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Do you want to find the best wood burning camping stove for backpacking? We have the answers to help you decide.
I’m sure you’ve used jet fuel stoves in a campsite. And, by now, you know they’re more than an inconvenience.
They are expensive, requiring you to spend at least an extra 10 to 50 bucks on fuel every time you pack for an outdoor trip.
As someone who has used jet fuel stoves and over a dozen wood burning canisters in different campsites over the last few years, I can confidently say that small wood burning stoves are more reliable, easy to use, inexpensive, and eco-friendly.
So in this guide, I’ll walk you through some of the best wood burning camp stoves for backpacking currently trending in the market, describe them in-depth and tell you their pros and cons.
But before then, here’s a quick table that lists these top-of-the-line wood burning stoves for backpacking, just in case you’re in a hurry:
When the need for an alternative to heavy canister fuels is necessary, and packing small for an outdoor adventure is something you can’t compromise, Uberleben Stoker Flatpack Stove becomes essential. Designed for backpacking, camping, hiking and everything in between, this stove gives you the finest heat to boil water and cook your meals, while keeping environmental pollution to its minimum.
All you need to light up fire in this stove is a matchstick and eco-friendly fuel readily available at zero cost. From pinecones and dried leaves to sticks and twigs, there are no limits on biomass fuel to use with this stove. And if you like, you can even use Esbit tablets, wood pellets, or charcoal, which are available for cheap.
Thanks to the exceptionally laudable harmony between sturdiness and weight, you won’t even feel the heaviness of this item in your collection of camping kits. The 5-panel construction folds down to about 6 by 6 inches, making it so small that it can easily fit in your pocket, not to mention in your backpack.
The ergonomically designed fuel door, with a width as large as 2.5 inches, allows you to load different sizes of natural fuel with ease.
When I first laid hands on Uberleben Stoker Flatpack, I wanted to know if its performance is as impressive as the overall design. And the only way to find out was to take it for a test drive.
First, I must admit that this wood burning camping stove made me fall head over heels in love with natural and organic fuels. As it turns out, a minimalist wood burning stove can provide just as much fire needed for cooking, the same way a propane gas canister would.
For me, lighting up a fire was quick. Feeding natural fuel into the fire chamber wasn’t a problem either. It took roughly 9 minutes to boil 12 ounces of water, which is quite reasonable.
But there’s a challenge. This thing is constantly hungry for organic fuel. So if you want your water to boil faster, you’ll need to constantly feed in dry leaves and twigs.
I moved on to cooking some beef stew to see how this would hold up. And to my surprise, it did a fantastic job. To be clear, beef isn’t some quick-to-cook meal that you can heat up with leaves and twigs and expect to cook evenly. So you’ll need to use wood, which are readily available in the wild. It took about 45 minutes to get the beef stew ready, which, again, is reasonable.
You can use a cast iron pot on this stove, because it’s strong enough to hold heavy cookware.
Uberleben Stoker Flatpack wood burning camp stove for backpacking is easy to put together. It keeps fire locked in the chamber so you can boil water fast and get your meals cooked in time. And it requires very little wood to provide the heat you need to boil and cook. The stove is lightweight and it easily collapses down for storage when it’s not in use.
It’s made of stainless steel for stability and durability, but it’s so strong you’d think it’s made of cast iron. Because it’s anti-corrosive, it can stand up against harsh weather conditions in the wild.
When Solo Stove gets down to designing work, they leave no stone unturned. In fact, the brand got into the limelight for playing by the book, paying close attention to the most intricate details to build the best camping gears for outdoor fanatics.
Solo Stove’s Titan Wood Burning Camping Stove suits backpackers, campers and survivalists who take portability and packing small seriously. And it is, by all means, a well-built alternative to an open fire in a campsite.
Solo Stove Titan features a lightweight stainless steel build. It weighs 16.5 ounces, making it 2.5 ounces heavier than Uberleben Stoker Flatpack, but still so lightweight and compact that it easily packs small for backpacking and camping.
The double wall design creates a secondary combustion and clear gasification, allowing different types of fuels to burn completely while releasing less smoke to the environment. The holes at the top and bottom help with air circulation, letting more oxygen in the fire chamber to give you a fire just big and hot enough for cooking.
Featuring a nichrome wire construction, the wood burning camping stove gate is sizeable enough to hold a good amount of organic fuels like wood, twigs, and leaves, while also letting in air to enhance combustion.
The overall performance of this wood burning stove is impressive. From my testing, in at least two backpacking and camping adventures, it worked pretty much the same way an original fuel stove would.
It burned wood, leaves, pinecones, and twigs just fine. And I’m particularly enthralled that it uses less amount of wood to cook, while releasing less smoke to the environment.
The holes on the wall, located a few inches from the bottom of the stove, do their job right. They effectively channel air to the heat zone, allowing natural fuel to quickly catch up fire and provide the heat required to cook.
The double wall locks in heat, ensuring no energy escapes so you can have an easy time getting your meals cooked. The angled lip on the ring concentrates maximum heat on a cooking pot while keeping heat loss to a minimum.
This unit is generally easy to use. The top and bottom holes on the double walls provide the air required to start and keep the fire burning. All you have to do is to keep adding organic fuel to it depending on what you’re cooking.
At 16.5 ounces, this unit is so lightweight that it should be easy for you to move it around. And given its compact size, it won’t take up a lot of space in your backpack.
Solo Stove Titan is made of high quality stainless steel. It’s sturdy and obviously durable. In addition, the heat shield integrated between ash pan and the stove’s bottom protects the area under the stove from damages. So you don’t have to worry about things like scorching.
I have used camping stoves to do three things: boil water, cook food, and keep warm in an extremely cold and chilly campsite. But a wood burning camping stove that doubles as a phone charger? Well, that’s something I’ve never thought would be possible in the real world.
Except for one thing:
BioLite is a techie brand full of surprises. I’d like to assume that with their knowledge in advanced technology, the integration of a charger on Wood Burning Camp Stove 2 almost seems like a child’s play.
The stove generates heat from natural fuel. The integrated USB charging system converts part of this heat into electricity, allowing you to charge your smartphone as you cook your meal or boil water.
BioLite Camp Stove 2 wood burning camp stove for backpacking features a technical design of its own kind. Generally, it’s made of a combination of three materials: stainless steel, lightweight aluminum, and plastic.
In my eyes, this kind of material blend makes the stove stand out from the competition. Sadly, though, what you get is a unit that’s somewhat on the heavier side. At 2.06 pounds (935 grams), this stove is definitely far from lightweight. And on top of that, it is neither foldable nor packs down small.
Here we have a camping stove that can do four things: boil water, cook meals, keep you warm, and charge your phone. That sounds like a little too much to take in.
But the most important question is this:
Does BioLite Camp Stove 2 even tick in the first place? Or, is it just another randomly hyped tech product with mediocre performance?
I have used this item thrice for backpacking and camping. From my experience, the performance isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t disappoint.
Like many stoves that encourage you to use natural fuel instead of propane gas canisters, BioLite Wood Burning Camp Stove 2 uses nearly any biomass fuel you can think of. The heat generated from wood, pinecones, twigs, and leaves is enough to do the four things this stove claims to do.
This stove does a fantastic job when it comes to boiling water. It took me about 5 minutes to boil half a liter and roughly 20 minutes for 2 liters, without having to feed it with natural fuel repeatedly.
I love the fact that Camp Stove 2 has high and low heat settings. The high mode is good for boiling water and the low setting is handy when cooking. It can cook a variety of foods quite well. In fact, at low heat, this stove can easily cook rice, pasta, oatmeal and beef stew.
Unfortunately, the low heat setting isn’t suitable for cooking all meals. The low heat mode is still too hot to cook meals that require low heat. For example, it could burn pancakes or eggs and leave residue on your cooking pot/frying pan. The best way to get around this is to hold the pan a few inches above the stove.
BioLite uses a heat probe to capture energy from unused heat. It then converts the tapped energy into electricity, which you can use to charge any USB-enabled electronic device. If there is excess energy, the device will automatically store it in the integrated lithium ion battery and reserve it for future use. At the very least, you can get at least a 10% charge in 30 minutes, assuming the stove is burning hot.
This stove is generally easy to use. It took me a couple of minutes to set up the fire, but everything else was easy after that. You’ll need to feed it with fuel constantly if you need a lot of fire for cooking and charging your phone.
BioLite Camp Stove 2 is made of high-grade stainless steel. So it’s sturdy and durable, thus able to last for a very long time. The aluminum used to design the legs, though lightweight, is also durable.
It’s best to be careful not to subject this unit to accidental falls as the plastic part might break and destroy the charging system. So far, it’s the only part of the stove which isn’t sufficiently durable.
Talk of innovative design, real life testing, durability and energy efficiency, and no wood burning camping stove fits the description better than the EcoZoom Versa.
It takes canister fuel out of the way, ushering you into a natural world where you can take advantage of organic fuel without spending a dime. And your fuel options are limitless. From twigs and wood sticks to a handful of charcoal and biomass, the eco-friendly fuel that creates almost no smoke is easily within reach.
And if you think about it for a minute, that’s money saved through a complete overhaul of outdoor cooking. With EcoZoom Versa, cooking outdoors transforms from normal to better, to good food cooked for campsite dining.
The combination of different materials to design a stove this strong and stable is, in my eyes, a big move by EcoZoom.
Cast iron, the strongest and most durable material yet, makes the upper part of this stove. The sides feature an insulated structure that lock in heat while promoting optimal distribution for better cooking. It includes 3 versatile prongs, which can hold rounded and flat-bottomed camping cookware, stainless steel pots, and cast iron cook sets.
The upper door, damper chamber, and combustion chamber all feature thick and strong metal construction, which undeniably aligns to EcoZoom’s plan of creating a resilient camping stove. Plus, the doors to both chambers have sturdy hinges, which, once shut off securely, help with reasonably sufficient airflow.
EcoZoom camping stove handles are made of stainless steel sandwiched into silicone for ease of use. Cool to the touch no matter how hot the stove gets, the handles make cooking easier, safer, and fun.
As far as performance is concerned, my take on EcoZoom portable stove is this: it doesn’t just feature a solid construction. It is as well optimized for better performance.
From my experience, the unit only gets hot where it’s supposed to get hot. In other words, the insulation system ensures that only the fire chamber and the section around the 3 prongs get hot. The sides remain cool no matter how hot the fire you’ve put up gets. How cool is that?
This stove’s heat locking mechanism is something sure to get people talking. By preventing heat from escaping, maximizing its distribution, and enhancing even conduction, cooking becomes easy and fast.
With the EcoZoom wood burning camp stove for backpacking, it’s easier to adjust heat to maximize fuel use and optimize cooking speed. Of course, it doesn’t feature fancy digital temperature control knobs. The combustion door and damper door, combined with some simple tricks, do the job.
Want to heat fast at high temperature on the go? No problem. Add at least 6 wood sticks in the top combustion door. For a low-level temperature, one or two sticks will do the trick.
And what about airflow control? Open the damper door to let in more oxygen to the fire chamber or close it if you don’t need a strong fire.
From my hand on testing, I’m more than willing to admit that EcoZoom is easy to use.
The setup is easy and straightforward. Starting a fire took me around five minutes; it should take you nearly the same time maybe even less.
And what about cleaning? Well, that’s a straightforward job.
EcoZoom is one of the most durable camping stoves out there. Made of cast iron and stainless steel, this unit should last. And that means a lot of cooking in unlimited camping adventure.
However, you do have to clean it regularly to maintain its value over time.
Emberlit may not be quite a name you commonly hear among backpackers and campers. But it’s one of the most creative brands in the camping space. Their ability to design a Stainless Steel Stove that packs down to nearly nothing makes it one of the few brands that stand out from the competition.
The stainless steel material used to design this stove is so lightweight that the stove weighs just 11.3 ounces when fully assembled. But unlike raw and hard-anodized aluminum, the rugged stainless steel is so sturdy and tough that it can last for a very long time before you itch for an upgrade.
Moreover, Emberlit stove is weather resistant, able to stand even the worst of atmospheric conditions outdoors and performs just fine. Add to this the fact that the overall build is corrosion proof and what you get is a high quality stove that will give you the best value for your money.
It’s easy to assume that you can burn just about any kind of fuel in Emberlit Stainless Steel Stove. After all, it’s just a piece of metal, isn’t it? When talking about performance, though, you need to account for what works best and what doesn’t.
As far as this stove goes, it works well only with wood, twigs, leaves and pinecone. You could use charcoal, but you’ll need to keep an eye on the heat so that it doesn’t go beyond the melting point of the stainless steel.
I appreciate the strength of this stove. It’s so firm that it can hold a cast iron cookware just fine. And when it comes to boiling water, it does a fantastic job. Just 10 minutes of heat and you have hot liquid ready.
The only issue with performance comes down to the size of the stove. It’s such a small fire. So if you want to get the most out of it, you’ll need to feed it with as much fuel as possible. Also, there’ll be residue left on the surface, so you’ll have a bit of clean up to do.
It’s easy to set up, which means you won’t even need the manual that comes with it. Because the grill section is flat and sturdy, this one can easily hold large pots/pans. There were no instances of wobbling in my testing, so it should hold up just fine for you, too.
It’s also easy to clean after use. Just put out the fire, allow the stove to cool, and then wipe off residue from the surface.
For the price, you get a high quality wood burning stove that will last for a very long time, thanks to the high-grade stainless steel construction. It’s even corrosion resistant, so the look and feel will remain consistent regardless of the duration of use.
Like Emberlit Stainless Steel Stove, Canway Wood Burning Camp Stove for Backpacking features a rocket-like design that allows you to burn any dry organic matter in the wild. As an alternative to canister stoves, Canway can use twigs, pinecones, leaves, and small pieces of woods.
This camping stove will give you the same quality of fire a propane canister stove will. Which means you get just enough heat to cook food, boil water, and even warm the area around you.
In my eyes, Canway Camping Stove looks sleek and well made. Its rocket-style design makes it so easy to use that even a new backpacker and camper can easily get the most out of it.
Made of high quality stainless steel, this thing is strong enough to stand regular use and so resilient that it can easily stand up to harsh weather conditions.
While it doesn’t fold down to a size that can fit in your pocket, it’s still compact, taking only a little space in your backpack. And like Uberleben and Emberlit stoves, Canway is lightweight and portable.
Canway Camping Stove is easy to set up and should take you not more than 2 minutes. It’s actually a three-step process. You first put the combustion chamber on the air inlet ring. Then, place the ash box in the heat chamber. Lastly, fix the stove hob at the top and you’re good to get started.
Starting the fire didn’t give me a headache, and this is something I credit to the superior ventilation of the stove. Wood works better with this camping stove, but you can use alcohol, pinecones, or twigs if you like.
The secondary combustion is clearly hard not to love. Its ability to provide heat from dry firewood and wood chips for an extra 20 minutes enhances the cooking efficiency, hence convenience.
The only problem with Canway stove is that sometimes it tends to get too hot to hold.
For me, the setup process was very straightforward. I bet you won’t need a manual to do this, either. It packs down to about 3.38 inches, which, as you can imagine, makes it so compact that it can easily fit even in the most crowded backpack.
When it comes to durability, I’m more than willing to admit that Canway Camping Stove is a product in its own class. It’s strong and stable, able to stand accidental drops and work just fine. And given its resilience to harsh weather conditions, you can use it multiple times outdoors without worrying about corrosion.
As someone who loves high quality camping gear even from the least popular brands, I was ready to test the Unigear Wood Burning Camp Stoves after recommendation by a friend.
Designed for backpackers and campers alike, this stove is one of the most convenient options you’ll ever come across. It’s fairly lightweight, compact, and portable. And it’s sizeable enough to cook a full-sized meal for a solo camper.
Unigear may not be a popular camping gear brand yet, but they took a step in the right direction with this stove as far as design is concerned. It’s made of high quality, rugged stainless steel, a material frequently appraised for its strength, corrosion resistance, and durability.
Designed to fold like a book, this stove can collapse down to 10 x 7 x 5 inches, making it a good option for outdoor enthusiasts who love to pack small for all their backpacking and camping trips.
It weighs 1.5 pounds, both when folded down and when set up for use. At such a weight, it’s not so lightweight like Uberleben and KampMATE camping stoves. But it’s still easy to bring with you to a camping site.
Up until now, Unigear Wood Burning Camp Stove for Backpacking screams quality, doesn’t it? The build is up to the standard, the overall weight is reasonable, and it folds down for storage quite well.
But there’s always more to the best wood burning stove that material, size and weight. Which means performance is something subject to scrutiny.
I have used this camping stove just once in a 12-hour backpacking. While that doesn’t seem like enough time to experiment it with, I’m more than willing to admit that the performance is up to the standard.
First, there’s no limit to what you can use to set up a fire. It works well with solid fuel tablets, charcoal, wood, leaves, twigs, gas, and spirit burners. I do recommend using natural fuel, though, because they are readily available, safe to use, and burn just as well as propane canister stoves do.
Unigear Camp Stove has more than enough ventilation slots that allow in as much air as possible to keep wood, twigs, and other natural fuel burning, but not so much to an extend of putting out the fire.
With this camping stove, you can boil water and beverages, do some BBQs in the campsite, and cook a variety of foods. Just make sure you regulate the fire accordingly so you can cook properly.
Unigear camp stove was easy to setup for testing and actual backpacking and camping. Being a four-part unit that’s easy to put together, there really isn’t much required to get down to cooking.
Place the main body where you’d like to light a fire; Insert the ash plate in the main body; Fix the coal grill on top; Put the pot stand in place; Light up the fire, and then get down to the fun part.
The construction of this wood burning camping stove is unquestionably up to the standard. In fact, the premium-grade stainless steel construction makes it so strong and stable that it can easily hold a camping cookware as heavy as 20 pounds.
For the price, you get a dent-, scratch- and rust-resistant unit that can easily withstand hot temperature and hold up just fine for unlimited cooking in the future.
The kampMATE Wood Flame is a functional, lightweight, and an efficient camping stove, which explains why it’s a popular option among many backpackers and campers.
The kampMATE wood burning camp stove for backpacking looks similar to Uberleben in terms of design. Both feature high-grade 304 stainless steel construction, but their weights vary significantly.
To be precise, this one weighs 1.1 pounds (520 grams), about 0.3 pound more than the weight of Uberleben Stocker camping stove.
Because kampMATE is small, it can take less space even in a crowded backpack. Stacking it up for storage is easy and straightforward. Just take the sides, base and grate apart, put them in the carrying pouch, and you’re good to go.
While the performance of this wood burning stove isn’t perfect, it’s close enough. In fact, kampMATE is one of the stoves I tested that I wouldn’t mind using again for my future backpacking and camping trips.
To begin with, kampMATE doesn’t just work with wood. You can use twigs, pinecones, leaves, and charcoal. To be honest, I love the versatility.
Fire is easy to start. The holes on the side and bottom of the stove allow enough air to flow in and out of the fire chamber, giving you the convenience to start a fire big enough for cooking, frying, and boiling. Continuous flow of oxygen through all the openings ensures the fire keeps burning until you put it out yourself.
Beyond cooking your favorite food, frying eggs and some steaks, and boiling water in just a few minutes, you can actually use kampMATE camping mate to keep yourself warm in the wild. And the best part is? You only need small stick wood to keep about 2 to 4 people warm.
As you can see, the performance of this wood burning camping stove is up to scratch.
But there are two problems with it:
First, the body of the unit discolors over time, a common problem with many wood burning stoves. Second, it doesn’t have handles so you can’t hold it with your bare hands when it gets hot.
I can confidently say that kampMATE stove is easy to put together, easy to use, and it works well. It cooks meals evenly, with just a handful of natural fuel. The discoloration isn’t anything to bother you, by the way, because you can easily scrub and clean the unit after use if you want.
It also packs down to a very small size. And given that it weighs just 520 grams, it shouldn’t be too heavy to bring with you to your backpacking and/or camping trip.
Every avid camper can’t help but buy and use a camping stove built to last for a long time. And the KampMATE is a good option because it’s from a brand that cares about durability the same way it pays close attention to the quality of design and overall performance. Made of high quality 304 stainless steel, there’s no reason to doubt the durability of this camping stove.
SOLEADER wood burning camp stove features a rocket-like design, an innovative construction that allows you to use nearly any camping cookware and still achieve the heat efficiency you need to cook meals and warm liquids.
The SOLEADER Wood Burning Camp Stove for Backpacking uses high quality stainless steel to design this camping stove. And I can think of at least two reasons why this is such a reasonable design move. First is to make sure the unit last long. Second is to make sure the stove is as lightweight as possible.
When it comes to performance, the stove is thermal efficient, able to provide enough heat to your cooking pot and pan, allowing you to prepare your meals and drinks in the shortest time possible. In fact, you can boil water in just 3 minutes, which is a lot less time compared to many options in the market.
This stove’s body doesn’t feature a double wall construction. But it still locks in heat quite well while providing a reasonable distribution to your cooking pan or pot.
Like other options on this list, this camping stove is generally easy to use. Also, the premium-grade stainless steel build means it can last for years to come.
TOAKS is one of my favorite camping gear brands, mostly because they care about giving you the best backpacking and camping experience for cheap. Their Titanium Backpacking Wood Burning Stove is a well-built, sturdy stove that will give you the convenience you need to make your eats far away from home worthwhile.
TOAKS takes a different approach when it comes to material they use in design. Titanium seems to be a common option across its product line. And they’ve used the same material to create this product.
The brand uses grade 1 and 2 titanium with no coating. Given that it weighs just 7.9 ounces (225 grams), TOAKS Titanium Backpacking Wood Burning Stove is suitable for backpackers and campers who prefer lightweight camping stoves to heavy canister jet fuels.
A clever material choice, but does the design augment its performance?
Whether you want to boil water or cook some tea, you’ll be able to do just that with this stove. Toss in some raw pancake in an aluminum pan, place the pan on the stove, and pay close attention to how it cooks. You’ll notice that consistent heat distribution, from the stove all the way to the edges of the aluminum pan, cooks the pancake evenly in just a couple of minutes.
Frying eggs won’t be a hard thing to do. But cooking beef stew will take a bit of your time.
The biggest issue with performance is that you have to keep an eye on the fire all the time. If you feed it with too much wood, it will end up getting smoky. Too little, and you won’t get enough heat to do your cooking.
From my experience, this stove requires some control, but still, be ready to handle smoke even after you have good flame going.
TOAKS Titanium wood burning camp stove for backpacking will leave some spots on your stainless steel or aluminum cooking pot and pan, but that’s something to expect anyway. Besides, the spots are easy to clean up, so this isn’t really a deal breaker.
TOAKS Titanium Backpacking Stove is easy to setup. And although it doesn’t pack down like Emberlit and Uberleben stoves do, it’s still lightweight, small and portable. It took me less than 3 minutes to light up a fire in this stove, so it should take you approximately the same time.
Titanium Grade 1 and 2 is a high quality material. While it isn’t as strong as stainless steel, it’s still sturdy. It will hold up quite well in hard environments and serve you in many upcoming camping events.
Are you looking for a lightweight wood burning stove that won’t break the bank? Or maybe you’re limited on storage space in your backpack but you can’t go on an outdoor adventure without a camping stove? Consider Lixada. Like Unigear, this stove is compact and lightweight. And it’s a good option for backpacking, camping, outdoor BBQ, and picnicking.
Granted, Lixada camping stove is a well-designed unit. The brand uses high quality stainless steel to build the unit, making it one of the most durable picks that money can buy. The steel is stronger than raw aluminum and lighter than cast iron, which explains why it weighs just 2.2 pounds.
Like kampMATE Wood Flame, Lixada packs small to nearly the size of an A4 book and can easily fit even in a crowded backpack.
While this stove doesn’t have air holes on the side, the air that flows in through the combustion door is enough to start a fire within six minutes. And to start a fire, simply use a standard lighter or a hexamine block.
You’ll love just how stable this stove is. Once setup in a campsite’s cooking space, it won’t wobble. As small and lightweight as it is, it’s actually so strong that it can hold large pots and small/medium sized frying pans.
Moreover, the construction encourages even distribution of heat for consistent and better cooking. In fact, its ability to distribute heat evenly means that boiling water under 10 minutes and cooking tasty meals in 30 minutes is possible.
It’s rather small, though. So it’s only ideal for boiling a little amount of water or cooking a small meal. Plus the sides tend to get too hot to handle, which negatively affects its performance.
Lixada Stainless Steel Portable Wood Burning Camp Stove for Backpacking is simple in design, simple to set up, and very easy to use. We recommend it not only because it’s lightweight and multifunctional but also because it takes up less space.
The package also includes a free pouch for easy portability and protection from elements.
It would have scooped higher points were it not for the fact that it tends to get too hot to handle, so keep this in mind as you make purchase decision.
This unit is small, feels thin when it folds down to the size of a book, and it looks like a stove that can dent easily. In contrast though, this Lixada stove is a well-rated product, and for one major reason: it’s so tough that it makes a good choice for campers who don’t buy into fragile items.
Not only is the stainless steel strong enough to stand up to dents. It’s also rustproof, able to withstand harsh weather conditions and give you the best cookout experience outdoors. And the price almost feels like a steal for a product this durable.
Ohuhu Camping Stove looks like a camping gear that got into the limelight soon after its launch. And it has been a popular contender in the camping gear product line ever since.
As one of the most versatile options so far, with the lowest maintenance cost I can think of, this one is suitable for solo camping, backpacking trips, and laid-back car camping.
Ohuhu is a well-made camping stove that’s strong enough to handle the weight of just about any cooking pot and pan. Made from 100% premium-grade stainless steel, and known to retain heat for better performance, what you get for the asking price is a stove you can trust to give you the biggest bang for the bucks.
As a unit, Ohuhu is a collection of accessories that, when put together, make a stove that can cook just about anything, boil water fast, and even help keep you warm. The package includes bottom vents, a stove chamber, stove base plate, solidified alcohol plate, a pot supporter, and a grill grid.
When assessing the quality of design based on the material used, it’s common to want to know how much the stove weighs. Besides, no backpacker or camper can stand the agony of a heavy stove for sure.
Fortunately, Ohuhu takes care of this by making the stove as lightweight as possible. It weighs just a pound, making it one of the most lightweight wood burning camping stoves in the market.
One of the things I love about Ohuhu is the fact that it encourages the use of natural fuel. And the heat generated by wood, pinecones, and twigs is just as strong and sufficient as what you get from a gas canister stove. At the end of the day, you save money while getting a decent performance from the stove.
The Ohuhu Wood Burning Camp Stove for Backpacking lights up a fire fast. The opening at the bottom vents provide sufficient airflow to start and keep fire burning. The constant availability of a furnace, as long as you keep feeding the chamber with wood and/or twigs, means there’s always going to be enough heat to cook your meals.
Apart from its ability to burn at high temperature and still hold up well, you can place heavy pots, even those made of cast iron, on this stove hold up just fine.
While I’m happy about how fast this stove heats and how well it contains the heat, it has a few performance issues.
Frist, this thing is tiny. And it’s always hungry for fuel. If you plan to prepare a meal that can take up to 30 minutes to cook, be ready to feed it with as much wood as possible.
Second, controlling heat is a nightmare. A lot of heat is fine for cooking, but there is just no easy way to lower the heat level when you must.
Putting the parts together is straightforward. It’s easy to stock natural fuel in the fire chamber. And the best part is that the natural fuel is readily available all around you, and in bulk.
When it comes to durability, there’s no denying that Ohuhu is a strong, tough stove. Made of high quality stainless steel, you can expect it to service you for many backpacking, camping, and/or hiking trips to come.
Rayhome isn’t a popular camping gear brand. I tried digging up a bit more about them online, but I really couldn’t find anything substantial. I learned, through Amazon, that their portable wood camping stove has a decent rating and over a dozen positive reviews.
Granted, this caught my attention. And given the price, I probably had nothing to lose if its performance were subpar.
Even Rayhome uses stainless steel to design its stove. If a brand this unpopular can use the same material to design their backpacking and camping stove, there is no denying that stainless steel is a durable material with a wide user base. Not to mention that it’s now a standard substance used across a variety of camping cook sets.
Plus, this stove is dirt lightweight. It weighs 9.2 ounces, making it a little heavier than TOAKS Titanium Backpacking Stove but still light and convenient for backpacking, camping, and hiking.
The overall build of a stove isn’t always enough to judge its overall quality. Performance and ease of use are also key metrics to consider.
I brought this stove with me to a short camping trip a while back, and I’m glad I did. Rayhome camping stove completely took away the need for me to bring a propane gas canister by allowing me to use natural fuel to cook, boil, and keep myself warm.
It burned different natural fuels quite well. The air circulation was up to the standard, which is something that helped a great deal in starting a fire with ease. Rayhome stove did lock in heat quite well, allowing me to cook more evenly in an aluminum pot.
I only used a few pieces of twigs for light cooking and boiling a liter of water. But it gets quite cumbersome when you want to prepare a meal that might take up to 30 minutes to prepare. In such a case, you’ll have to constantly feed it with fuel to get enough heat to cook.
This item is very easy to use. It will take you less than 5 minutes to put all the parts together. And, assuming you have wood, twigs, or pinecone already with you, it should take you even lesser time to start a fire.
Every backpacker and camper knows that performance, ease of use, and durability go hand in hand. The Rayhome Portable Wood Burning Camp Stove for Backpacking, too, takes this seriously and designs its stove in such a way that it can last long – if not for a lifetime.
This camping wood stove is one of Wealers’ latest build. With close attention to details and hours of work put into its construction, what you get for the price is a camping stove that will serve you well on unlimited outdoor activities.
Wealers Wood Burning Camp Stove for Backpacking is made of high-quality 304 stainless steel. It’s tougher than aluminum stoves, yet so lightweight that it’s easy to move from place to place.
It weighs exactly as the manufacturer claims. And if we’re being honest, a 1-pound camping stove made of stainless steel is something hard not to love.
The stove’s wall and the vents work together to provide you with consistent heat necessary for cooking and heating.
When I tested this stove in one of my outdoor escapades, I noted that the vents performed well, drawing in air and creating a chimney effect that provided the hot fire necessary for heat consistency.
Thanks to the design of the wall, it’s able to lock in heat throughout the stove’s lifetime.
The stove is stable. Your pot/pan, no matter how heavy it is, will stay in position its entire time, thanks to the three-arm support. The even heat distribution promotes consistent and easy cooking.
The stainless steel construction means it will last for a very long time and obviously serve you on many backpacking, hiking, and camping trips. Except of course for when the arms decide to misbehave.
Just because there are many wood burning camping stoves in the market doesn’t mean any pick is good for you. It’s fine that different brands spoil you for choice. But you have to be as meticulous as possible when making your own choice. Here are a few pointers to help you choose the right wood camping stove the first time.
Although wood burning stoves are made of 304, rugged, lightweight stainless steel, their weights differ from brand to brand. There are a few reasons for this:
Let’s take Uberleben Stoker Flatpack Stove, for example. It’s made of the same stainless steel used to design all other wood burning stoves on this list, yet it’s lightweight because it’s small and doesn’t come with extra attachments.
A stove like Ohuhu, on the other hand, is heavier than Uberleben Stoker Flatpack because it comes with additional accessories. Each accessory has its own weight. When put together, the stove grows gets bigger and so does the weight.
So, what’s the bottom line?
Determine how much weight you can handle and then make your pick accordingly. If you don’t mind carrying a heavy stove with you, or if you are car camping, any wood burning stove should work fine for you. But if you prefer something a lot more lightweight, an option like Uberleben Stocker will do the job for you.
A good wood burning stove should be strong enough to hold a pot and/or pan of any weight and size. In addition to sustaining the weight of the pot and pan, the stove should be stable enough to hold the cookware set in position without your support.
Each stove that I’ve reviewed in this guide is resilient enough to hold any pot, even if it’s made of cast iron. Some even have pot/pan handles (often three support arms) to keep the cook set in position throughout a cooking session.
Small wood burning cook stoves like Unigear and Uberleben Stocker easily fold down for storage. In fact, Unigear can fold down to the size of an A4 book. And the Uberleben Stocker can pack so small that it can easily fit in your backpack.
Other stoves won’t fold down this small. But they should still be lightweight enough to carry to a camping site.
Don’t be a person who buys a camping stove only because of its robust design and stability to hold pots and pans of different sizes.
You should also pay close attention to the features that boost performance to give you the right amount of heat needed to cook meals, boil water, and keep yourself warm in a campsite.
Make sure the stove you choose has enough air holes, also known as air inlet rings. This is important because you need consistent flow of oxygen to keep the fire burning.
The stove should have a sizeable fuel door to enable you load natural fuel with ease. You’ll need this in cases where you have to cook large meals and you can’t help but load wood, twigs, or pinecones to the heat chamber.
Charlie Leone
Website Owner/Editor
Welcome to CampingManiacs
Do you have any experience using a 12 Survivors camp stove and would you recommend it or the kampmate?
Hey Josh. We've not yet tried out the 12 Survivors but it looks quite solid as well. I can't say for sure whether is is better than kampMate, but looks like it has an advantage of having a grill fitted, which can add to its versatility. Have you tried it out? What's your experience?