Biolite Campstove - Received, opened, and tested!

G

gytheran

Joined
Apr 6, 2009
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499
I'm a little shocked this stove hasn't been talked about more around these parts, but I received my Biolite CampStove a few days ago and did a short 30 min burn and charging test last night. I used a handful of fatwood sticks I had available and with a charging time of 28min 20sec, I raised my IPhone 4's battery 18%. It's a really cool device and I'm certainly excited to use it in the future!.

Here's a 4min video I put together of the unboxing and test of the stove. There's no talking throughout the video, but it is annotated. Thanks for looking! :)

[video=youtube;wBRcYR-V0FQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBRcYR-V0FQ[/video]
 
Is there any concern about the generator testing damaged from heat? What's holding it on or is it built together? Thanks for sharing!
 
When I tested it, there was some heat, but nowhere near enough to melt the plastic of the unit. The user guide does mention facing the power unit into the wind to avoid damaging it, so I imagine it's possible under the right circumstances. I've thought about making a small heat shield to avoid it. :)
 
That's impressive.

Do you have any weight and dimensions for it? Does it look easily packable? Will it nest in average size pots like Snow peak 900 or 700? Is it much wider then a 32oz nalgene?

Thanks.
 
I looked at these and got kinda excited at first, but then not. It seems like they will quite the pain to light with primitive tools and materials if you don't have an actual campfire going already. As you cannot light it from beneath.
 
I got one of these through our Scout group in the summer. We tested it for a week at a camp. It works really well, especially if you leave a little charge in the battery. The fan gets that fire going fast and hot. I burned dried out cedar shingles and they provided lots of heat and charging power. You can't light them from underneath, but you could light a fire and then transfer the fire to the stove. Here's a more thourough review. http://www.fullmetaltackle.com/2012/08/biolite-campstove.html
 
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