Review: Solo Stove Bonfire
Morgan Rogue 03.22.22
About 5 years ago I received a Solo Stove Lite as a gift. I wasn’t really sold on the whole Solo Stove idea at the time. I had built a rocket stove which seemed like the same concept and I felt content with that.
However, when I used the Solo Stove Lite for the first time, I was immediately a big fan. What an amazing camping stove. Lightweight, compact, and basically no smoke. It burned little twigs, but it burned them efficiently. Anyone can find twigs lying around.
Fast forward 5 years to now and Solo Stove has blown up! They have huge versions of the Lite that can be used for contained backyard fires. I was a little skeptical on those at first, too, but over the past year, I’ve really come to love them.
The price tag may seem a bit shocking, but honestly, it’s totally worth it.
What an amazing idea for a backyard stove! The Solo Stove Bonfire is large enough for a nice roaring fire and best of all, the fire is contained and just like the Lite version, extremely efficient when it comes to burning wood.
We used about 1 quarter of a birch wood log, chopped it up a bit, and only used that quarter piece to get an absolute roaring fire going. The fire got going extremely quick, too.
We put the fire starter in and built it up like we did every other fire, but I don’t even think we needed to do that because of how efficient it is. It gets going and stays going all by itself. And to be frank, it was actually too hot!
We feel the Bonfire was plenty large for us. We wouldn’t have been happy with the Ranger, and the Yukon just seemed like a beast. To each their own, of course, there are plenty of sizes to choose from depending on your needs. For us, this is the perfect size for our needs.
It can take logs up to 16″ long. It also says that you can use pellets with it.
It doesn’t come with a stand and while it could be placed directly onto a hard surface, I would advise getting the stand, otherwise, it might burn a ring into your concrete or ground. I felt safe putting it on the grass (the wet grass, mind you, it wasn’t dry grass or anything), because of the stand. It shouldn’t start a raging fire just because it’s touching the ground, but it just might make a black ring because of the heat it puts off. And we did see some flames coming out of the side holes sometimes when it was really raging, so just be aware. Though the fire is mostly contained, it should still be placed in a safe place away from anything that could catch fire.
Be sure to get a cover for it because while it is made of stainless steel, it could rust over time with consistent rain.
If you’re wanting a backyard fire but either can’t have a fire ring or just want something easy and way less mess, this is your option. We are in love and are so glad we have it.
Up next, we plan to get the cooking grate and cast iron grill to start cooking over it with our cast iron.
I am looking forward to many nights of s’mores, cooking, and just enjoying each other’s company over the Solo Stove Bonfire.
