Lol shes very gentle. Yeah if I remember correctly it was around $225 Canadian. Definitely a splurge purchase. Not the dog lol.
Ive had a SS Bonfire for a few years now and like it. I remember seeing them advertised when they first came out and thought there was no way I was spending that much $ on a fire pit. Then about a year later my neighbor bought one and invited us down for a fire. I was impressed with it and decided I was going to buy one. I ended up buying mine during a sale so I saved some $$. I figured I could buy a big box pit for $100 and have to replace it in a few years or buy the SS, spend a little more, and have it last a lot longer. I'm very happy with mine. The only knock on them as its been mentioned is the heat goes up, not out. Now theres no way I'm dropping $$$ on a stupid heat deflector from the company. I saw people making them out of pizza trays lol. I dont like taking the SS camping though. It takes up too much room so I'm picking up something called the "pop up fire pit". I've seen guys on YT use them and really like them.
Finally had the chance to “fire” up the Solo last night. The last few weekend’s have been rainy in the evenings. This thing is awesome! It burns nicely and no smoke either. Granted, I had a few pieces sticking out, so there was a little smoke. And all the wood wasn’t 100% seasoned. Overall, this unit works great. And it builds up a really good bed of coals on the bottom so when you add more wood, it’s off to the races.
Hope it wasnt the stuff i sold you! Nice looking stove btw. The next washer i scrounge im going to reclaim the stainless drum for such. MikeInMa has one and i really liked it.
We have a Breeo, love it. Was a bit more expensive than the Solo but more features. The sear plate is pretty awesome.
Jumping in with some sacrilege here: we have the bonfire like Skier76 has, but I also have one called the “campfire” it’s about the size of a gallon paint can but it has a little top to it that can hold a pot or a cast iron pan. Took it camping in NH this past weekend. Was pretty good. I got the adapter plate for the bottom that allows pellets to be burned in it. (Since I was camping out of state I brought pellets instead of buying bundles at the campgrounds and you can’t bring out of state wood- for good reason) any how- I’ll get to the point- I also brought a bucket of cut offs of dimensional lumber to easily fit in the burn chamber- the pellets will burn great for a while, but then they kind of clog the bottom and the fire struggles- tossing in a couple pieces of wood gets it going and burns out the crumbled pellet pieces at the bottom. It really worked great. Now- almost all of you are going to have plenty of wood on hand and won’t be in this situation- but the table top versions of these smokeless burners are very attractive in my experience. Myself, and my brother have the camping one, and we gave my mom the “mesa” which is a more or less the same size but has an enameled outside of the stove. If any of you go that route, just tuck in the back of your mind that the pellet adapter works well, just seems to need a little boost with cut offs of wood. If you’re in the mood to cut down cord wood to size go for it, but I haven’t been that inspired yet. Just my two cents…. Adjusting for inflation, I don’t know if it’s worth more or less, hah.
Great post! Thanks for sharing! Have you cooked anything on the Campfire? I’m intrigued by that model.
I cooked a salmon filet on there in a cast iron pan a few weeks back. It worked fine. You could get by fine with grilling on it, using charcoal in there and whatever for a camp out, but you're not going to come close to say one of those smaller Weber charcoal grills. The smaller solos are great for keeping yourself entertained and getting your guests to repeat "wow it really is smokeless" and "I can't believe the flames" and every so often "hoe much did you say this was?" Decent for car camping. While I'm in the middle of a complete tangent let me leave off with this: if you wanted a one-stop do everything wood stove for camping, folds down flat, takes wood, sticks, charcoal, pellets and those little alcohol burners- check out the Firebox Stove. Used it on a couple week motorcycle trip that took me through Labrador, Canada. If I could only bring one stove with me it would be that. Grilled on it, made tea, kept me entertained and kept the notorious Labrador black flies away.
