I bought the Solo Stove bonfire Bonfire back at Christmas time because they had a great deal. I think I paid $240 for it. I was skeptical. But I've had lots of fire pits. Most of them were steel. Most sucked to get a fire going. Most sucked to keep a fire going. Most rusted out in a year. A cast iron one lasted but still sucked to get fire going.

Anyhow I haven't had a chance to try this out until tonight. It sat in my garage for all this time. Tonight I decided to give it a shot. I used a bag of wood from the supermarket, those $6 bundles. I put a brown paper shopping bag under about 3 big logs and one thin piece. It lit and stayed burning clean for the past few hours, with a few logs added. Virtually no smoke. Not a bit of smoke in the face. Sat in the same spot all night. Left it with just burning embers, still crazy hot. I know it will all be ash in the morning. Very good engineering and stainless steel should last. I can't comment on the quality of stainless yet but so far I'm very impressed.

nice, now if i could just find a way to keep the mosquitos at bay.

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
nice, now if i could just find a way to keep the mosquitos at bay.

No kidding. I was lucky as it's pretty cool tonight. But I have wetlands behind my apartment. They are voracious. I use deep woods off dry and it really seems to be better than I recall. I still hate spraying that crap on myself.

quote:

Very good engineering and stainless steel should last. I can't comment on the quality of stainless yet but so far I'm very impressed.

Nice! I'll be getting one of those eventually...

How do these compare to the rocket stoves?

I just ordered one on the Solo website. 15% off sale until 6/4, so total was $255 with free shipping. Great time to buy—thanks for the review!

My neighbor has one that looks almost identical. I was looking at it carefully. Turned out he took an old washing machine drum and stacked it on top of a truck wheel (no tire, just the steel wheel).

Where is it made.
jimb888, I love that. Was the drum ss?

I question whether or not stainless will hold up. My biggest concern would be the caustic chemicals from the ash eating it up, unless you keep it cleaned out and dry all the time. I'll be interested to hear how it holds up over a couple seasons as I really like the concept.

I’d love to have one of those fire pits, but it was 93 degrees here yesterday.

Frayed, we gave up spraying ourselves to keep the skeeters off.
You might try spraying a bit of repellent on a paper towel then waping the repellent on any exposed skin. It seems to work as well as fogging your body.

One of the selling points on these stoves is that the outer layer of metal doesn't get hot. Is that what you experienced? I have a composite deck and was looking at one of these to use there.

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
One of the selling points on these stoves is that the outer layer of metal doesn't get hot. Is that what you experienced? I have a composite deck and was looking at one of these to use there.

The sides get hot. But the bottom was cool enough to touch. Only about a half inch or so. I think they say the bottom only gets to 160 degrees. I’ve seen pics on a deck with a big paved stone under it.

country of origin, chicom? USA? VN, etc?

I have the Solo Stove Lite with its companion pot. Nice backpack sized set up. I got my fire started quickly and made coffee and rehydrated some eggs. For boiling water it was perfect.

My kids got a kick out of it. "Dad, where's the button to turn it on?" Sit down son...

Looks like a great option if you can't have a fire on the ground. Seems to vent well too.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
country of origin, chicom? USA? VN, etc?

Company is in Texas but they are made in China.

Thanks, what I figured.