If you want a solid but lightweight investment for solo camping, the Solo Stove Lite is a good bet. At $70, this camping wood stove may not come cheap but trust us. It's worth every darn penny.
Review Summary
A camping wood stove is one of the coolest camping gear you can put in your backpack. This stove has the best of both worlds: it’s got the portability of a canister stove and the warmth of an actual campfire all in one package.
But here’s the kicker:
You don’t even have to buy and carry fuel with you when using wood burning camp stove, because this bad boy is powered by Mother Nature herself.
In this article, we break down the advantages and pitfalls of a camping wood stove, the things you should consider when buying one, and of course, a comprehensive take-down and review of five of the best camp stoves in the market today.
If you want to get your hands on the best wood burning camp stove out there, read on:
Using a camping wood stove has a lot of benefits. Here are some of them:
A wood burning camp stove uses natural materials like twigs, leaves, debris, and other biomass as fuel. These materials are considered renewable and carbon-neutral, so they’re friendlier to the environment compared to fossil fuels found in commercial gas canisters.
Using natural materials also saves you money, since you don’t have to spend a penny on gas. This also means freeing up a lot of space and weight in your backpack.
Mini wood stoves are built to be light and portable. This is especially important if you’re an ultralight backpacker who’s conscious of weight savings. Most camp stoves are made from stainless steel, making them extremely light but durable. Others are crafted from titanium, which cuts the weight of the stove in half.
Wood burning stoves can also be fully disassembled or compressed to a smaller size. Round wood stoves pack down to a third of their assembled size, while rectangular stoves can be packed flat. They also come with their own mesh bags or containers for easier storage.
Another advantage to using a wood burning camp stove is that you don’t have to go through the hassle of making a huge campfire whenever you need to prepare meals or boil hot water. With a camp stove, all you need is a small, self-contained fire that you can easily put out when it’s time to go. Some designs can even be moved using a pair of sturdy pliers, in case you want to relocate to a better spot.
A camping wood stove is designed with efficiency in mind. Most, if not all setups, allow for excellent ventilation, so you don’t have to keep on tending it over long periods of time. It’s also pretty versatile; some models allow the use of various fuels like alcohol, charcoal, briquettes, and biomass.
Last but not least, nothing quite beats the smell and texture of wood-cooked food. That woodsy smell simply improves one’s overall camping experience.
Of course, it ain’t always rainbows and butterflies when using these camp stoves (well, nothing ever is). Here are a few disadvantages to look out for when using a wood burning stove:
Since they’re powered by natural materials like twigs, leaves, and debris, cooking time with a camping wood stove takes a tad bit more patience compared to their gas-guzzling counterparts. Depending on factors like the model and design of the stove, the weather, and your choice of fuel, you may also have to feed and tend the fire every now and then.
Next, you need to collect a lot of fuel beforehand. This is no problem if you can find a lot of dry twigs, leaves, and bark along the way, but it could be tricky if you’re in an area without these resources. Dry tinder will obviously be scarce as well if it’s raining or snowing. During these situations, you might want to be extra prepared by carrying backup fuel like biomass briquettes, pellets, or alcohol fuel.
Unlike its gas counterparts, a wood burning camp stove needs more protection from wind and inclement weather. Often, it comes with accessories like windshields though to help keep the flame going.
Another downside is the messiness. Burning carbon-based materials means you’ll have to deal with soot and ash after. These cling to the portable wood stove itself, and onto your utensils, clothes, and hands if you’re not careful.
There are two main types of wood burning camp stoves: cylindrical and rectangular. Let’s take a closer look at these stove types:
As the name suggests, a cylindrical burner has a round shape and is usually made up of two or more components like a cooking ring and an ash pan. To assemble, you just stack these parts on top of each other. The whole system usually collapses into itself like a nesting doll, making for easy storage and packability.
With this type of camping wood stove, you’ll often see a burn chamber where you can put the fuel in. You’ll also find vent holes that regulate the airflow by pulling in oxygen from the environment. A cylindrical stove’s closed design allows the hot air to be concentrated within the chamber, allowing the fuel to burn for longer. It’s also more protected against inclement weather and wind.
The downside to these types of stoves is that they often don’t have feeding slots to put in additional fuel. You may have to take the pot or pan off the stove to do that.
Rectangular or pyramid type burners are arguably lighter and easier to pack than their cylindrical big brothers. These stoves have four collapsible walls, usually made from lightweight but durable materials like stainless steel or titanium.
Depending on their capacity, these stoves can accommodate small to medium-sized fuel. Keeping the fire going is easy enough due to this type of stove’s feeding slots. However, since rectangular or pyramid type stoves have an open design, they need more protection from the wind.
Then there are the unicorns like the Biolite. This special type of burner comes with a built-in fan and is designed to convert heat into electric energy. We’ll discuss this type of burner in detail as we go further along the article.
So you want to get your hands on a portable wood stove for your next camping or backpacking trip. What are some factors that you need to consider before buying?
If you’re using a wood burning camp stove for the first time, you might find that it can take a bit of getting used to. Here are some tips and tricks to make your experience smoother:
Pick an excellent location
Just like any other aspect of camping, location is vital when using portable wood stoves. Keep in mind that you can only use these in campsites where open flames are allowed.
A flat, stable location is ideal for camp stoves. Make sure that the stove’s base is set firmly in place—you don’t want it to topple over. Your area of choice should also be protected from the wind. Wide tree trunks, rock faces, and boulders offer natural wind protection and help reflect the fire back to you. Lastly, stay away from extremely dry, grassy areas to avoid wildfires.
Gather enough fuel and make sure they’re the right size
If you’re hiking, don’t wait until you get to your campsite to collect fuel; gather enough sticks, twigs, and other tinder for your stove along the way. Keep them nice and dry in case the weather turns nasty.
Make sure your fuel is the right size for your stove. If your fuel is too thick, it might not fit into the stove, or it might smother the fire. If you don’t put enough, or use tiny sticks, you might not be able to maintain a flame.
Also keep an eye out for natural tinder and firestarters like fatwood, pine cones, and fungi.
This is especially useful if you encounter a heavy rainshower along the way. Firestarters like vaseline-dipped cotton balls, dryer lint, and sawdust discs are extremely helpful in getting a fire going during inclement weather.
Coat the outside of your pots and pans with a thin layer of soap before cooking. This way, the soot won’t stick to the bottom and clean-up will be easier.
Before leaving the campsite, make sure that there are no smoldering embers left. You don’t want to start a wildfire!
Like all of our previous reviews, we took the time to research each and every product that went on this list. We looked at hundreds of customer reviews, scoured the internet for the top-rated products, and watched dozens of test videos before purchasing the gear ourselves. We considered getting both expensive and affordable versions for each type of camping wood stove, plus one innovative burner.
We put them to the test using the criteria we’ve noted above. We also observed how much fuel each unit consumed, and how long it took for each one to boil 400ml of water. Of course, we can’t draw enough findings just by testing them in a controlled environment, so we also took these buggers out camping to see how they would do in real life.
You’ll find the results of our rigorous testing process below:
If you want a solid but lightweight investment for solo camping, the Solo Stove Lite is a good bet. At $70, this camping wood stove may not come cheap but trust us. It's worth every darn penny.
Pros
Cons
We’re not saying that the Solo Stove Lite is our favorite wood burning camp stove among the bunch…but that’s exactly what we’re saying.
The Solo Stove Lite lives up to its name: it’s lightweight, it’s portable, and it’s easy to assemble. It doesn’t pack down as compact as the Ohuhu, owing to the pre-assembled burn chamber, but we’re willing to overlook that because it performed better in almost every other aspect.
This efficient little burner has only two parts, so it’s convenient to put together and is less susceptible to damage. All you have to do is flip the cooking ring right side up and you’ll be good to go.
The whole system is small. It’s barely six inches tall and about five and a quarter inches wide, but we love that it’s got a really solid build, owing to its hard-wearing 304 stainless steel material. This factor also makes the Solo Stove Lite durable and highly resistant to damage.
While capable of using a variety of fuel types, the Lite’s alcohol fuel dish is sold separately, which is the only bump we’ve so far encountered.
Still, you can’t deny that shelling out about $70 for this one is well worth the price. The Lite burns hot and does so very efficiently. This is because Solo Stove uses a patented design that burns fuel in two ways. First, the vent holes at the bottom route the oxygen to the combustion chamber to burn the fuel. The vent holes at the top, in turn, preheat the air, which results in a hotter and cleaner burn.
This process means you don’t need to tend to the fire often, nor do you need to constantly feed it with more fuel, as long as you put in enough. If you need to chuck in more fuel, the Solo Stove has feeding slots conveniently located within the cooking ring.
The Solo Stove Lite burns the fuel thoroughly, conserves heat better, and produces less smoke than the others. Its cooking ring is also stable and can support standard camping pots and pans.
We were able to heat water in about 10 minutes.
All things considered, the Solo Stove Lite is well worth its hefty price tag. It’s easy to use, it’s got a very efficient design, and is pretty low maintenance.
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For its price, the Ohuhu Camping Stove isn't bad at all. It's super portable, comes with lots of accessories, and is stable enough for cooking. But this camping wood stove does have its issues, like loose support prongs and lots of smoke.
Pros
Cons
At just under $18, the Ohuhu camping stove is one of the cheapest ones on our list. It’s an excellent price for something with Ohuhu’s size and capacity, even if it lacks the two-burner sophistication of the Solo Stove.
The whole thing also packs down well for a cylindrical camping wood stove and comes with its own mesh bag for easy storage.
The Ohuhu has 6 separate components, including a grill grid that you can use in place of the pot supporters. Putting it together is simple enough — just stack them all up and make sure not to lose any of the parts. The system is pretty stable once assembled, although it’s not as compact nor as solid as the Solo Stove.
The three-arm support system is meant to lend additional support especially when you’re cooking with bigger pots. After moderate use, however, we found that one of the prongs already went loose on the hinges, which was disappointing.
The Ohuhu also doesn’t have feeding slots. It has a roomy chamber, so make sure to put in enough fuel before you get things going. During testing, we noticed that the Ohuhu wasn’t able to maintain a flame as well as the others, especially when windy out. When using this stove, pick an extra protected location so you can start a fire faster and maintain it with less hassle.
While the stove is capable of producing and maintaining a good flame, it does smoke a lot. You also need to tend to it more often. The upside is its stove base plate catches all the ashes and is removable, so clean-up is not so messy.
Overall, the Ohuhu Camp Stove ain’t too shabby for its price. At $18, you get a decent portable wood stove that can do the job. It doesn’t have the best design nor most efficient burn, but it’s plenty capable of cooking food and boiling water for more than two people without breaking the bank.
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The Biolite Campstove 2 easily gets the crown for the heaviest camping wood stove here! We wouldn't recommend lugging this around in your bug out bag, but if you've got an RV or pickup truck, it's a convenient stove to have.
Pros
Cons
The Biolite Campstove 2 is without a doubt the heaviest and bulkiest in this list at around 2 pounds. You’d be crazy to lug this beast around when backpacking or thru-hiking, but it sure is pretty cool to have when you’re enjoying the outdoors with a car or RV.
As we’ve mentioned earlier, the Biolite is unlike any camping wood stove out there. Instead of relying on traditional air vents and combustion chambers to get a fire going, this high-tech camp stove has a built-in fan that regulates the airflow and heat for you. This results in a very efficient and controlled flame.
And get this—it doesn’t just burn stuff up; it also turns heat energy into electricity, which powers the fan and allows you to charge devices via USB port. The Biolite Campstove 2 also comes with its own rechargeable lamp and a small block of firestarters.
What we love most about the Biolite is that it does all the work for you. You don’t have to tend to the fire or take extra measures to make sure that the wind doesn’t blow it out. All you have to do, really, is to fill it with fuel (larger twigs and blocks of wood do well) and light it up. That’s it. Just make sure to have enough fuel nearby, because the Biolite burns clean through it fast.
The charging capability is definitely a nice, unique touch. Charging is a bit slow, but it’s pretty useful if you need to power up gear like your phone, or a USB-compatible flashlight.
Aside from its hefty weight and price tag, the only other thing that we didn’t like about this wood burning camp stove is that its fan produces a whirring sound that feels really out of place in a laid-back outdoor environment. Using small pans is a bit troublesome, so use medium-sized cookware when camp-cooking with the Biolite.
If you’ve got the cash to spare and the vehicle to carry it, the Biolite Campstove 2 is an innovative camp stove that takes the work out of your hands. We’d recommend it to car campers, but not so much to solo backpackers.
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We had high hopes for the Emberlit Titanium, and we’re pleased to say that this portable wood stove passed with flying colors despite its high price point.
Pros
Cons
At sixty bucks, the Emberlit is no cheap contraption. It is crafted from titanium, though, so it’s about half the weight of the original stainless steel version. It also packs flat, making it one of the lightest and most portable camp stoves on the list.
Instead of using hinges, each of the Emberlit’s four sides has notches so they fit into each other, forming a firm design. Albeit intimidating to look at, this design is actually easy to assemble once you get the hang of it—just be careful not to nick your hands with some of its sharp edges.
What we like most about the Emberlit Titanium is it’s capable of creating and maintaining a really hot flame. Its air vents really work well with its spacious burn chamber, which holds a lot of fuel. It can accommodate bigger chunks of wood, in addition to twigs, sticks, and leaves.
Igniting the tinder is easy and adding additional fuel is convenient, thanks to its wide feeding slot. You can put in long pieces of wood and just push them in as they burn.
The Emberlit is capable of holding a variety of pots and pans. You can definitely use it to cook or boil water for more than two people. In addition to its stable, pyramid-style frame, this camping wood stove also comes with two titanium crossbars at the top for additional security.
Since it’s very light, you can use a multitool to lift and transfer the Emberlit if you need to.
Overall, the Emberlit Titanium is a lightweight and reliable wood burning camp stove fit for backpackers and hikers.
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Don't let its size fool you! This camping wood stove by Lixada may be tiny, but it's sturdier than you think and can produce a decent flame. Plus, it's super cheap and affordable to boot.
Pros
Cons
At only around $14, this mini camping wood stove from Lixada is surprisingly strong and capable of producing a hot, clean burn. Judging by its performance, it’s safe to say that its bestseller status on Amazon is warranted.
Now, you have to set your expectations: this portable wood stove is tiny. It’s significantly smaller than the Emberlit at only around 4 inches tall. This means that while it takes up smaller space in your bag, it also doesn’t hold as much fuel and has limited carrying capacity. The Lixada is best used by solo campers or ultralight backpackers.
The hinge design is a bit of a hit-or-miss for us. While the pre-assembled set-up means you don’t need to worry about losing its parts, the small size of the Lixada makes it a bit cumbersome to assemble. You’ll be using a lot of your fine motor skills putting this wood burning camp stove together, which can be a pain in the butt, especially if you’re camping out during the winter and need to have thick gloves on.
Despite that, the Lixada is capable of producing flames that are big and hot enough to boil a pot of water or two. Putting in additional fuel can be tricky, but it’s doable as long as you prepare small twigs and sticks that can fit into the slot. Cleanup is easy since most of the ashes go directly to the ground.
Even though it’s dirt-cheap and tiny, the Lixada proves that it can play with the big boys. If you’re a solo camper or hiker who wants a lightweight camp stove for the backcountry, the Lixada might be the one for you.
Buy on AmazonA wood burning camp stove makes for an excellent outdoor experience. This small, compact, and efficient stove isn't just great for your weight and cash savings; it also helps the environment by using biodegradable materials as fuel. And it's pretty darn cool to whip out at the campsite, too.
Which one of these camp stoves did you like best? Each item in our selection catered to a different set of needs, so let us know your favorite by dropping a comment below!
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