Anyone heard of the Biolite stove?

[Embrachu]

First, I did a search on the forums, and didn't pick up any threads/posts referring to the Biolite stove, so I decided to start a thread of my own on the subject.

Check out the youtube video, it's pretty cool. My MAIN reason for this item is as a source of power for my Kindle Keyboard. I have hundreds of pdf and other survival-related files, and although the Kindle Keyboard can maintain battery power for a good long time I've been looking for alternate sources of power.

This stove is dual purpose: it powers USB items, AND it can be used as a stove. Anything that burns can be used as fuel. It is for this reason that I opted for it over a solar panel. I'm also purchasing a handcrank charger.

Preordering the Biolite stove also doesn't require any money down.

Anyway, check out the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmHCIBvI6vE

[antishot]

I took a look at the site and to me its a neat little stove. But when does it come out the dont really tell just 2012 camping season well that started Jan 1.

[Embrachu]

Not sure where I heard it, but they're either in production now, or relatively soon.

[Grand58742]

It's kind of a novel concept, but apparently has been in pre-production for quite a while now. The word on this stove has been out for about a year and a half and production hasn't been completed yet.

However, something from the Biolite homepage sparked my interest.

Sales of the CampStove help to support the one-time market establishment costs for the HomeStove. This is not charity, or a one-for-one model, but simply the capital needed to incubate self-sustained energy access for the people who need it most.

With what was said, it appears to be business-speak for "we are charging more for the camp stove in order to reduce costs on the home stove for people in areas which typically cannot afford our products. In other words, our products are going to be more expensive for you so we can make sales to the Third World cheaper and call it charity without losing a profit."

Just maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but why even put some babble like that on your web page that is hard to understand unless you have a degree from Harvard Law? (which I don't, but I've been around a few lawyers here and there) But that's what I translated it into.

Either way, at 2 lbs, it's not exactly BOB friendly. Possibly for home use, but you can get a Volcano stove or even make your own hobo stove and get a solar charger for your batteries and cell phone. But even if the ability to charge a cell phone comes up, chances are if your have run through a battery because of a power outage, the cell towers will be down as well.

It's almost a solution looking for a problem. Neat concept, but I'm probably not going to spend money on it.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

I thought the same thing Grand. At 2 lbs, it seems heavy for BOB or even hiking/camping. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I'll spend that 2lbs on something softer to sleep on. I have a lightweight stove and if I want to go lighter, I'll look at the Emberlit Camp Stove which is lighter and packs smaller.

[SCinPNW]

Patriotic Sheepdog, thank you for the link to the Emberlit Camp stove, that is exactly what I need to add to our vehicle emergency bags.

SC

[EX121]

I would be more interested in just the attatchment on the stove. If they sold the part that turns heat into electricty, I think that would be more versital. You could lay it on any stove or hot surface. My 2 cents worth>

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Patriotic Sheepdog, thank you for the link to the Emberlit Camp stove, that is exactly what I need to add to our vehicle emergency bags.

SC

No problem. Look on YouTube and you can find a couple videos. They have a mini, but from reviews that I have read you really need to feed it more frequently. The Ti model is really light weight at about 5.5 oz but a bit more expensive at $55.

Edit: I don't want to thread drift, so I will post a thread about the EmberLit.

[Embrachu]

Biolite Camping stove good, but not perfect

(I posted this same info on another thread, but thought I would post it here in case someone does a search and comes up with other posts).

TO ANYONE CONTEMPLATING PURCHASING A BIOLITE CAMPING STOVE, JUST AN FYI:

My wife and I just received our Bilolite Camping stove a few days ago and we think it's an excellent stove. However, we believe that the stove falsely presents itself as being entirely "self-sufficient".

The primary reason we purchased this stove was because it had a dual purpose: it cooks food/boils water, and it produces electricity to charge items. We sought to eliminate the need for solar kits or other such things required for charging my Kindle or her Galaxy Tablet, and it appeared that this fit the bill.

In principle, the Biolite Camping stove operates by a simple premise: burn solid fuels to produce electricity (twigs, pine cones, etc.), and this will produce power to charge your devices through the USB connection. In order to accelerate the fuel burn (both for cooking and for charging) there is an onboard fan which is used to concentrate air into the burner, using a high or low setting.

Now herein is the misrepresentation of the unit: the website does not state that for the fan to work, that the internal battery must be charged PRIOR to first use, and every 6+ months of non-use THROUGH A USB PORT ON A COMPUTER.

Let's just imagine that it's a SHTF situation...you know, an apocalypse "Mad Max" type of situation. How many computers will be up and running which this can be plugged into if the battery needs recharging? See what I mean?

The premise of the website is that this unit produces electricity enough to charge devices...which it does. However, it neglects to state that the unit cannot produce electricity to charge itself. While it may produce residual electricity under normal operation, it still requires a source for external charge in some circumstances and therefore is not a self-sufficient stove.

I may, at some point, experiment and see whether or not the unit (if having sat unused for months and lost its charge) may produce power sufficient enough to charge itself, but as far as I can see from the website and elsewhere, it does not or it neglects to state this clearly. Therefore, I will be purchasing a back up stove for my wife's pack sometime in the near future.

[Embrachu]

Add-on to previous post...

Oh, and I forgot to mention that recently on Biolite's Facebook page they had mentioned that they were looking to be voted in to qualify for a $250,000 grant. Ordinarily I wouldn't think anything of this; they're an innovative company and they appear to be "green" and philanthropic in their intentions.

However, having just received the unit and looking at it closely, I noticed the fan/battery pack was MADE IN CHINA. So if Biolite were to receive a $250,000 grant, would this money simply be used to pay for more inexpensive overseas labor, and to pad their own bank accounts...or would it actually be used to make a better product and perhaps bring jobs to America? Not sure. But if they're looking for an American grant then that money should be put to use here.

While I understand that many companies use overseas production, I would have thought that BioLite would have been more Americanized. Needless to say I did not "vote" for them to receive any grant, simply so they could send more work overseas.

As I've stated, the BioLite camping stove does have some good points, but it's not perfect.