Havent we done this yet? Looks great in a must have gadget sort of way but I am sure less practical than my MSR.

BioLite stove

Thoughts

i’m surprised there were no comments on this.

It appeals to me too in a ‘don’t know how or when I’d use it’ sort of way. I like the idea of setting fire to things and being green at the same time though.

On a serious note, if one can generate sufficient electricity from this small camping stove to charge a phone, GPS, etc could the same not be achieved using similar technology attached to a domestic solid fuel stove or room heater? Just curious.

I’ve got one and only had a couple of test fires with it in the garden and it seems pretty good. Probably better as a fan assisted stove rather than a charger but it did put some juice into my ipod.

The only initial problem I had with it is it does go through fuel when the fan is on high. I am going to experiment with differing types of sticks etc to see what works best. It’s certainly well made and pretty sturdy though. Quite a nice bit of kit. Packs down well and has a handy little bag to carry it in.

Couldn’t a natural draught work just as well as is done with the home-made hobo stoves?

quite possibly… I bought it because a) I like what the company stand for in terms of what they are trying to do with their large stoves in poorer countries and b) I thought it handy to put some juice into phone etc whilst camping overnight.

I have yet to try it out on an overnight camp though so can’t really comment on how good it is/isn’t.

Certainly not for biking.

Looks to be around 5 times the size of my bivvying solution and that includes cookware:

http://www.optimusstoves.com/en/optimus-products/products/katadynshopconnect/optimus-outdoor-kocher/optimus-crux-lite-solo-kochsystem/

So, bulky, heavy, expensive, needs a fuel source (Finding dry sticks in the middle of a Scottish winter? In fact just finding any sticks could be an issue:-)

And charging phones etc is of no interest so that trump card is of no use to me personally.

Carrying on with the “good things” part of their ethos…

http://boingboing.net/2012/11/05/sandy-charging-phones-with-wo.html

Yes it’s promotional for them, but given that a lot of people were without power…

Agreed its too big for a bivi stove but I suspect it’s aimed more at those using a base camp. In fact, it is probably more of a technology demonstrator for their home stoves that seem to have an application in the developing world – that may be where the real market is.

I like the idea.

@theblackmount: agreed. I use mine for trips out in my canoe. Wouldn’t bother taking it for a lightweight/bike trip. Have a snowpeak gigapower stove for that