larger model under testing which would actually allow one to do some real cooking.

I'm hoping that Hikin Jim will really test one out one of these days.

I'm curious to see what he thinks of it, too. In case you missed it, I posted the results of my initial tests of the Bio-lite stove last fall. Overall I was pretty impressed. I look forward to the spring to get out and use it a bit more.

Sorry, I did miss your review of the BioLite. You have some nice photos of it in action.

Overall I was rather impressed with the little stove. I hope someone puts it through more serious testing than I have done. It is a bit too heavy for backpacking, in my opinion, but being able to charge your smart phone is a nice draw. It should be handy for applications where weight isn't such a huge issue.

I've got one. I'm reviewing it. High cool factor. A bit heavy.

It's late and I'm tired after carrying my daughter for a hike. Time to sleep. More later.

HJ

Can you add a few words about the knock-off BushBuddy while you are at it???

I was curious enough to research a few more links.

There's a long thread about here: http://andrewskurka.com/2012/biolite-campstove-review/ The initial criticism is based on the specs, not on usage, and points out that you can carry a lot of fuel and spare batteries for the weight. The comments include some actual experience, both positive and negative. One chap couldn't get it to work with damp wood, and then its internal battery went flat. I have to wonder how well it will perform when that battery has aged 10 years.

There's a negative review here: http://sectionhiker.com/biolite-campstove-the-substance-beyond-the-hype/ where he found it took 2 hours to get only a 50% charge, and that it needed quite a lot of fuel and attention.

An alternative is the PowerPot, at http://www.thepowerpot.com/powerpot-v. That's not a stove; instead it works with whatever stove (and hence fuel source) you have. It provides a similar charge rate.

I'm interested in this stuff because I'm in the UK, where sunlight for solar panels is often in short supply.

Charging capability aside, I don't see the point of these fan-forced draft stoves. There is a very simple, cheap, powerful and fool-proof device to create a draft from heat - a chimney! A coupla coffee cans stacked end to end and you're done.

A fan forced stove works like a chimney on steroid.

I dunno, I'd be willing to bet a two coffee can chimney could "blow away" any practical fan.

I've never seen any chimney draft and burn like the Bio-Lite.

I took the BioLite out on a backpack in January. It's a lot of fun, although I think it's a little heavy for what it is. For more "fun" trips (family, groups of friends on a casual trip, car camping, etc.), I think it's fine. For a serious backpacking trip where weight is more critical, I don't see it.

When it gets going, it is one rocking wood stove. One guy on the camp out jokingly called it the BioHazard stove instead of BioLite.


As far as the Solo Stove is concerned, it's a proven design. I say proven since it's almost an exact copy of Fritz Handel's Bush Buddy. It's more cheaply made, in China I believe. It's a pretty incredible rip off of Fritz's work. Fritz is just a guy living out in the woods in Canada who lacked the means to copyright his work. So the rip-off may have been inevitable, but the Solo stove brings ripping people off to new heights, even at first advertising their stove as the "new Bushbuddy." It may be a perfectly good stove, but ripping someone off simply because they're impoverished seems like something I don't want to support. Also, I believe the (real) Bushbuddy is 4 ounces lighter.

HJ

Yeah, I agree it's a bit heavy for a stove. Pretty nice if you need to charge electronics like a phone or Kindle. I'm not sure I'd want to bet my life on the reliability of anything with a motor and computer, though. Although to be fair mine has been great so far.

I think I'd rather carry a separate solar solution unless I knew that I'd have stove fuel and no sun. I was a Kickstarter backer of Waka Waka Power (http://www.getwakawaka.com/) and I intend to post a review when I get mine.

ClarkTX and I did a 20-mile overnight backpacking trip this last weekend and he brought along his new BioLite stove to test.


BioLite by merriwether, on Flickr

We weren't impressed. The unit actually contains a battery that you are supposed to charge up at home. The battery by itself was capable of giving almost two full charges to his iPhone. Burning wood inside the stove generates electricity at a very low rate. We calculated it'd take almost five hours of continuous fire to recharge the unit's battery once it was drained. The thing was a major fuel hog, burning through a load of sticks in just a few minutes. He had to keep removing the pot, adding more sticks, and then continue with his cooking. As far as backpacking goes, a small 9volt or multi AA phone charger would make a lot more sense, especially considering how heavy the unit was.

Basically, it was a solution in search of a problem. Even in a grid-down situation a solar panel would more likely be more useful.
-Blast

p.s. After using it for lunch the first day it was too hot to put back into his pack so ClarkTX strapped the burner unit to the outside. Somehow without us noticing, it fell off. In an amazing twist of fate it was found by a group of hikers from Dallas, one of which is a fellow ETS member (Hi John) who recognized me! Clark got the burner back, thank goodness.

Yeah, my impression isn't a whole lot different. The charging thing might work OK if you were just topping off a low usage item every night, maybe a GPS unit or something.

The stove itself does eat fuel like no tomorrow when on high. It's a fun stove, and it does work, but for two pounds or so of weight? I think there are other options.

It does however work and it's nicely put together. Like I say, fun and interesting, but not for serious backpacking trips. If I were car camping and wanted to augment my other gear, then sure.

HJ