I’ve reviewed a couple of Solo Stove products in the past. The Solo Stove Lite and the Solo Stove Bonfire. Each has a totally different purpose. One for cooking (Lite) and one for recreation (Bonfire firepit).
The Solo Stove Lite and Solo Stove Pot 900 are perfect for emergencies like when the power goes out, etc. It also works well to cook your Emergency Food Supply if you have one.
With the wildfires and natural disasters increasing I’ve been drawn more and more to thinking about what would happen if you lost your utilities, especially power and gas. The Solo Stove Lite is great for backpacking and especially simple prep like boiling water to make the basics while living light in the wild. I enjoy using it for dong coffee while out car camping as well.
The Bonfire firepit is perfect for a small group and just enjoying it as a clean-burning fire experience. On the back porch at home or out camping. You can add a grate to make it do some basic cooking but it is a very hot experience because of the size of the fire and flame it puts out.
The Solo Stove Campfire kind of fits in between and to my thinking is the best of both worlds. Large enough for a small fire pit. It easily keeps two people warm if you sit close by. Large enough to cook with a cast-iron skillet and regular size pans. The size of the Solo Stove Campfire is about the size of a large paint can.
My son and I went out for a late fall campout this last weekend. The time had changed so the day was short. Sun went down around 4:45 and it was getting down into the high 20’s for the low at night. We decided just to do a one-nighter but it gave me a chance to finally try out the Solo Stove Camfire.
This would be my first burn and it turned out to be the easiest light-up I’ve ever had with a Solo Stove.
That was all it took to light the stove. Then just feeding in a few larger pieces and letting it get a good burn going.
I had dry wood but I was still kind of blown away how soon I had a good fire going and enough heat to start heating my cast iron skillet. We were having Salmon burgers for our supper and it was quickly getting dark and colder.
I was afraid the skillet might get extremely hot and burn the burgers but the flame spread out enough and with it being colder outside it kept the skillet pretty close to the temperature I would have had it on a regular stove at home. After a few minutes on each side. They were ready to be taken out, time to toast the buns and ready to eat. Yum!
We followed up with a 2nd round which seemed to go even faster. Needless to say, I was very impressed with how quickly it worked and also how little wood I actually ended up using. Total wood burned was around 8 small pieces for 4 salmon burgers done 2 at a time in my skillet.
So my conclusion is exactly what I had hoped for the Solo Stove Campfire. The perfect little stove for cooking and the perfect little fire pit for warmth. If I had a choice of only buying one I personally would choose the Campfire because it fills this purpose for me. Of course, your choice may differ as you may want your Solo Stove for an entirely different purpose.
This is my first review and I will follow up with more once I’ve done some more cooking on the Campfire. I have the special pots that go along with the campfire to review and will be doing some more extended cooking using them in the near future.
Special Announcement:
Solo Stove just launched the Elemental Color Series – a series of the brand’s signature smokeless fire pits, now offered in five modern colorways inspired by Earth’s natural elements: Ash, Clay, Sand, Soil, and Water.
It’s Solo Stove’s first color series of their best-selling fire pits, and they’re here just in time for the holidays.
Give-back:
To celebrate the launch, Solo Stove has announced that it will be planting ten thousand trees through One Tree Planted, with an ultimate goal of planting over a million trees over the next 5 years.
***Tiny House Blog is an affiliate of Solo Stove and does get a small percentage of any stove purchased through any of the above links.
