I was initially hesitant to purchase this item due to the price tag, but I felt like it would make a good gift for my outdoorsy brother so I bit the bullet and picked one up before buying him one as well. After it arrived I convinced my wife to let me take her camping so I could test it out in conditions that would necessitate its use.
Wow - seriously. This thing is nuts. It gets so hot that the coals constantly glow red hot inside. On high speed (the fan settings on the outside) I had 4 eggs and bacon strips cooked up and ready to eat in about 8 minutes. Boiling water took a bit longer, but still faster than I feel I could have done it on my stovetop.
After that trip it kind of just sat on a shelf in the event that I ever got around to camping again. I did purchase another unit for my brother that he literally keeps it in his trunk whenever he heads out on a lengthy road trip. My brother has freely advertised his unit to all his friends and has probably helped BioLite sell another 30 units all on his own.
Fast forward a few months to Hurricane Matthew that tore along the east US coast. I was in one of the cities affected by the storm and was without power for about 2 weeks. This was especially difficult due to having 2 adult and two children family members visiting during that time from Europe (not the greatest of impressions for their first experience in America) and cold showers are never enjoyable.
So, I break this stove out after about the 3rd day to start cooking meat that would otherwise go bad due to lack of refrigeration. Every breakfast, lunch and dinner for about 10 days this stove kept 8 people fed, EASILY. I did get the Thermos add-on for the stove which ended up being invaluable for making coffee in the mornings. The entire stove breaks down and fits inside the Thermos, which is pretty nifty and saves space when packing a backpack or storing it on a shelf. As a parting gift I ordered another stove and gifted it to my European in-laws on their way out of town. It was WELL received and appreciated.
Alright, so you know the life story of my BioLite stove, so let me point out a few things for those potential buyers so you know what to expect:
1) This stove is voracious - utterly insatiable. You have to keep feeding it to maintain the heat necessary for cooking things. I will caveat this though. Fire consumes, right? So, it is to be expected that if you introduce a source of fuel to fire, that source will be reduced as it is consumed. The harder the fuel source, the longer it takes to be consumed. That should be common sense, but I didn't come around to the obvious without some trial and error. On my camping trip, I was using pine-cones and dry fuels of that nature (Wet fuel is a no-no and will irreparably break your stove - I'll explain in the next point). But... Lump Hardwood Charcoal (which is healthier to cook with than briquettes anyway) is a very hard fuel source. I have learned that the fastest way to get up and running is to fill the stove cavity with hardwood charcoal, dribble a very small amount of lighter fluid over it, wait a second or two for it to soak in, then light it. Breakfast in half an hour or less - I guarantee it.
2) I do not recommend getting the grill add-on for this stove... It is made of really cheap metal and I've found that putting a skillet directly on top the stove works just fine, and long as you can balance your cooking apparatus. A round pot without a long horizontal handle works even better.
3) When the stove heats up, it trips a sensor in the attached thermal-charging battery/fan that you attach to the side during set-up. At the base of the inside of the stove canister, there is a small port that sits right in front of the little fan in the piggyback unit. Note: The fan blades are PLASTIC. This is why you cannot use wet fuel with this unit and also why after you're done using it and try to turn off the fan it will not turn off. Your stove is not broken, it simply has to spin the fan while there is still a heat source near the fan blades to avoid melting them and making the stove worthless. The fan has two speeds: Keep it Hot Speed, and Burn Your Eggs Speed. I use Burn Your Eggs Speed to boil water - works very well.
4) Once you get the heat going and the fan is on, etc, you can't just plug in a USB and go to town. You must wait for the little green light to come on, indicating that there is enough of a charge being created. Only then will the stove charge an attached electronic device. (We kept two smart-phones charged enough to conduct our daily lives just by charging them during meals. Note: smart phones charge faster if you turn them off before plugging them in.)
The charge generated is a trickle, but is enough to make the difference between an emergency situation and a situation that is merely uncomfortable.
Thanks BioLite for an amazing product - I've freely advertised for you guys ever since Hurricane Matthew!
I paid full price for this stove and have purchased 3 other stoves as gifts for friends and family also at full-price. One emergency and it's worth the money, you'll see.
Reviews with images
Neat idea, but too much hassle to be worth it for serious backpackers.
My boyfriend and I have been working our way up to backpacking and the cooking setup was one of the last purchases to make. I received it on Sat, charged the battery pack, and tested it over a few days at a cabin with various foods. Here's my thoughts after using it to cook marshmallows, couscous, burgers, veggie kabobs, and chicken thighs (then more marshmallows). It lights up to a REALLY hot fire in a matter of minutes, if started properly with tiny twigs and slowly adding in finger-sized twigs until the pot was full. It boiled two cups of water in less than 4 minutes. The hot fire and small stick size means you're adding more fuel every couple of minutes. This was not a problem for water boiling as I could quickly lift the pot, drop the sticks, and put the pot back down. For cooking the two thick burger patties on the grill attachment, it was more of a hassle (in addition to lots of flipping and moving around to deal with hot spots), but between the two of us we got two medium rare burgers cooked. The smoke is because the sticks around our cabin had a lot of light mossy spots. On the second day I used a full pot of wood pellets instead of the twigs. That went MUCH better. It was easier to light and had a steady burn, and lasted for more than 25 minutes. I cooked chunk vegetables and then chicken thighs (microwaved first to ensure doneness), and there was still enough flame to do a marshmallow. The fire kept going while we ate.So here's my thought: it's a neat idea, a stove that doesn't require carrying fuel because you can pick it up at the site, but it works a lot better with premade fuel that you'd have to carry. I'll keep using it because I already bought and dirtied it up, but I would not recommend buying it to anyone else who was looking. I think if you're backpacking, you don't need to struggle with your food after a long day of hiking. Maybe if you were ONLY boiling water for dehyrated food, and used small amounts of pellets for about a 6 minute flame, it would be fine to justify the weight of the pellets in your pack. My next experiment will be to see how well it works without the fan attachment, maybe with the occasional blowing into that vent. That lightens the load considerably and would make up for the need to carry pellets.In any case, stick with the tried and true camp stoves that attach to the gas or liquid fuel. The BioLite will remain a novelty item for driveway gatherings needing a fire pit, short car camping trips when you don't want the time consuming charcoal setup, and maybe backpacking trips of just a couple days in a dry wood area.
Top reviews from other countries
Fred Wright
Excellent stove - makes fire idiot proof
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 24, 2017Lynda Murphy
Great for cooking, Ok for recharging
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 23, 2017
