Biolite 2 stove review
Just a wonderful stove!
Oh! How I love this stove! I decided to go out for an adventure this morning! I went slightly off the grid in the Northwest Territories (Canada) to grab a few good shots. This is the long term review… If you haven’t seen my first article about it, make sure to have a look at it!
Driving to nowhere…
Stopping for a quick shot.
Driving through the fog on Ingram Trail.
I had a Solostove (reviewed here) for 5 years: overlanded Alaska to Argentina with it. I loved it. But I left it in my Jeep… and I left my Jeep in Buenos Aires, back in March 2020, as the world was ending. So I got back to Canada and itched to get a new stove… I had two options: either a Solostove Titan or a Biolite 2. I decided to give it a shot with the Biolite (I mean, What Could Go Wrong?) and was not disappointed. Yes, it’s much smaller than a Solostove, but it’s WAY hotter. Once you get it started… the electric fan (powered by the heat of the fire!) really gets thing going. I was shocked…! Yes, it’s that hot! The Biolite 2 can be your primary stove: it’s that good. Feed it some charcoal and you are set! For a stove that is about $150CAD, it’s a no brainer.
I usually start my fire using one of those quick fire starter (brought at Canadian tire for a few bucks):
Then I feed the fire with some tinder and some small branches.
The Biolite can charge a 12.9” iPad Pro. It’s amazing! Or it can even charge a small bluetooth speaker…! I’m impressed! I mean, one could ever run a trickle charger to a car battery and have a really good setup for TEOTWAWKI. Here, in the north, we don’t have sunlight during the winter. Being able to run a dynamo in the water or a condenser over a fire is a game-changer.
And so I had this stove for 6 months and used it about 100 times. I made coffee, cooked steak, burgers, sausages: it’s been a workhorse. Or I even simply used it to charge my iPad, cause why not. Would it replace a solostove? No. A solostove can run without battery: the Biolite will eventually die, for the fan is powered by a lithium battery that gets charged by heat. A lithium battery has about a 10 years lifespan. A Solostove Titan is so practical… I mean, you kinda need both! Yes, these are expensive tools, but you pay for quality and reliability. In a perfect world, I’d used both! The Solostove to cook a chili and a Biolite to make coffee, tea, soup or roast a steak!
Cheers,
JP
PS: if you liked the pictures in this article, make sure to check my Fuji 35mm f/1.4 review!