The BioLite is a regular woodstove, meant for camping, but it converts excess heat to electricity so you can plug in any USB-powered gadget. Just in case your iPad dies while you're trying to camp. iPads are important.
By Elbert Chu Posted 10.12.2012 at 10:15 am 12 Comments

BioLite CampStove BioLite

WHAT'S NEW

The big deal about this stove compared to other small camp stoves? Power. The BioLite has a USB port to charge your gadgets from excess heat generated from wood fires.

The CampStove's orange module houses a thermoelectric element, a battery, a fan, and a microprocessor. The microprocessor tweaks power distribution as needed to charge the battery or connected device. When you burn wood in the chamber, a copper probe transfers heat to one side of the element, while on the other side cool air provides a differential that enables ions to jump sides and generate electricity. The electricity powers a fan that pushes air through vents that stoke a vortex of wood blaze. It’s so efficient you can use leftover electricity to charge devices while you cook a meal.

WHAT'S GOOD

As a stove: It's small and attractively designed, made of steel and orange plastic. Mine weighed in at two pounds two ounces, nice and light, and I like the way it stands up--three aluminum legs fold out on hinges like something designed for Curiosity.

Typical wood fires are not the most pleasant to cook around, due to smoke (ow, my eyes!). The BioLite produces smoke when the fire is first lit, but once the fan starts to direct the air flow, there’s almost no smoke and zero embers fly out.

The BioLite is perfect to boil water in a pot. I prefer my camping meals light and simple to prepare, so this stove is great for heating up water to rehydrate freeze-dried meals. The fire mellowed when we pressed the power button to set the fan mode from high to low and we even fried eggs in a pan. For tea, I boiled a cup of water in roughly two minutes, which would have easily taken three times longer with my alcohol stove. (Some more data: bringing two cups of 53-degree water to a vigorous boil took three minutes.)

The stove's also smart--sometimes even smarter than you. When a user tries to turn off the fan before the chamber is cool enough, the fan turns back on — a sure sign you should avoid touching the chamber. The power module can be touched throughout use and only reached about 125 degrees — just warm to the touch. Once the chamber cools, just dump the small bit of ash leftover. The chamber itself is steel, so you can throw it in the dishwasher back in civilization.

As a charger: Let the fire burn for a few seconds, then hit the single button on the power module, and it all starts happening. A few minutes later, a light around the USB port turns green, and your USB-based gadget starts to charge. Sweet! Charge times depend on the device--mostly, the capacity of the battery and the speed of the USB connection. It's not going to bring your phone to 100 percent in the time it takes to boil water, but our testing showed that charging during a regular cook--around 20-25 minutes--increases the battery on a smartphone (we tested with an LG Optimus V) between 6 and 12 percent, giving you about an hour of talk time. Not bad, considering at its hottest the BioLite delivers only four watts.

Compared to an alcohol stove, we like the size much better--it's wider, so it's easier to balance pots, pans, and kettles, though the overall size is also bigger. Not really having to worry about fuel is nice, too, since it's wood-fired, and though it does get a little sooty, it beats an alcohol stove to boil water in most conditions. It also turned out to be a really cool little wood stove for a New York City roof. Using wood pellets (I found mine at Trader Joe's), the stove was perfect to grill a steak or a burger.

BioLite CampStove Demo & Story from BioLite on Vimeo.

WHAT'S BAD

I took the CampStove out on multi-day canoe camping trips. One trip was a constant deluge of rain and all my tinder and kindling were soaked. The fan helped produce enough heat to boil a couple liters of water but took nearly 30 minutes. To be fair, I likely would have never gotten a boil with a wood fire without the CampStove. (Fun note: I’ve learned since then that chunks of wood from inside fallen logs stay pretty dry even in the rain.)

The first time, I neglected to charge the power module (as recommended) before leaving civilization, so that may have made matters worse. The battery needs to be conditioned with a charge from a USB port from a computer or most adaptors the first time it's used. You only need to condition the battery for the first use or after a long time on the shelf, so that's just once at the beginning of a season.

Also, if the fire starts to falter before you’re done cooking, you have to lift the pot or pan to sneak some more tinder into the chamber. That's a minor annoyance, but one that can be avoided if the first fill of kindling is fairly dense and you're just cooking for one or two people. And though it's an efficient stove, the CampStove fire is only four inches in diameter. You won't grill a porterhouse on it or vegetable kebabs — though BioLite plans to release a grill add-on for spring 2013.

THE PRICE

$129 on BioLite's site. That's more than a little alcohol stove, which usually cost around 40 bucks or even less. The CampStove's price puts it at the same price point as some really nice compressed-fuel stoves. But you're getting a lot more for your money--and a compressed-fuel stove won't charge your iPhone.

THE VERDICT

When I first saw the CampStove on Kickstarter, I smirked and tossed the idea in the "gimmicks for iPhone" category. But then I learned about the science that powers the little machine, and was intrigued enough to burn some wood in it. I'm glad I did. I think campers and especially backpackers will find this stove a reliable tool for the trail. If that weren't enough, at home, the CampStove perched on a shelf doubles almost as a functional piece of modern art that, at the very least, encourages you to get outside into nature.

12 Comments

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D13
10/12/12 at 10:30 am

Dope!

"Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon."

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haywall
10/12/12 at 11:31 am

How about you just keep your phone off because your camping or backpacking and if you're doing it right you won't have signal anyway. Cell phones are for emergency use only when you are doing these things anyway. If you plan to use it, why even go camping?

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Oakspar77777
10/12/12 at 11:55 am

I think the greatest value would be as a stove - forget the silly phone charging.

Cooking with wood without a stove is illegal in many wilderness areas, while this little thing would not.

So, what advantage does it offer then over the standard #10 can hobo-stove? The fan. Complete combustion, less smoke and soot, and more efficient heat generation.

I would have perfered a larger and colapsable firebox with a more vigorious fan element for greater ease of use with variable scavanged fuel and less pack-volume.

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EverNewEcoN
10/12/12 at 12:59 pm

Nanotech Used To Harness
The Power Of Fireflies

http://goo.gl/bB94z
(links sciencedaily.com article)

ENEN
Have a nice day.

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Robot
10/12/12 at 1:50 pm

Perhaps this could be attaché as a saddle to a pack animal. As I sleep at night, I can use the animal’s body heat to power my electric blanket.

Of course, once Skynet learns about this, turnabout is fair play and then we have the Matrix.

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johnt007871
10/12/12 at 4:59 pm

I feel like the fan would increase your fuel consumption.

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sta789
10/12/12 at 11:20 pm

I'm making $86 an hour working from home. I was shocked when my neighbour told me she was averaging $95 but I see how it works now. I feel so much freedom now that I'm my own boss. This is what I do, Red97.com

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3DTOPO
10/13/12 at 6:59 pm

Its certainly no Jetboil. 30 minutes to boil some water? Insane - Jetboil will bring a rapid boil in 90 seconds - even in the rain.

OK, so my Jetboil doesn't charge batteries, but my 4oz solar charger does. And I can get just about a full charge in a day - far more than I need.

A Jetboil with my solar charger weighs less than half of this stove.

Another issue with this stove is you won't find fuel everywhere (esp. above the treeline).

Despite all that, still cool technology, and I have been thinking about adding a TEC to my Jetboil to act as a TEG for a while now. I think that would be the best of both worlds.

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lnwolf41
10/14/12 at 4:03 pm

lnwolf41
Been reading the comments, granted if you are back packing why have a phone, since you will not have any bars anyway,but how many people forget to charge phones?
Of course for 129 dollars It would be a better to buy a 100 watt solar panel and you could do more than charge a cell phone.

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DMorrisPE
10/15/12 at 5:39 pm

If you're backpacking, even out of cell-signal reach, the GPS signal can still be acquired and used to determine where you are, or to lay down a digital bread crumb trail so that you don't backtrack too much. Or use the SPOT Connect gizmo linked to your iPhone to send messages via satellite (http://tinyurl.com/972dags). The BioLite CampStove will keep them both charged and ready.

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summergirl
12/04/12 at 5:57 pm

I just wanted to add to this... I just ordered these for gifts for Business associates, and our MAIN reason for them was the capabilities of charging. Following Hurricane Sandy, I imagine many would have been THRILLED to have had a Biolite stove...upon researching this, I also decided it would be a great thing to get for my husband. He goes off roading and playing in the snow... This is much easier to quickly warm up the kids, etc.. rather than hauling around a big barrel to put a fire into, etc.. I think this is such a great option!!

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Bretonman
03/04/13 at 1:14 pm

Per manufactures suggestion, I charged the power module overnight.
The fuel was oak salvaged from a shipping pallet, 1/2" x 8"x 18", cut and split into six inch lengths. That works out to be the equivalent of 72 sq inches or 3"x4"x 6" roughly double the area of the fire chamber.

For ignition I used a Vaseline coated cotton ball nestled within some wood shavings. As soon as the shavings lit, I added the twig sized wood, waited a few seconds, then turned on the fan to low.

I had a strong fire going in a little less than five minutes. The fire had a noticeable swirl, was very hot and produced little to no noticeable smoke. I switched the fan to high, and with a pot on top, I had one cup (8oz), in three minutes at a rapid boil.

I consumed all the fuel to test the Power Module. The manufacturer claims that twenty minutes of charge time equals sixty minutes of talk time. I have no way to measure talk time so I use a percentage of charge instead.

Using an iPhone 5, the stove's Power Module, green charging light turned off after about 30 minutes. The phone charge increased by 15%, and the fire was still hot enough to at least boil another cup of water.

40 minutes after lighting the stove a few hot coals remained. And at 50 minutes the fuel chamber was cool to touch and the fan had turned off automatically.
At 60 minutes all the fuel was spent and only a small handful of white ash remained.

I used a damp paper towel to wipe the soot from the outside of the pot and the interior of the combustion chamber.

As a cooking stove I think the unit performed well. The wood was consumed totally; the soot negligible, the ash minimal. To me, this implies a extremely efficient fire, which is a claim made by the manufacturer. Essentially I filled the stove twice to accomplish the thirty minute charge.

Let me preface my conclusions by saying; The results may be quite different using a fully discharged phone or some other type of device. And I tested the unit with dry hardwood in a 70 degree enclosed space with no wind.

When performing the same charging test with household current I achieved a 15% increase over a 20 minute period. Ten minutes faster at home.

I've tried to be as unbiased as I could. I obviously own the stove and judging by my results I would buy it again, but the fact that I think it's super cool may influence my judgement.

When I cycle tour I will bring propane or white gas to cook, charging my phone, GPS or lights is never too far away and for those emergencys, the road offers plenty of sunlight for my solar panel to charge my devices.

On long extended hikes and short winter hikes, I'll take the BioLite. I like having a small fire to cook on, stay warm or dry damp socks, and by using the stove for breakfast and dinner, the charging capabilities are more than enough for me, and beats lugging battery's in and out.

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