Bio lite products

[rideswithmoobs]

has anyone got a bio lite camp stove, the new kettle or grill?
Reason for asking is I have a lot or airmiles and was looking through offers and they have the biolite range. Basically good reviews and because of the miles it's free. Worth it for camping or not ?
Ta all

 

[Hugh Manatee]

I have both! I liked the idea of the stove and got one from a UK supplier that I also buy knives from. My mum got me the grill to go with it from a shop in Dartington of all places.

What do I think? I haven't really used the grill yet. I have sort of gone vegetarian! I took it on holiday and simply caught not even one fish to put on the thing so I'll concentrate on the stove!

One of the main drawbacks is weight. You wouldn't want to go light weight hiking with it. Most of my camping these days is with the family out of the car! Then weight is less of an issue. I'll outline the procedure:

You need to charge the battery. I use my Garmin mains charger and no harm came to it. Once that is done you are ready to go.

There are two fan speeds. I use the low setting to get it going. They supply these paper based sticks to help light the stove. Small twigs are also useful. Once going you can use larger pieces of wood and set the fan to High.

The stove gets through fuel at an impressive rate! We went for a walk on Good Friday and I took the stove for a brew afterwards. All we could find was very dry pine. I was struggling to get wood prepared quick enough. Because you have to get it into such small chunks to fit into the stove, it's a sort of ongoing process. A saw and small axe will be taken next time! All I had was one of those wire saws. It struggled to keep up.

What are you planning to cook? You want a thick bottomed pan as when it is on full chat, it really kicks out some heat! I got a very large pan from a charity shop in which I cooked curry for six adults on the Biolite. I was also able to charge my ipod whilst cooking. The flame did blacken my pan slightly but nothing too bad. Thanks to all the extra oxygen, the flame is reasonably clean. I would imagine keeping a small pan on simmer would be difficult.

Charging is only really possible on the high fan setting.

All in all, I'm still a fan (see what I did there!) of the stove. It is a truly Eco way of heating things up. The free electricity is a bonus. If I was cycle touring I'm not sure i would want the faff and would go for one of my old Primus stoves or my trusty MSR Dragonfly.

As an extra stove maybe to boil the pasta, it is very cool. If you are getting it cheap and can afford it, I don't think you'll end up disappointed.

 

[rideswithmoobs]

I have both! I liked the idea of the stove and got one from a UK supplier that I also buy knives from. My mum got me the grill to go with it from a shop in Dartington of all places.

What do I think? I haven't really used the grill yet. I have sort of gone vegetarian! I took it on holiday and simply caught not even one fish to put on the thing so I'll concentrate on the stove!

One of the main drawbacks is weight. You wouldn't want to go light weight hiking with it. Most of my camping these days is with the family out of the car! Then weight is less of an issue. I'll outline the procedure:

You need to charge the battery. I use my Garmin mains charger and no harm came to it. Once that is done you are ready to go.

There are two fan speeds. I use the low setting to get it going. They supply these paper based sticks to help light the stove. Small twigs are also useful. Once going you can use larger pieces of wood and set the fan to High.

The stove gets through fuel at an impressive rate! We went for a walk on Good Friday and I took the stove for a brew afterwards. All we could find was very dry pine. I was struggling to get wood prepared quick enough. Because you have to get it into such small chunks to fit into the stove, it's a sort of ongoing process. A saw and small axe will be taken next time! All I had was one of those wire saws. It struggled to keep up.

What are you planning to cook? You want a thick bottomed pan as when it is on full chat, it really kicks out some heat! I got a very large pan from a charity shop in which I cooked curry for six adults on the Biolite. I was also able to charge my ipod whilst cooking. The flame did blacken my pan slightly but nothing too bad. Thanks to all the extra oxygen, the flame is reasonably clean. I would imagine keeping a small pan on simmer would be difficult.

Charging is only really possible on the high fan setting.

All in all, I'm still a fan (see what I did there!) of the stove. It is a truly Eco way of heating things up. The free electricity is a bonus. If I was cycle touring I'm not sure i would want the faff and would go for one of my old Primus stoves or my trusty MSR Dragonfly.

As an extra stove maybe to boil the pasta, it is very cool. If you are getting it cheap and can afford it, I don't think you'll end up disappointed.

Thank so much for detailed reply. I suppose I'm not really looking to charge stuff fully. I have a little boy of 5 so a bit of phone charge in an emergency at least gives piece of mind. To be honest I am buying it with free air miles from work so no cost to me thank god. It's the only one on offer so saves buying a stove cash as I need a new tent too. It will be used to toast the marshmallows, boil a brew and maybe cook the odd thing. Your review says it did curry for 6 so pretty impressive !! We like the Eco stuff and using wood rather than gas and camping is with car so we can always take some kindling along. My little lad loves games collecting stuff so hours of fun there.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Totally ideal for those activities. There are several videos of people grilling steaks on the tube of you. Enjoy the camping with the little 'un. The twins are getting a little too old to share a small tent now. At that age half the fun is collecting just the right sized pieces of wood!

 

[rideswithmoobs]

[QUOTE 4229125, member: 76"]I have a friend with one of these...trust me, it needs a load of sticks to charge 1% of his mobile. I think they are neat, but the tech hasn't quite caught up with the idea yet. In a couple of years I guess they will be brilliant.

[/QUOTE]

I read the original biolite prototype didn't even have a usb charger and it was added afterwards. Biolite are constantly surprised how the reviews always centre on the secondary charging as opposed to the natural Eco heating. I was thinking of charging LED light for tent and nothing more really. Phone would be off and perhaps on once a day to check text etc but we camp for a few days to long weekend and not super phone orientated thank god