This is hands-down the most practical review of the Biolite Campstove on TH-cam, by a guy who seems genuiely nice and down to earth. Made me sad to read that he passed two years ago, RIP.
Yes sir he will be missed, we had the privilege of backpacking with him on many adventures, he's who suggested that I get one , still packing with mine today ,best thing I ever bought
@@MegaWoodswalker anytime brother I've been following you or channel for a while and it's by far one of the best outdoor channels there is hopefully one day my channel could be close to yours
Awesome review! A couple things to add.. The top of the camp stove is designed to perfectly seat the biolite kettle. You're not gonna cook a steak in the kettle but its good for one pot meals like rice n beans or ramen. If you're not going to use pellets, you gotta make sure you have a good sized pile of processed bio mass to feed into the stove cause it burns hot and fast. Lastly, if the camp stove battery is fully charged and you're going to fire it up, you may as well plug a device in to charge. Even if its just to top of your phone that's at 81%. The camp stove is going to generate usable electricity so use it! I'll top off my power banks, headlamp etc.. Ciao!
Recently bought one of these and have been impressed with it. It was definitely worth the price. I already felt satisfied with it's performance, but your video going into such in-depth details regarding the charging speed in a worse case scenario makes me feel even more satisfied with it. You really went above and beyond man and I really appreciate that, especially in today's world. Cheers.
That is a really cool little stove. I can't believe he fit all that stuff in that tiny pack. Steak and food, wood pellets, stove. Wow. I suppose you can use the stove alone, without the fan thing, or do you have to use the fan battery power too?
After a brief time of searching, you are the only one who went in depth with testing and laying down the Pros and cons of these units. You should have more subs compared to the other reveiwers who just do a open box, light a fire then thats it
I have one of these and yes, they overheat. I had one that failed on me, so I opened it up and found that the plastic fanwheel blades folded over. That is, they melted and the air blew them flat. I got a whole new unit under warranty from BioLite and the new one came with a burn chamber and a light. All I had to do was send the original unit back to them.
Thanks for the review, but I'm afraid this is a scam product, heavily dependent on the battery, and once the battery loses its charge, it is an expensive piece of s***t...
There,s a reason why i got A Biolite CS2 instead of a gas stove (Or a solo stove)... It just always works... I have used it in +35°c to - 32°c In the rain and in a snowstorm...It uses less than 1/10th of the fuel that a campfire would use...A gas stove (Jetboil) isnt going to work reliably at -32°c... And you can,t move a Solo stove while its running...
Make sure you have a ton of time on your hands if you want to charge something. Easily takes 2-3 hours to charge their headlamp. And like 3 to charge a phone. 3-4 to charge battery bank on stove if empty. Claims bank will give you 50% charge if it loaded but it true. Had it camping this fall and got like 25% charge maybe.
Great review, bad product 😛 I really dislike the poor quality of the electronics inside. The concept is so cool, but it is just so cheap internally. Give us some fast charging ports, more flexibility with the fan and maybe a bigger unit in general
I don't remember how i found your site,but glad I did very helpful. I am preparing for a long m-bike ride from New Zealand back to the UK. and your reviews are helping decide what comes with me. Keep them coming.
The problem with the Biolite is it is neither fish nor fowl. It is totally too big and heavy for backpacking, and, really, too small for car camping. It also is not a good charger. I have had the Biolite I for about three years now. I played with it, once again hopeful, in the back yard last week. Once again, disappointment. I kept it going HOT for an hour and managed an 8% increase in my phone's charge. I believe the fan takes most of what the battery can do. I had to feed it constantly and keep it HOT or it would not charge. After an hour, I got tired of it. It smoked like a Rocky Mountain steam engine when starting and every time (about once every two minutes) fuel was added. I used Biolite pellets at $6.00/bag just to be sure there was no issue with the fuel to give the stove its best chance. The accessory light works fine. I got one liter of water to boil in 13 minutes. I got tired of fooling with it after an hour of constant attention and nearly the who bag of fuel. I don't think on a car camp you will want to break twigs and feed this thing to charge your phone all evening while your buds are sitting around the fire having a good time. You can cook with it, but between constantly adding fuel and raising and lowering your pan to prevent scorching it gets annoying quick. You want to charge your phone with no power? Turn on your car, plug it in, or use a battery bank while backpacking. There are way better wood burning stoves out there. I bought a Sierra Stove back in the 90s and it is a way better forced air stove running on a penlight battery, actually small and light enough for backpacking. Luke, do a review on that one! When you drill down a little on the glowing reviews on other channels it turns out they got free product for their "honest" reviews -- they're shills. Anybody want my whole Biolite set up with stove, boiler, light, twig breaker, firestarter and pellets? Come by my place in Newnan GA and I'll let you have it all for three Mountain House Meals. The idea of using fire to charge is sexy, but a no go with this product. That's why the battery on the Biolite 2 has a micro-usb port on it.
Thank you for doing the only proper review of this stove! I feel like it's not worth the weight. I'm a bikepacker, I have a solo stove and a battery bank that holds I believe 3 full cell charges, and I believe my setup would weigh less and certainly take up less space. I suppose the main reason they didn't use a bigger battery is not just weight, but a larger battery would lend the appearance of feeling that it takes too long to charge. In the end it means it doesn't bank a lot of power and needs to be done slowly to prevent over heating. The idea is good though, it just needs improvement.
Have the same unit- use pellets as often as possible- burns more than 45 min. on a single load (cooking hot) really like it, almost as much as your videos.
What an awesome review. The only thing I'm still wondering is how long it takes to stop over heating? It cant continually charge for more than 30 mins or what? Thanks.
I got one for Christmas, couple years back and only used it couple times but each time I have, I am impressed with the proformance and Versatility... also a good tip which would work great with pellets, get one of those gel stoves for food servers and use that stuff as a starter
While you cook your meal and/or coffee you can get some charge. The charger is low power, meaning you would need to be feeding the fire non-stop every 15 minutes or so for for hours for a full charge. This has always been the problem. Thermocouples have low efficiency, otherwise they would be awesome.
1.7 watts or 0.3A wow theres really some power there.......even a small foldable solar panel can output 10 or 20 watts easy..... not to mention it overheats. i suppose if u get enough wood to keep a fire burning for 10 hours u might be able to charge half ur phone.
Great stove. So your saying that if you have just a little power left in stove battery, when you run it , it can self charge ? Thanks enjoyed the video.
I wouldn't rely on this as a _primary_ means of electricity generation, but the ability to capture power while cooking that would otherwise be lost is absolutely a plus. I'd probably rig it to an external power bank instead of directly charging a phone if it wasn't an emergency situation.
I think it's a mistake to see it as a powerbank. The battery should be considered a way to give reliable output to your devices. I would connect a powerbank to it and use that to charge my devices. It looks really nice and I do want it, but it annoys me that the battery isn't user-replaceable. It's either a stupid mistake or a method to make sure it doesn't last very long so that you have to buy another. If that's the motivation, then it's really off putting.
So do you need to run the fan for the fire.... or can you run the fire without the fan ....it seems like using the battery to power the fan defeats the purpose of charging the battery When you have a fire going exactly how many VOLTS and how many milliamps goes into the battery for charging ....that is .....what is the actual true output that would be available for charging a phone
The fan turns on and for good reason. The stove produces enough power to both charge and keep itself going. The fan is needed and beneficial to the process aka making a hotter fire and to create the temperature differential aka how the TEG works. Look at 11:38 for your answers.Volts times Amps = Watts. I am running two instruments to show this. At this point in the video the stored energy in the battery from start up is run down. I am recording actual output from the stove. I don't know how much additionally is being used by the fan etc etc. The hypothetical max of the TEG is 3 watts. However to avoid overheating the battery I can not run it at max during summer. The red P is showing 1.66 watts being outputted to the phone. This leaves a hypothetical 1.32 watts being used by the stove's electronics. I have no way to know for sure how much power the stove is using but can be sure the total isn't going to be more than 3 watts. At this point in the video the clear blue instrument is reading 26 minutes of activity. The output is 4.7 volts at .35 amps which is 1.645 watts. This is very near 1.66 watts being shown by the x-dragon USB detector and is within rounding the same (each must round the numbers up or down and there are at a minimum 4 number). The clear blue instrument is showing 211 mAh which was actually transferred into the phone within 26 minutes. However there is a small amount of time in which the stove charges the battery at startup and will then allow for charging external devices. This is why the initial rate of charge was much higher. The 18650 battery within the stove was acting like a powerbank until the levels dropped and the input from the fire was properly shown. It's a long complex answer for sure.
It’s a balance. I need the fan for proper combustion and to heat the probe for the TEG. Also the fan is helping with the differential aka what makes it produce electricity unless mistaken. However too hot and the system shuts down to protect the lithium ion battery. Without the fan the system wouldn’t work. But running it too fast during hot weather also shuts it down. That’s my best assessment. Thanks for watching!
Great review but I feel you miss an important point... The fan is there to supercharge the fire for when you need to charge your phone... More heat = more power output. Try again with empty BioLite and set fan to full. You will see a big improvement. The "fire" bar shows you if you can improve performance by using the fan as well. The manual clearly states that " The Fire Strength Indicator directly correlates to the amount of power being produced. The more lights lit, the more power is being created." In your video we can see that only half the lights are lit and you run fan at minimum. You thus get much lower charge from the USB when internal battery is flat.
The Campstove 2 has multiple balls to juggle. A hotter fire will produce a larger heat differential however the stove must also protect the internal lithium 18650 from overheating. You're considering only the first aspect. I intentionally try to run the stove at no more than 70% "fire" bars at peak burn during summer. At 11:44 you will see the bars are at 70% and creeping up. Watch a bit more to see why this was too much for those conditions. It's right there in the video. The manual doesn't take field conditions into account which are variable. This was posted during the warmest part of summer. The testing was done during summer. The problem with running the fan too fast in summer is the stove being prone to overheating as shown in the video and more so with wood pellets because of the constant burn rate. The measured output is spot on to what I would expect even at the slower fan rate/measured heat output. They claim 3w from the TEG in pure optimal conditions and the output being measured into the phone is around 1.5w once the excess energy is expended from the battery during startup. However the stove is also operating the fan and other electronics at the same time so the electrical energy output is actual greater than just what's measured going into the phone. If the stove over heats the fan will kick on to high and the lights flash. The TEG (heat differential generator) shuts down. This cooling shut down process which take some time will expend the energy saved during the burn. The result is a net loss of energy This happened to me several times before I disregarded the manual when burning pellets and/or use in hot weather. I used pellets for all the testing to get a consistent result during each test. I really should do video of running the stove with foraged wood as that's a bit different. Thanks for watching!
@@MegaWoodswalker I never saud to run it at full blast. I said it can have a greater heat input. TEC's are also very interesting in that load cools the hot side. That is, higher load on tec will transfer more heat to cold side. I did not design this perticular unit and would have used seperate fans if I had as what you describe is common when not being able to control cooling seperate from heatflux.
@@MegaWoodswalker By the way, the internal 18650 would not overheat. It is protected by heatshield as well as charge protection circuitry. It is also large enough to be able to handle the entire power production from the TEC regardless of heat level. What will need protection however is the hot side of the TEC. These are quite sensitive and even the high temp units will usually not handle over 200c. The lack of seperate fans in this unit is most likely it's biggest shortcoming as it means it cannot try and protect it's TEC without stoking the fire.
@@MegaWoodswalker One more thing: You say this is when it "overheats" at 12:00 approx but the manual does not say that. It's actually kind of hard to assume what they want you to do in that situation as you can still hear fan running at max. In theory they should draw as much power out of the TEC as possible at this point to avoid burning out the TEC (cooking the hot side) as stopping drawing power will essentially make the TEC into an insulator and trap the heat on the hot side. Since they cannot adjust the ammount of protrusion into the fire by the heat-probe and they seem to be running the fan at full tilt, they are essentially stoking the fire, and not drawing power. They may have shorted the TEC on purpose though, to create a cooling effect. They are not claiming "no power" being generated but I can see why they would cut off external load if shorting TEC.
Great in-depth review. Unfortunately, wife got me one for Xmas and didn't come with the "bacon" option LOL. I wouldn't have gotten one myself of thee myself. Mostly because of weight and time needed to be effective. Where did you get your screen for the top?
It’s called a Bushcraft grill. I am camping right now but will provide a link once back. My phone keeps messing up the copy and paste. The campstove 2 is a good fun stove but yea. Way too heavy for longer range back packing. Still it’s really fun. Thanks for watching.
Funny thing. Most people are not so happy with it. Actually a solar panel is cheaper and more reliable when you are not in conditions where you have almost no sunlight this might be an option for some foggy winter expeditions maybe.
Food taste like melted plastic do not buy I'm trying to find everything I review to post this do not buy icon boil water only do not cook food taste like melted plastic
Finally a proper review. Hated mine and sold it. Way too much feeding the fire, slow to charge, heavy, and near useless in colder weather. Went back to a regular ole spare charger.
No offence.. But what did you expect from a stove/warmer this size? If its 20 degrees out. This isnt gonna make you feel like your a warm 80. Feeding the fire to much? Of course your gonna feed the fire regularly. Its a small cylinder for embers. But I respect your opinion about this..
Hi I just bought my stove. looking forward to testing it out. Charging it as i type thanks for the Tip. Can you or is it difficult to remove the battery from the fire once its reached capacity. So that it doesn't over heat? and can you use smoking chips or anything that has some kind of fueling agent? Thanks for the info.
@@MegaWoodswalker I bought the 8 watt charger some years ago. Had done some online research for a reliable and durable solar charger, and compared to the latest (then) and older models. Goal Zero failed in comparison tests from the competition, but theirs did do 12V where most others did not. Almost went with Gomadic except I did not like their connections, and their EOF cycles seemed rather short. At the time SunTactics was debuting their models and took me over a year before buying one. No regrets. American made, 5 year warranty after registering, can upgrade during the warranty. I wanted the 12 watt but the 8 was watt more affordable, and got a Veteran's discount as well. Customer Service is impeccable and I never once received a 'canned' reply. Always been one-on-one and I was even writing to Dean Sala before & after purchase. Suntactics put their panels through torture tests after I acquired mine. And they also found better panels that boost efficiency. The 4 watt has both Manual & Automatic modes. Automatic good for Apple products and batteries. Manual best for non-cloudy days. Have been charging many a phone even through the windshield, even while driving. Works great, still have & use it. Here's their corporate panel introduction: th-cam.com/video/5bbU5mf3Qd8/w-d-xo.html
Have also charged in overcast and cloudy days; through a windshield with car facing away from the sun; in the dead of winter through windshield; outdoors; dust conditions; on a recumbent trike; and more. When the green LEDs light up on the ports, they are good to go!
So far the stove hasn't melted etc. I think that's the purpose of the overheating function as betting the 18650 battery shouldn't get above 212F and by design the stove must have a heat differential so the blower assembly gets warmer.. For extended burn applications like a small scout fire I prefer my Biolite Cookstove if going with a blower type stove. Weather seems to play a factor as well. Thanks for watching!
Again "nice boots" We live in a thek web , something hera. I have gears in the loker, that dates to 40 50 60 ect grand pa, ma, pa, ect. ect. and me, who just updated to 2000 technology, i think soon to be thermal nuclear stuff.
I got this one and it is working great. Except you need some wood to get it go... If you are over the tree line, you will not find any wood to fire the biolite. Even worth, here in Germany, this Biolite is defined as open fire and cannot be used at several places... Despite that, it is great, got it with the BBQ ad-on...
I believe it utilizes multiple thermocouples to generate the electricity. Haven’t researched this particular unit but have worked with industrialized thermoelectric generators in the past.
I live in Florida. I keep this stove at home to use if the power goes out after a hurricane. (Like Michael that hit this past week) I also have the grill attachment which is big enough to grill for two people. The kettle is good for home use,too, or for car camping. It could charge my phone enough to send texts in an emergency, or charge a handheld ham radio if cell towers are gone. Also provide a little light to cook by. Hope it never comes to that, but meanwhile, this is a really well designed unit. It is the camping version of a larger stove stove designed for rural villages in India and Africa. So my purchase helps fund those projects. I like that.
Lol.😂 still using an original bio lite stove. 5 yrs old now and still runs strong. If new bio lite is like old your in for plenty of use with it. P.S get the bio lite pot and convert to a drip coffee maker.
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This is hands-down the most practical review of the Biolite Campstove on TH-cam, by a guy who seems genuiely nice and down to earth. Made me sad to read that he passed two years ago, RIP.
Yes sir he will be missed, we had the privilege of backpacking with him on many adventures, he's who suggested that I get one , still packing with mine today ,best thing I ever bought
This is definitely the best review of this stove I have ever seen thank you
Thanks for the positive comment!
@@MegaWoodswalker anytime brother I've been following you or channel for a while and it's by far one of the best outdoor channels there is hopefully one day my channel could be close to yours
@@MegaWoodswalker Fantastic review. When stove overheats and flashes does it self restart or do you have to correct it yourself when it cools?
I agree to never disagree!!! Awsome review....
Awesome review!
A couple things to add..
The top of the camp stove is designed to perfectly seat the biolite kettle. You're not gonna cook a steak in the kettle but its good for one pot meals like rice n beans or ramen.
If you're not going to use pellets, you gotta make sure you have a good sized pile of processed bio mass to feed into the stove cause it burns hot and fast.
Lastly, if the camp stove battery is fully charged and you're going to fire it up, you may as well plug a device in to charge. Even if its just to top of your phone that's at 81%. The camp stove is going to generate usable electricity so use it! I'll top off my power banks, headlamp etc..
Ciao!
Which pellets are you using there are different ones on the website for bio lite, thanks!
Of all the reviews I have watched about this device, You were the only one that gave me the information I was looking for. thank you
For a second there I thought you ruined your bacon to plant stuff ratio....then the steak appeared. Ratio restored.
If you leave the pan on top its suppose to hold more heat around the probe to get better power for the burn, or so a biolight rep told me anyway 🤷♂️
Sounds reasonable and thanks for watching!
I really miss this guy, excellent down to earth reviews, no BS, went outside the box, was pretty funny too. RIP MW.
He passed?
The thing you’re talking about is a Peltier junction. Temperature differential on either sides generates the electricity.
I just watch biolite's video on it. I wonder how good the third version of the stove will be?!!!!
You really took the effort to go all the way in your testing! GREAT JOB!!
Thanks for watching!
Your best bet on a power bank option is to carry a separate power bank and keep it charged from the biolite
Yes. I do the same with solar panels as well. Powerbanks almost never fail to take a charge. Thanks for watching!
FANTASTIC video! I've watched many Biolite 2 vids and none have been as helpful as yours!
Thanks!
Recently bought one of these and have been impressed with it. It was definitely worth the price. I already felt satisfied with it's performance, but your video going into such in-depth details regarding the charging speed in a worse case scenario makes me feel even more satisfied with it. You really went above and beyond man and I really appreciate that, especially in today's world. Cheers.
He died
@@petercampbell1287 Damn. RIP then.
Kk**99
Great review and really in depth. This was really informative! Keep it up.
Thanks for watching the review. I appreciate it!
That is a really cool little stove. I can't believe he fit all that stuff in that tiny pack. Steak and food, wood pellets, stove. Wow. I suppose you can use the stove alone, without the fan thing, or do you have to use the fan battery power too?
After a brief time of searching, you are the only one who went in depth with testing and laying down the Pros and cons of these units.
You should have more subs compared to the other reveiwers who just do a open box, light a fire then thats it
Thanks for the Great review
Most informative i've seen about the campstove 2
Answered all my questions 😊👍
Top test. Suitable for people who need real information.
Thanks for watching!
well done,i'm buying one
What a great review. This is how it's supposed to be done people.
Thanks for watching!
Great job!! As many others have said, by far the best review I've seen for this product. Still on the fence about buying it.
I have one of these and yes, they overheat. I had one that failed on me, so I opened it up and found that the plastic fanwheel blades folded over. That is, they melted and the air blew them flat. I got a whole new unit under warranty from BioLite and the new one came with a burn chamber and a light. All I had to do was send the original unit back to them.
LEGIT REVIEW, I'm very happy you're a tech savvy Nature walker :D!
I'm looking for the perfect camping stove. and this may be it!
Thanks for watching!
14:30 He is wrong....never charge a new LiPo battery first....use the battery until it is low and then charge it completely
Best review of this product so far!!!
Thanks for watching!
the power bank turns off when the LED light is dimmed down because the light is not using much current so the power bank shuts down to save power
Great review, and that steak looked awesome. Watch out for that lightning.
Thanks for watching!
Awesome video love it keep up the hard work inspiring people I’ve subscribed also stay safe much appreciated Rucksack Adventures 🇬🇧
He died
Just Purchased Mine. Fantastic review, makes me excited to use it!
It's an amazing thing isn't it 😊
Thanks for the review, but I'm afraid this is a scam product, heavily dependent on the battery, and once the battery loses its charge, it is an expensive piece of s***t...
There,s a reason why i got A Biolite CS2 instead of a gas stove (Or a solo stove)... It just always works... I have used it in +35°c to - 32°c In the rain and in a snowstorm...It uses less than 1/10th of the fuel that a campfire would use...A gas stove (Jetboil) isnt going to work reliably at -32°c... And you can,t move a Solo stove while its running...
Make sure you have a ton of time on your hands if you want to charge something. Easily takes 2-3 hours to charge their headlamp. And like 3 to charge a phone. 3-4 to charge battery bank on stove if empty. Claims bank will give you 50% charge if it loaded but it true. Had it camping this fall and got like 25% charge maybe.
Great review, bad product 😛
I really dislike the poor quality of the electronics inside. The concept is so cool, but it is just so cheap internally. Give us some fast charging ports, more flexibility with the fan and maybe a bigger unit in general
What a really thorough review. I really appreciate your videos!
Thanks for watching!
Nice review. Not many people take the time to be a thorough. Just bought one of these. We'll have to see how she works.
It's a fun stove which actually works. Charge it via USB first for best results. Thanks for watching!
Yep, the best review of the biolite stove on TH-cam. Answered all the questioned I had. Great job 👍
What is the rate at which power is produced? I noticed you drained the biolites battery aswell as the charge to get 240mah in 31 mins.
I have NEVER seen anyone cook bacon like that...
Edit: Oh my fuck the steak.... That poor thing... 😥
Now will it overheat with a pot/pan/kettle on top?
I don't remember how i found your site,but glad I did very helpful. I am preparing for a long m-bike ride from New Zealand back to the UK. and your reviews are helping decide what comes with me. Keep them coming.
That sounds fun and thanks for watching!
The problem with the Biolite is it is neither fish nor fowl. It is
totally too big and heavy for backpacking, and, really, too small for
car camping. It also is not a good charger. I have had the Biolite I
for about three years now. I played with it, once again hopeful, in the
back yard last week. Once again, disappointment. I kept it going HOT
for an hour and managed an 8% increase in my phone's charge. I believe
the fan takes most of what the battery can do. I had to feed it
constantly and keep it HOT or it would not charge. After an hour, I got
tired of it. It smoked like a Rocky Mountain steam engine when
starting and every time (about once every two minutes) fuel was added. I
used Biolite pellets at $6.00/bag just to be sure there was no issue
with the fuel to give the stove its best chance. The accessory light
works fine. I got one liter of water to boil in 13 minutes. I got
tired of fooling with it after an hour of constant attention and nearly
the who bag of fuel. I don't think on a car camp you will want to break
twigs and feed this thing to charge your phone all evening while your
buds are sitting around the fire having a good time. You can cook with it, but between constantly adding fuel and raising and lowering your pan to prevent scorching it gets annoying quick. You want to charge
your phone with no power? Turn on your car, plug it in, or use a
battery bank while backpacking. There are way better wood burning
stoves out there. I bought a Sierra Stove back in the 90s and it is a
way better forced air stove running on a penlight battery, actually
small and light enough for backpacking. Luke, do a review on that one!
When you drill down a little on the glowing reviews on other channels
it turns out they got free product for their "honest" reviews -- they're
shills. Anybody want my whole Biolite set up with stove, boiler,
light, twig breaker, firestarter and pellets? Come by my place in
Newnan GA and I'll let you have it all for three Mountain House Meals.
The idea of using fire to charge is sexy, but a no go with this product.
That's why the battery on the Biolite 2 has a micro-usb port on it.
So I work out to charge an average sized 20,000 mAh powerbank would take you 1.5 days of continuous burning. Quite slow in my opinion.
Thank you for doing the only proper review of this stove! I feel like it's not worth the weight. I'm a bikepacker, I have a solo stove and a battery bank that holds I believe 3 full cell charges, and I believe my setup would weigh less and certainly take up less space. I suppose the main reason they didn't use a bigger battery is not just weight, but a larger battery would lend the appearance of feeling that it takes too long to charge. In the end it means it doesn't bank a lot of power and needs to be done slowly to prevent over heating. The idea is good though, it just needs improvement.
Have the same unit- use pellets as often as possible- burns more than 45 min. on a single load (cooking hot) really like it, almost as much as your videos.
Yea the pellets are really nice. No smoke and very long burn. Thanks for watching!
What an awesome review. The only thing I'm still wondering is how long it takes to stop over heating? It cant continually charge for more than 30 mins or what? Thanks.
I got one for Christmas, couple years back and only used it couple times but each time I have, I am impressed with the proformance and Versatility... also a good tip which would work great with pellets, get one of those gel stoves for food servers and use that stuff as a starter
It’s the best review on Biolite. Especially the charger 👍🏻
Plus version Biolight have a 3200mAh battery insight. For charge that, you need burn wood for 4,5 hours in there.
Another awesome review walker. I'm glad you made it through the storm.
Thanks for watching!
While you cook your meal and/or coffee you can get some charge. The charger is low power, meaning you would need to be feeding the fire non-stop every 15 minutes or so for for hours for a full charge. This has always been the problem. Thermocouples have low efficiency, otherwise they would be awesome.
1.7 watts or 0.3A wow theres really some power there.......even a small foldable solar panel can output 10 or 20 watts easy.....
not to mention it overheats.
i suppose if u get enough wood to keep a fire burning for 10 hours u might be able to charge half ur phone.
Great stove. So your saying that if you have just a little power left in stove battery, when you run it , it can self charge ? Thanks enjoyed the video.
Excellent information on the Bio stove. 👍 The mini grill will always be a part of my mess kit. ⚡️⛈
Thanks for watching!
I wouldn't rely on this as a _primary_ means of electricity generation, but the ability to capture power while cooking that would otherwise be lost is absolutely a plus. I'd probably rig it to an external power bank instead of directly charging a phone if it wasn't an emergency situation.
I think it's a mistake to see it as a powerbank. The battery should be considered a way to give reliable output to your devices. I would connect a powerbank to it and use that to charge my devices. It looks really nice and I do want it, but it annoys me that the battery isn't user-replaceable. It's either a stupid mistake or a method to make sure it doesn't last very long so that you have to buy another. If that's the motivation, then it's really off putting.
So do you need to run the fan for the fire.... or can you run the fire without the fan ....it seems like using the battery to power the fan defeats the purpose of charging the battery
When you have a fire going exactly how many VOLTS and how many milliamps goes into the battery for charging ....that is .....what is the actual true output that would be available for charging a phone
The fan turns on and for good reason. The stove produces enough power to both charge and keep itself going. The fan is needed and beneficial to the process aka making a hotter fire and to create the temperature differential aka how the TEG works. Look at 11:38 for your answers.Volts times Amps = Watts. I am running two instruments to show this. At this point in the video the stored energy in the battery from start up is run down. I am recording actual output from the stove. I don't know how much additionally is being used by the fan etc etc. The hypothetical max of the TEG is 3 watts. However to avoid overheating the battery I can not run it at max during summer. The red P is showing 1.66 watts being outputted to the phone. This leaves a hypothetical 1.32 watts being used by the stove's electronics. I have no way to know for sure how much power the stove is using but can be sure the total isn't going to be more than 3 watts. At this point in the video the clear blue instrument is reading 26 minutes of activity. The output is 4.7 volts at .35 amps which is 1.645 watts. This is very near 1.66 watts being shown by the x-dragon USB detector and is within rounding the same (each must round the numbers up or down and there are at a minimum 4 number). The clear blue instrument is showing 211 mAh which was actually transferred into the phone within 26 minutes. However there is a small amount of time in which the stove charges the battery at startup and will then allow for charging external devices. This is why the initial rate of charge was much higher. The 18650 battery within the stove was acting like a powerbank until the levels dropped and the input from the fire was properly shown. It's a long complex answer for sure.
It’s a balance. I need the fan for proper combustion and to heat the probe for the TEG. Also the fan is helping with the differential aka what makes it produce electricity unless mistaken. However too hot and the system shuts down to protect the lithium ion battery. Without the fan the system wouldn’t work. But running it too fast during hot weather also shuts it down. That’s my best assessment. Thanks for watching!
Great review but I feel you miss an important point...
The fan is there to supercharge the fire for when you need to charge your phone...
More heat = more power output. Try again with empty BioLite and set fan to full. You will see a big improvement. The "fire" bar shows you if you can improve performance by using the fan as well.
The manual clearly states that " The Fire Strength
Indicator directly correlates to the amount of power being produced. The more lights lit, the more power is being created."
In your video we can see that only half the lights are lit and you run fan at minimum. You thus get much lower charge from the USB when internal battery is flat.
The Campstove 2 has multiple balls to juggle. A hotter fire will produce a larger heat differential however the stove must also protect the internal lithium 18650 from overheating. You're considering only the first aspect. I intentionally try to run the stove at no more than 70% "fire" bars at peak burn during summer. At 11:44 you will see the bars are at 70% and creeping up. Watch a bit more to see why this was too much for those conditions. It's right there in the video. The manual doesn't take field conditions into account which are variable. This was posted during the warmest part of summer. The testing was done during summer. The problem with running the fan too fast in summer is the stove being prone to overheating as shown in the video and more so with wood pellets because of the constant burn rate. The measured output is spot on to what I would expect even at the slower fan rate/measured heat output.
They claim 3w from the TEG in pure optimal conditions and the output being measured into the phone is around 1.5w once the excess energy is expended from the battery during startup. However the stove is also operating the fan and other electronics at the same time so the electrical energy output is actual greater than just what's measured going into the phone. If the stove over heats the fan will kick on to high and the lights flash. The TEG (heat differential generator) shuts down. This cooling shut down process which take some time will expend the energy saved during the burn. The result is a net loss of energy
This happened to me several times before I disregarded the manual when burning pellets and/or use in hot weather. I used pellets for all the testing to get a consistent result during each test. I really should do video of running the stove with foraged wood as that's a bit different. Thanks for watching!
That "extra" energy would just be dumped into the extra power consumed by the fan
@@MegaWoodswalker I never saud to run it at full blast. I said it can have a greater heat input. TEC's are also very interesting in that load cools the hot side. That is, higher load on tec will transfer more heat to cold side. I did not design this perticular unit and would have used seperate fans if I had as what you describe is common when not being able to control cooling seperate from heatflux.
@@MegaWoodswalker By the way, the internal 18650 would not overheat. It is protected by heatshield as well as charge protection circuitry.
It is also large enough to be able to handle the entire power production from the TEC regardless of heat level.
What will need protection however is the hot side of the TEC. These are quite sensitive and even the high temp units will usually not handle over 200c.
The lack of seperate fans in this unit is most likely it's biggest shortcoming as it means it cannot try and protect it's TEC without stoking the fire.
@@MegaWoodswalker One more thing: You say this is when it "overheats" at 12:00 approx but the manual does not say that.
It's actually kind of hard to assume what they want you to do in that situation as you can still hear fan running at max. In theory they should draw as much power out of the TEC as possible at this point to avoid burning out the TEC (cooking the hot side) as stopping drawing power will essentially make the TEC into an insulator and trap the heat on the hot side. Since they cannot adjust the ammount of protrusion into the fire by the heat-probe and they seem to be running the fan at full tilt, they are essentially stoking the fire, and not drawing power. They may have shorted the TEC on purpose though, to create a cooling effect. They are not claiming "no power" being generated but I can see why they would cut off external load if shorting TEC.
This is the Best Review of the Biolite 2+ I have seen because you Test it with the Right Tools !
Great in-depth review. Unfortunately, wife got me one for Xmas and didn't come with the "bacon" option LOL. I wouldn't have gotten one myself of thee myself. Mostly because of weight and time needed to be effective. Where did you get your screen for the top?
It’s called a Bushcraft grill. I am camping right now but will provide a link once back. My phone keeps messing up the copy and paste. The campstove 2 is a good fun stove but yea. Way too heavy for longer range back packing. Still it’s really fun. Thanks for watching.
Sorry for the delay. Here is the link www.expedition-research.com/bushcraft-grill/ and here is my review. th-cam.com/video/YjVsWYWPD0s/w-d-xo.html
Best review for this stove so far
Funny thing. Most people are not so happy with it. Actually a solar panel is cheaper and more reliable when you are not in conditions where you have almost no sunlight this might be an option for some foggy winter expeditions maybe.
Oh my god.. I cant believe you cook bacon that way.. disgusting..
Man 😢just keep heading back to these video's before we head back out to the trail . Miss our adventures brother
I got the Campstove 2 with grill. Works great. Keeps things simple when riding the motor bike (with no grill)
I never got the grill. It's on my to do list. Thanks for watching!
Food taste like melted plastic do not buy I'm trying to find everything I review to post this do not buy icon boil water only do not cook food taste like melted plastic
Finally a proper review. Hated mine and sold it. Way too much feeding the fire, slow to charge, heavy, and near useless in colder weather. Went back to a regular ole spare charger.
Thanks for watching!
No offence.. But what did you expect from a stove/warmer this size? If its 20 degrees out. This isnt gonna make you feel like your a warm 80. Feeding the fire to much? Of course your gonna feed the fire regularly. Its a small cylinder for embers. But I respect your opinion about this..
Can the unit charge itself using fire and USB port, when completely dead?
Why did it overheat??? If i were to buy this how do i avoid this?
I have a biostove with the grill and pot I make coffee all the time comes with french press.
Thanks for watching.
you still like this stove or wish you went with something else?
Tempted by the grill/kettle bundle or go with a firebox
excellent review but at over £100 UK couldn't possibly justify spending that amount , okay if you are a techie and lots of gadgets to play with
I got mine for £76.910 on sale shipped but yes. It's a costly gear item. Thanks for watching!
Need to do a review of the biolite fire pit
I am doing a review of the Biolite basecamp but don't own the fire put. Thanks for watching!
i suppose if you use the biolite maybe three times a day for cooking while camping its gonna charge the battery almost full right?
Does it self manage the overheating by regulating the fan or is it a bit temperamental?
It's not"BASICALLY" a tripod setup it IS a tripod...
Sorry my friend this is Not a good Review. You have to Put your Phone Out or the brightness down.
Awesome, love seeing how fast it can charge. That’s exactly what I wanted to know!
There are many different opinions on this stove some like some don't but you will never please everyone 😅
Only down side for me is the fan noise drives me nuts. Great review.
Biolite review... Risking a life to show the results. Nice!
Subscribed!!
Kevin another great video review. thanks
Thanks for watching!
Awesome review! Really appreciate
Thanks for watching!
Hi I just bought my stove. looking forward to testing it out. Charging it as i type thanks for the Tip. Can you or is it difficult to remove the battery from the fire once its reached capacity. So that it doesn't over heat? and can you use smoking chips or anything that has some kind of fueling agent? Thanks for the info.
Sadly he died
What happens in case of rain? can it work to make food? Because camping and mountain = rain
Good review enjoyed it.....sprinkle some alcohol over the wood pellets and within a minute you have a full burn.
Thanks for watching.
Would suggest a SunTactics Solar Panel to charge your phone from sunlight a lot faster. Have an 8 watt panel in my kit.
I have multiple packable solar panels and review them however this time I am reviewing the Campstove 2. Never tried Suntastics. Thanks for watching.
Hi james. Can you share your choice about solar panel? Im sure its usefull if you like to use
@@akaytheking This is my preferred for small packable panel. Also has the best low light performance.th-cam.com/video/rPwQ0fzjCRc/w-d-xo.html
@@MegaWoodswalker I bought the 8 watt charger some years ago.
Had done some online research for a reliable and durable solar charger, and compared to the latest (then) and older models. Goal Zero failed in comparison tests from the competition, but theirs did do 12V where most others did not.
Almost went with Gomadic except I did not like their connections, and their EOF cycles seemed rather short.
At the time SunTactics was debuting their models and took me over a year before buying one. No regrets.
American made, 5 year warranty after registering, can upgrade during the warranty. I wanted the 12 watt but the 8 was watt more affordable, and got a Veteran's discount as well.
Customer Service is impeccable and I never once received a 'canned' reply. Always been one-on-one and I was even writing to Dean Sala before & after purchase.
Suntactics put their panels through torture tests after I acquired mine. And they also found better panels that boost efficiency.
The 4 watt has both Manual & Automatic modes. Automatic good for Apple products and batteries. Manual best for non-cloudy days.
Have been charging many a phone even through the windshield, even while driving. Works great, still have & use it.
Here's their corporate panel introduction: th-cam.com/video/5bbU5mf3Qd8/w-d-xo.html
Have also charged in overcast and cloudy days; through a windshield with car facing away from the sun; in the dead of winter through windshield; outdoors; dust conditions; on a recumbent trike; and more.
When the green LEDs light up on the ports, they are good to go!
Vom Elektronik messen verstehst du etwas. Aber vom Kochen hast du keine Ahnung.
You showed what happens when it overheats. Is overheating much of a problem or can it easily be avoided?
So far the stove hasn't melted etc. I think that's the purpose of the overheating function as betting the 18650 battery shouldn't get above 212F and by design the stove must have a heat differential so the blower assembly gets warmer.. For extended burn applications like a small scout fire I prefer my Biolite Cookstove if going with a blower type stove. Weather seems to play a factor as well. Thanks for watching!
@@MegaWoodswalker Could it work to apply some heat reflective tape or absorption tape of any kind around the battery?
Again "nice boots" We live in a thek web , something hera. I have gears in the loker, that dates to 40 50 60 ect grand pa, ma, pa, ect. ect. and me, who just updated to 2000 technology, i think soon to be thermal nuclear stuff.
Thanks for watching!
I got this one and it is working great.
Except you need some wood to get it go... If you are over the tree line, you will not find any wood to fire the biolite.
Even worth, here in Germany, this Biolite is defined as open fire and cannot be used at several places...
Despite that, it is great, got it with the BBQ ad-on...
Thanks for watching!
Do you have to be super wary of heat damage to the power unit?
Great demo thx.
Lol why would I carry wood pellets into the bush to burn in my stove?
another great video you are the man
Thanks for watching!
I'd be worried about melting the electronics.
Would be awesome if you can plug a microwave to the biolite😂😂😂
LOL! Thanks for watching!
Great review just ordered one 👍
He died
I believe it utilizes multiple thermocouples to generate the electricity.
Haven’t researched this particular unit but have worked with industrialized thermoelectric generators in the past.
I watched a video explaining the gen1 unit a while back. If memory serves, you're spot on.
You couldput aluminium tape on the plastic to get better cooling of that unit.
I live in Florida. I keep this stove at home to use if the power goes out after a hurricane. (Like Michael that hit this past week) I also have the grill attachment which is big enough to grill for two people. The kettle is good for home use,too, or for car camping. It could charge my phone enough to send texts in an emergency, or charge a handheld ham radio if cell towers are gone. Also provide a little light to cook by. Hope it never comes to that, but meanwhile, this is a really well designed unit. It is the camping version of a larger stove stove designed for rural villages in India and Africa. So my purchase helps fund those projects. I like that.
I spend time in SW Florida. Nice but the bugs can be really extreme. Thanks for watching!
Where did you get the little devices that you was measuring the amperage and current Flow
He died
Lol.😂 still using an original bio lite stove. 5 yrs old now and still runs strong. If new bio lite is like old your in for plenty of use with it. P.S get the bio lite pot and convert to a drip coffee maker.
I will check into that and thanks for watching!
Cool stove / charging system !
Thanks for watching!