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muffinman
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    BioLite Campstove

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    Post by Guest Sun Feb 23, 2014 7:42 am

    May become part of my camp gear at some point.  I like the idea of sustainable, non petroleum based cooking for a multitude of reasons.  One being cost, although a $20 single burner and as many $3.00 canisters of propane to = $100 is something to be thought of.  Able to charge your electronics.  Guess thats worth the price of admission.  Plus less space to be taken up if transported in a backpack further away from the rig.  Other cool stoves on their website as well.

    http://www.biolitestove.com/campstove/camp-overview/features/

    BioLite Campstove Camp_overview_img_2-942x648
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    Post by MtnClimber Sun Feb 23, 2014 7:57 am

    So unless your in a desert or a frozen tundra, all you need is a few twigs 'n sticks and you can have a cup 'o joe while you play candy crush!  Laughing 

    $130 does seem steep tho, but the mutli-purpose usefulness is nice. Charging w/out the sun, cooking with dead sticks, no extra fuel to carry, and it's compact. Definitely looks like a good backpack/bugout/emergency/extra cooker!
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    Post by booth9c1ss Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:22 am

    I've thought about one of these too. I was wondering how many pine cones it takes to bring a cup of water to a boil. L.L.Bean sells the stove, as well as a grill designed to fit on the top top grill up a burger.
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    Post by MtnClimber Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:20 am

    booth9c1ss wrote: L.L.Bean sells the stove, as well as a grill designed to fit on the top top grill up a burger.

    So the Beaner discount brings the price down to a reasonable amount.  whistling 
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    Post by Barrows Sun Feb 23, 2014 11:39 am

    Here is one on ebay for $110......http://www.ebay.com/itm/BioLite-Campstove-/171246730525?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27df19bd1d.......They pop up there very often used for around $75.
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    Post by muffinman Sun Feb 23, 2014 4:25 pm

    thats a pretty cool stove but i think i will stick with my 2 burner colemon for cooking and my flint for starting a fire and i hope i am not in cell phone range anyway Very Happy 
    as far as using it in a bug out bag i'm guessing u will not need electronics anyway if things get that bad
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    Post by richcz28 Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:27 pm

    I bought one from rei to try it out this past summer. I returned it after camping for 3 days with it on a canoe trip. You have to burn the entire forest to cook anything and forget about charging your cell phone. If you want to cook on wood light a real fire or try a kelly kettle.
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    Post by Guest Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:11 pm

    Excellent. Thanks for the info. It'll save me some dollars as I was planning on picking one up.
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    Post by booth9c1ss Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:28 pm

    I recently got one of these. I haven't tried using it yet (it's been below 20*F). They say they can also burn wood pellets.  This fuel is safer to store in a house.  I am planning on using this as a biomass stove... If it happens to charge electronics,  that will be it's secondary function.
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    Post by Guest Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:38 pm

    Very cool. I'd like to know how the pellets fare as that's what we use for our primary Heat source at the homestead and is always readily available.
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    Post by Gryphon Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:24 pm

    richcz28 wrote:I bought one from rei to try it out this past summer. I returned it after camping for 3 days with it on a canoe trip.  You have to burn the entire forest to cook anything and forget about charging your cell phone.  If you want to cook on wood light a real fire or try a kelly kettle.

    Big fan of the Kelly Kettle. Lots of uses. Especially good paired with a french press.
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    Post by booth9c1ss Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:11 pm

    BioLite Campstove 20150122_164720_zps67fb7f52
    This is the stove in action.  I used maple twigs to get it started then added wood pellets.  I used half a handful (about 30-40 pellets) and is burned for about 25 minutes. Burn time would probably shorter (but hotter) if I had the fan speed on the unit on high speed.

    BioLite Campstove 20150122_165607_zpse305608b
    This image shows the heat vortex.  This is so efficient  because of the forced air.  A fan powered by the internal battery blows into the combustion chamber.  The heat from the fire recharges the battery, and when it get hot enough the surplus power goes to the USB port.

    I did try boiling a pot of water. Using a 1 quart pan with about an inch of water in it, I was able to bring it to boil in about 75 seconds. I would have taken a picture, but I was busy charging my phone (not charring my phone as I accidentally typed Smile )

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    Last edited by booth9c1ss on Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:05 pm; edited 2 times in total
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    Post by Guest Thu Jan 22, 2015 9:15 pm

    Hmmmm you've perked my interest again.
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    Post by booth9c1ss Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:47 pm

    An equipment update...

    I used this stove exclusively on the MOTL 15. I had a hard time lighting it, though I was trying to start it with paper and wood pellets. If had used (dry) sticks as an intermediary (paper - sticks - pellets), I may have had faster light times.

    HOT DOGS
    Very good at boiling water. Once the pellets were going, they provided plenty of heat.

    RED BEANS & RICE
    Again, I had no problem getting water to boil. But after that, the directions say to reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Unlike a pressurized gas stove that has a valve, this stove cannot be turned down. Instead, I had to create a double boiler. I used the large pot with water and a lid, then put my food pot on top of this. It worked, and the end result was edible, but the stack of pots was tippy.

    Also, this stove does not burn as cleanly as a pressurized gas stove. I had heavy deposits of soot and creosote on my pans. I was using my stainless MSR pans, so I could scrub with steel wool. This would not be an option with aluminum Teflon coated pans.

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    Post by MtnClimber Wed Jul 08, 2015 10:52 pm

    I watched you use this several times and I'll say that I will ever own or use one of these as they take extremely waay to long and are very inefficient. Once you finally got it going (I was done my lunch) it took too long to cook and then you had find a safe place to dispose of the "fuel" and let it cool down for 10-15 minutes just to pack it away.. I'll stick with my single Peak1 stove or my double burner Brunton. If I wanna charge my phone, I'll plug it in my truck or my solar panel Wink

    Thanks for the review and letting me watch and learn to confirm my decision on one of these. (to not get one..)
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    Post by booth9c1ss Thu Jul 09, 2015 7:41 am

    Once it got going, it produced lots of heat. But the long start up and cool down times and the fact that you can't simmer is leading me to the same decision. I don't think it will be coming with me next trip.
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    Post by booth9c1ss Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:36 pm

    To update this thread, I brought this along on the FFR16 (Fall Foliage Ride) along with the grill attachment.  The grill mounts onto the stove, and has two fold - out legs of it's own for stability. It also features a door to the combustion chamber so you don't have to disassemble the grill to add more fuel.  

    It is still relatively hard to light  (as opposed to a spark in propane gas).

    The grill attachment is what makes this stove.  I was able to simultaneously cook two burgers. They cooked evenly, and grease drained away (and back into the fire). The design of the grill produces a very even hot surface.

    This is a bulky setup, however. The stove, grill, and a folgers container full of pellets fits into a milk crate.  That said, I will probably still allocate space for this in the back of my truck if burgers/grilling is on the menu.

    Steve

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