Bio Lite Camp Stove

[WiseOwl]

http://biolitestove.com/

Has anyone ever seen or heard of these? I think this is one of the coolest items I have ever seen. Definitely on the wish list

[EX121]

Yeah I saw this on another site awhile ago. Then they were not ready for the market but the company was looking for investors. Looks like a great product, but I don't have the $$ for this. I'll wait for a bit to see how they work.

[WiseOwl]

Brians Backpacking Blog he did a good demo on it. Looks legit

[Cimarron]

I agree WO, that thing is sweet. It looks so simple there's got to be a catch to it somehow.

[SeldomSeenSlim]

This is the kind of stuff I expected to see in 2012. Now where's my flying car? :)

I wish they put specs as to the electrical generation. Without the electrical component it's just a fancy tin can so what that actually generates will determine if it's worth $130 or not. I won't count it out yet. I just need to see more.

[610Alpha]

Engineer775 on youtube just put up a review today.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Be careful before ordering as I saw a review of this several months ago. The website at that time said expected ship date March 2012. I looked online and found some blog entries that said they have been promising this for a few years. Maybe they have perfected it and it is now in production...just be sure before sending money. Just FYI

[610Alpha]

Be careful before ordering as I saw a review of this several months ago. The website at that time said expected ship date March 2012. I looked online and found some blog entries that said they have been promising this for a few years. Maybe they have perfected it and it is now in production...just be sure before sending money. Just FYI

Ditto on the shipping...Engineer775 (LD3 met him at an expo not to long ago) said that he has been on the list for a couple years before he finally got his. They don't have the home version for sale yet.

[Embrachu]

Biolite Camping Stove good, but not perfect

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.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

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.

Awesome truthful review! Thank You for that!

[WiseOwl]

I concur. I have a friend that is very interested in this and may now steer towards the solar. Thanks!

[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 superficially 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, it makes me wonder, would this money simply be used to pay for continued inexpensive overseas labor (and to pad their own bank accounts)...or would the money be applied to designing/manufacturing a better product, and perhaps bring jobs to America? Not sure. However, if they're looking for American grant monies then it makes only sense that money should be put to use here in America.

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 is not perfect.