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SOLO STOVE
TEST SERIES BY KATHRYN MONTOVAN
INITIAL REPORT: April 21, 2012
FIELD REPORT: August 21, 2012
LONG TERM REPORT: October 16, 2012
TESTER INFORMATION
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NAME:
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Kathryn Montovan
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EMAIL:
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sull0294(at)gmail(dot)com
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AGE:
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29
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LOCATION:
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Groton, New York, USA
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GENDER:
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F
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HEIGHT:
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5' 5" (1.65 m)
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WEIGHT:
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150 lb (68.00 kg)
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I have been backpacking, climbing, kayaking, canoeing and winter
camping for over 10 years. My excursions are mostly weekend and
occasionally weeklong backpacking and kayaking trips in the wooded and
often wet, rolling terrain of western New York. I usually tarp camp
with a small to large group and love to cook fun and delicious foods on
my trips. In general, I strive for a compact and light pack but value
well-made and durable gear over ultralight items.
INITIAL REPORT
PRODUCT INFORMATION & SPECIFICATIONS
 | | Image courtesy of Solo Stove |
Manufacturer: Solo Stove
Manufacturer's Website: www.solostove.com/
Model: Solo Stove
Year Manufactured: 2012
MSRP: $89.99 US
Listed weight: 8.6 oz (244 g)
Measured total weight: 9.1 oz (303 g)
Measured Weight of Stove: 7.3 oz (252 g)
Measured Weight of Cooking Ring 1.6 oz (45 g)
Measured Weight of Storage Bag: 0.2 oz (6 g)
Nested Size: Diameter: 4.25” (10.8 cm), Height: 3.8” (9.7 cm)
Assembled Size: Diameter: 4.25” (10.8 cm), Height: 5.7” (14.5 cm)
Material: Fully hardened 304 stainless steel and nichrome wire
Listed Time to Boil 34 fl oz (1 L) of water: 8-10 min
Measured Time to Boil 34 fl oz (1 L) of water: 9.5 min
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
The Solo Stove is a stainless steel
double-walled wood-gas stove. It uses a “natural convection inverted
downgas gasifer” design and the secondary combustion of the wood gases
to create an efficient and clean fire. There are two separate parts:
the stove and the pot stand/windscreen. When packed, the pot stand
inverts and fits inside of the stove and can be stored in the included
reusable bag.  | | Packed for storage next to a 1 liter bottle |
The
stove has an outer wall which has holes at the bottom where air enters
the stove. The outside shell, base and inside firebox are all one solid
piece. The firebox extends about halfway down the stove with a Nichrome
wire grate at the base and 18 holes at the top which create the
secondary burn from air that has been warmed between the stoves walls.
Below the firebox is an ash collector that is suspended by three posts
that are spot welded directly to the firebox. This ash collector is
raised and because of this design should not burn or scorch the surface
below. There is about a quarter of an inch (6 mm) gap between the ash
collector and the base, and between the ash collector and the firebox.
The
cooking ring is constructed from five pieces spot welded together. The
base keeps the stand securely on the stove, directs heat towards the
pot, and fits nicely within the stove during storage. The windscreen is
welded to this base. It has a gap 1.75 inches (45 mm) wide for feeding
the fire with the pot stand in place. It also has 10 large holes at the
base that enable air flow to the fire. The pot stand is three small
metal pieces spot welded to the windscreen. They raise the pot 3/8” (1
cm) above the windscreen.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The Solo Stove arrived quickly and was well packed, complete and in
good condition. It looks just like it did on the website, and feels
very sturdy. When I squeeze the stove it is solid and feels like it
would be hard to dent or break. The storage bag is lightweight. It is
substantial enough to protect my gear from soot on the stove, but I
wonder how well it will hold up to field use.
 | The inside of the assembled
stove after one firing |
The stove arrived with a short set of directions on the outside of the
shipping box. They instructed me to set up the stove on level ground
away from wind by flipping over the cooking ring that is stored in the
top of the stove. Then I was to collect small pieces of dry wood, light
the fire and start cooking, feeding the fire with dry twigs as needed.
There
were no explicit directions for the best way to light this stove. So I
went to the manufacturer's website and found a video showing the stove
being lit. In this video the stove was started by dropping a lit cotton
ball fire starter into the stove and adding small twigs and sticks.
After the fire got going pencil sized sticks continued to be added to
keep the fire going. When I have used wood burning stoves of a similar
design in the past I have had very good results from filling the stove
with sticks up to the secondary air holes and then lighting the fire on
top of the prepacked wood. The fire burns down through the wood and
requires less feeding and often burns more cleanly. This stove is
fairly shallow for this method so I will try both approaches and figure
out which works better.
TRYING IT OUT
 | | My setup for the stove test |
I
couldn't wait to test out this stove, so I went into the backyard and
gathered some sticks. Assembly was straightforward, I simply pulled the
cooking ring out of the stove, flipped it over and inserted it into the
lip at the top. My next task was to fill and light the stove. I used
the method for starting that I am more familiar with and filled up the
stove with roughly 2 inch long (5 cm) pencil-sized sticks, then made a
small pile of kindling on top. With the cooking ring off, I lit the
kindling and used some small sticks to help the fire get started. It
took about 2 minutes to get the fire going well using this method, and
once it got going I didn't have a problem keeping it lit.
When
the fire was going strong, I placed the cooking ring onto the stove and
started heating 34 fl oz (1.006 L) of water. It took 6 min for the
water to start bubbling and 9.5 minutes to a full rolling boil. I added
sticks throughout the boiling time to keep the fire hot. When I
finished boiling the water there was a nice bed of coals which produced
a steady, low heat that kept my water simmering for another 8 minutes.
I
tested the stove a second time by starting the fire with a fire starter
and many less sticks in the firebox. There was better airflow for the
initial fire, but I am not sure that it was easier to start and it
certainly took a lot longer to get a hot fire and a good bed of coals
built up. I will continue to play with the best way to start the stove
over the field testing period.
 | The secondary burn jets
in action |
Overall, this stove performed very well for the test runs. The air flow
was good and easily kept the fire going well. There was very little
smoke, even when feeding the fire. The base also stayed cool throughout
the cooking process and the ash collector did its job. The pot stand
was solid but driveway tests are never a good predictor of how tippy a
stove will be on semi-level dirt and rocks. The only problem that I had
was in trying to feed the fire. It was a little difficult to slip the
short sticks into the stove and get them to clear the cooking ring
while not burning my fingers on the pot or stove. I think that this
will come with practice.
SUMMARY
I am looking forward to seeing how this stove works in the field. I
will do a good amount of water boiling, but I will also test the
capabilities of the Solo Stove (and my fire-building and cooking
skills) by cooking s'mores, sautéing, simmering, and backcountry
baking. I think that with practice I will be able to build low or high
heat fires to make it possible to cook a variety of dishes on this
stove. In addition, I look forward to testing the possibilities of
using the Solo Stove as a pot-stand and windscreen for my homemade
alcohol stove. The secondary fuel option would be useful when I am
above the tree-line or otherwise unable to build a fire.
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FIELD REPORT
 | Baking a pizza with a twig fire
on top of the lid
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FIELD CONDITIONS
Trip 1: Teaching a 2-night backcountry cooking course backpacking on the Finger Lakes Trail near Ithaca, NY. The weather went from
sunny and 90 F (32 C) the first day to heavy rain and 35 F (2 C) the second night.
Trip 2: 5-night canoe camping
trip in the boundary waters near Ely, MN. Temperatures ranged from 70 F
(21 C) to 95F (35C) and weather covered most options including high
wind, beautiful sunny days, drizzly rain, and sudden downpours. We
cooked a wide range of foods- including bacon and eggs, pizza, couscous
pilaf, and thanksgiving in a pot.
Trip 3: 2-night car camping
trip to Stillwater Resevoir, near Lowville, NY. Weather was sunny and
75 - 85 F (24 - 29 C). We cooked fancier car-camping foods that we
normally don't get to eat when camping.
Trip 4: Solo 2-night
backpacking trip along the Finger Lakes Trail, near Ithaca, NY. It was
sunny and humid for the whole trip and temperatures ranged from 57 - 88
F (14 - 31 C).
Elevation ranged
from 400 - 1700 ft (120 - 520 m). I mostly rehydrated meals and boiled water on this trip.
FIELD REPORT
This stove arrived just in time
for a back country cooking class I was teaching. The main stoves used on
this course are pressurized white gas backpacking stoves, but I brought
the Solo Stove and my homemade alcohol stove along so that my students
could try a few different kinds of stoves. On our first morning out,
one of the pressurized white gas stoves failed, starting a small leaf
fire and burning one of the students. That event changed the tone for
the whole trip. The students became very interested in learning how to
cook over an open fire and using the Solo Stove because the dangers
were more predictable.
 | Fruit crisp cooked over
the Solo Stove
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I taught a student how to use an alcohol
stove by placing the alcohol
stove inside of the Solo Stove. The Solo Stove worked well as a pot
stand and windscreen for the alcohol stove. I was impressed by how
the Solo Stove seemed to make the flames
larger and increase the heat output (while also increasing fuel
consumption). We used it to cook the mushrooms for our pizza and were
very happy with the results. Then we
fired
up the Solo Stove with twigs to rehydrate and heat the pizza sauce. It
was drizzling
rain and it was still easy to start the fire. One of us paid attention
to the pizza sauce while the other fed the fire.
Next, we combined the pizza sauce with a dough we had made and
attempted to cook pizzas over the Solo Stove. We put the pizza in a pan
designed for backcountry baking, put it over the stove, and rotated the
pan while the pizza cooked. We also built a fire on top of the lid to
bake the pizza from above as a way to practice some fancy backcountry
baking skills. The pizza turned out beautifully! Crispy on the
bottom, cooked all the way through, and not burnt at all. We found that
we really needed two people for this adventure (one to feed the fire
while the other paid attention to the food). With so much going on it
was easy to forget to feed the fire and let the stove go out.
 | Cinnamon Rolls baked over the Solo Stove
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Rain: We
cooked a second pizza over the stove but by this time it was pouring
rain and getting the stove lit was much trickier. If the pan wasn't
over the stove, the rain would put the fire out. We used an aluminum
wind screen to shield the stove from the rain. It was also challenging
to keep the twig pile for
feeding the fire dry. Feeding the well established fire wet twigs
worked, but appeared to decrease the heat output and lengthened cooking
times.
Stability: When this stove is
placed onto a nice flat surface it is pretty stable. But when I have
used it to cook on a bumpy rock or slightly uneven ground, I have had
problems with it tipping over. Because the base is a solid, flat
circle, any rocks or bumps within the circle make the stove tippy. It
is a manageable problem when the pot over the stove is fairly narrow,
but when using a wide frying pan I had to be very careful to not tip
everything over. On a couple of occasions I was not careful enough and
ended up with food and fuel spilling all over the ground. As a result,
I am always careful to keep the potgrips next to the stove so that they
are ready at a moment's notice and to always use them when doing
anything with the pot that is on the stove.
Solo Cooking: This stove was
tricky to use on my own because I had to continuously watch the fire
while also prepping and dealing with the food being cooked. I found
that I could boil water or cook pasta on my own, but if I attempted
anything more complicated on my own, the fire went out while I was
dealing with the food and I had to restart the fire before I could
finish cooking. I carry my alcohol stove in the Solo Stove and have
found that it is a really nice option for times when I want to cook
more involved dishes, but don't have someone available to help me with
the fire.
SUMMARY
This is a solid and well-made
wood stove that works very well. I have been impressed with the design
and construction of this stove and only have concerns about its
stability. I have discovered through testing this stove that using a
wood stove is very different from other types of stoves and comes with
its own set of drawbacks (sooty pots, smoky smelling clothing,
continual need to be fed). I love the versatility of this
stove but am not always up to using wood as a fuel. The Solo Stove
combined with an alcohol stove works great for me. When I am sleepy in
the morning and don't want to mess with starting a fire I can use the
alcohol stove, but when there are a couple of us cooking dinner and we
don't mind hanging out and feeding the fire, then the wood stove works
great.
LIKES
- It won't explode
- Solid construction doesn't deform in my pack
- Works great as a windscreen and potstand for my homemade alcohol stove
DISLIKES
- It is tippy with a large pan on top
- General woodstove drawbacks:
- It is hard to start and keep the fire going during a downpour
- It is a lot less efficient when the wood is wet
- Sooty stove and pot
- Smokey smelling clothing and gear
- Difficult to cook complicated dishes alone
LONG TERM REPORT
FIELD CONDITIONS
Trip 1: 2-night kayak camping trip to Cranberry Lake in the Adirondacks of Western New York. Temperatures ranged from 55 F
(13 C) to 75 F (24 C) and with high winds and drizzling rain.
PERFORMANCE
The Solo Stove continued to perform as it had in my field
testing. It has become my main stove on trips in combination with an
alcohol stove, replacing the white gas stove I have used for years. I
have found that it is extremely durable, easy to use in good weather,
and works great as a potstand and wind screen for the alcohol stove.
Often I keep a couple of esbit fuel tablets in the stove bag to help
light the stove in wet conditions. I was surprised to find that the
Solo Stove worked well for a range of tricky meals (e.g. pancakes,
pizza, cinnamon rolls) and that the heat level was controllable by
adjusting the amount and size of the wood that I used as fuel.
SUMMARY
The
Solo Stove is a durable, versatile stove that fills all of my needs
when combined with an alcohol stove for crummy weather, sleepy mornings
or solo fancy cooking. I
keep
the stove in its bag and the pots in a bag to contain the soot, and
collect dry twigs when I can so that I have a supply of dry wood to get
the fire started. I really enjoy being able to carry less alcohol
and knowing that if I run out of fuel I can use wood for the rest of my
meals. I do wish that there some kind of tripod that I could attach to the base that
would help stabilize the stove when used with frying pans or on less even
ground.
LIKES
- It won't explode
- Solid construction doesn't deform in my pack
- Works great as a windscreen and pot stand for my homemade alcohol stove
DISLIKES
- It is tippy with a large pan on top
- General woodstove drawbacks:
- It is hard to start and keep the fire going during a downpour
- It is a lot less efficient when the wood is wet
- Sooty stove and pot
- Smokey smelling clothing and gear
- Difficult to cook complicated dishes alone
Thank
you to Solo Stove and BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to test
the Solo Stove.
Read more reviews of Solo Stove gear
Read more gear reviews by Katie Montovan
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