Last week under "General Prepping" I said that a Great Light appeared and shined down upon a path unseen by my eyes. I saw new and wondrous things almost too difficult to describe in words.
Fortunately, I have pictures.
Solo Stove Lite and Pot
The Solo Stove Co. had a Black Friday deal* featuring a free pot that lasted for several extra days, allowing me to be enlightened (or bludgeoned... both work) until I bought one.
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| The Kit |
Pictured are (L to R) the windscreen, Solo Pot and Solo Stove Lite. I was expecting to need the screen for this demonstration, but the winds that had been gusting up to 30 mph stopped as the sun went down. I did set it up to see how easily it went together (very easy) and also exactly how tall and how large an area it would surround. It turns out there is enough space to put a larger diameter pot than I currently pack inside the shielded area. (Editor's Note: It's designed to work with the next size up, the Solo Titan.)
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| Fueled up! |
The directions for all biomass stoves say something like "Gather sufficient fuel for the task at hand" and the Solo is no different. I gathered several small oak limbs knocked down by the wind along with small twigs that still had leaves, broke them into ~3" pieces, and placed them into the stove and put a match to it. After the initial start-up, the stove was very much smokeless and only smoked a small amount when adding some of the larger diameter pieces.
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| Flames! |
Judging how often to add fuel is a bit of a learning experience. Too much and the flames will flow up the sides of the cook pot; too little and you will be waiting for everything to finish cooking; but just enough will keep a nice solid fire burning!
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| Hot Water! |
When there were enough twigs ready and the fire was steady, I put the pot with 16oz. of water on the Solo stove and started my stop watch to see how long it would be to hot water and then to boil.
Due to this being my first try with the stove, I had a bit of trouble keeping an even flame going but even so, right at 4 minutes the first bubbles formed on the bottom on the pot and at 4:30 the water was boiling.
I am impressed with how easy the fire started, the ease of adding fuel into the box, and the lack of smoke (if I do my part correctly!). This is the largest biofuel stove I own and I think it will move into first place as the stove to take camping. The only time I might use my trusty Whisperlite is for areas lacking lots of fuel and places not allowing burning and open flames.
The Takeaway
- Compact, lightweight and able to use almost anything as fuel, the Solo is great!
- Good advice and solid recommendations from friends are wonderful.
- One Solo Stove Lite with free Pot: $69.99* Black Friday special
- One Solo Windscreen: $19.99 for me, but now $12.50 plus free shipping for the next 4 days!
*Don't despair if you missed this -- Solo has a Christmas Sale on right now with everything up to 50% off. Check them out! Hurry though, as of today (Wednesday Dec. 6) there are 4 days left for this deal!
Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!
If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!
NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.
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