Littlbug Stove
The Littlbug is a well-made, elegantly-efficient wood-burning stove that's a great alternative to the propane stoves often relied upon during Scouting trips. The energy put towards producing, transporting and disposing propane stove canisters is a growing problem for those who spend time outdoors. A high-efficiency wood-burning stove makes practical, ethical sense -- no need to haul around canisters, dispose of them, or put the burden on parks to go around collecting empties.
The Littlbug has draft holes in the base and the unique semi-circular pot supports form a baffle system that gives the stove a chimney effect and acts as a wind screen. It burns with a great deal more ferocity than a standard fire.
Maintaining the fire does demand more attention than a propane stove, but you'll use much less wood than the average campfire. The intensity of the heat is more difficult to moderate with the Littlbug, but some practice will improve our technique. On the whole, I've found the performance quite comparable to a propane stove: on a recent trip, our Littlbug Senior boiled five quarts of cold water in an eight quart pot in about twenty minutes -- this was in moderately-windy conditions, using somewhat damp sticks about 0.5 to 1.5 inches in diameter. Once the pot was at a high, rolling boil I cooked five pounds of sliced potatoes in about 20-30 minutes.
At $57, the Littlbug costs about as much or more than a propane stove, but the fuel is free. Before I purchased it, I was curious whether I could reverse-engineer the design to produce our own version and save a few dollars. I abandoned the idea as soon as I had the stove in my hands: It is constructed of stainless steel and would require pretty close tolerances to recreate properly. Not that one couldn't create a reasonable facsimile with tin cans and a bit of ingenuity, but the Littlbug is so well thought-out and so well made it justifies the cost.
It is easy to assemble and provides a very stable platform for a heavy pot (w/potatoes my pot weighs about 15 pounds). The stove is cool to the touch in a few minutes after the the fire is out. It then packs into a sturdy bag that keeps the soot contained. Of course, that's one of the minor down sides: in addition to collecting fuel, you have to deal with a sooty pot (naturally, a little dish soap applied to the outside of the pot before cooking helps). The Littlbug can also be adapted for alcohol stoves or Sterno cans. I don't know that we will ever use this feature, but it adds to the stove's utility.
The previously-reviewed Sierra has been around for twenty years or so and has developed a band of adherents (I have never used it). The Sierra is a much smaller stove than the Littlbug SR and uses a battery-driven fan to provide draft for the fire. There are actually several incarnations/clones of the Sierra out there -- I just never thought that schlepping a battery run stove around made a whole lot of sense. The Littlbug is simple, with no batteries to replace or fan to go all Murphy on you. It also has a short learning curve and will likely last forever. Also, not unlike most people who go car-camping or backpacking, Scouts are cooking in groups of six or eight. I have a stove similar to the previously-reviewed Snow Peak Gigapower that I carry backpacking, but with Scouts, since we are using bigger pots, it makes sense to use bigger stoves because the weight and bulk is shared between several people. Still, the stove does make sense for backpacking. At 19 ounces (plus 3.3 oz for the pouch), it compares favorably to the one-pound stoves and one-pound canisters our Patrols usually carry. The only improvement I can suggest is a shield that surrounds the pot to concentrate heat, something easily made from some aluminum roof flashing. I would imagine it would significantly increase the stove's efficiency.
Littlbug also offers a fire pan and chain kit for hanging the stove. I am dubious that hanging the stove is a good idea, especially for Scouts, but we will add a suitable fire pan to further reduce the impact of the stove. The addition of a suitable round grill will complete our kit allowing us to use the stove for grilling. I'm outfitting three crews for a canoe trip in Canada this summer, and plan to purchase to more Littlbug Seniors (Since my first purchase, I learned Littlebug offers discounts for Scout troops). The stoves will be a significant improvement over the fire grates we usually carry and make cooking meals over the fire much faster and more efficient.
Favorite (15)
Brian Lang
This stove is fine where open fires are permitted. In areas where wood gathering is allowed, this is a good design. Many national, provincial, and state parks these days forbid gathering wood. So you would be forced to pack in your fuel as well which would be a deal breaker for backpackers. Personally, I prefer my white-gas stove and I take the empty cans to my local recycling depot when they're empty.
John
Bad Bad Bad!
This stove is not for backpackers unless they camp at sites with designated fire areas every night.
I'm not even going to start with the collecting wood issue - the biggest problem with this stove is that it places the fire on the ground. The heat from a wood fire resting the ground kills everything in the dirt down at least 8 inches - all the roots and seeds of plants and all the microorganisms that break down the soil and generate nutrients for plants.
It also leaves a nasty black ring for all who follow you enjoy.
If you really want light weight and convenience and low price just build yourself one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverage-can_stove
Please don't buy this stove unless you know you will be at designated fire sites!
BG
@ #2: While I agree with you about all the downsides of the woodburning stove, there is a link to a DIY alcohol based stove right in the related items links. I have built it and the soda can stoves and find the Super Cat stove linked to easier to construct and it works very well. Another alternative to consider is a solar stove, however as it requires the sun it can't be your only option if you are out in the woods for more anything more than a sunny afternoon.
mooodi
Problems associated with actually using the stove set aside, it might be cool to mention that here in Africa we re-use old propane tanks to make our stoves.
http://www.afrigadget.com/2008/08/24/jiko-production-using-gas-cylinders/
Although they're not made out of the same propane canisters you strive to go without, it's still pretty awesome how their defunct larger counterparts are used to create the substitute.
Brad Patrick
Wow, what an amazing bunch of plagiarism this article is. I know that you have read the original article on this Item, in the "Scoutmaster" blog exactly one week ago:
http://scoutmaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/littlebug-stove-v-the-disposable-propane-canister.html
I used the WCopyfind software to compare the text of this article to his and found approximately 48% similarity between his article and 'yours'. You can see the similarities here (his article is on the right, this one is on the left):
http://twowhitestripes.com/SBS.1.html
The exact phrases you copied from him are in red.
Shame on you. A Scout is trustworthy. Were you ever a Scout, Clarke?
DiscomBob
Uh, Brad, I believe Clarke is the Scoutmaster blog and is just sharing with us here.
Dave
Seems a bit indulgent for a tiny proportion of the world's richest 5% to denigrate the way more than 80% of the world's poorest cook their daily meals. I feel sorry (not) for the micro-organisms my passage through live effects, but on the other hand, this is a really cool little stove. Think I'll teach my kids what it's like to cook over wood--with the hope they won't eventually join the 80% who have no other choice.
Scott Smith
Has anyone tried the new Solhuma Vital Stove yet? It seems to be a similar concept.
Shaleh
Bah, the Solhuma is just another Sierra stove re-tread.
Repeat after me -- depending on batteries in a life or death situation is a recipe for failure. The Solhuma (http://www.solhuma.com) is not being sold as a backpacking / recreation but for emergency / backup use. If I really need to be able burn any biological matter do I really want to depend on finding a working AA battery? Learn to build a decent fire and you can eat anywhere.
I don't mind batteries for the recreational camping, hiking, etc. But if things are really as bad as the images on the website then you need to know some things and not just hope that things will work out.
BigBoss
I'm partial to the Stratus Trail Stove, a nice lightweight but rugged wood burning stove for only $25. I've also made a handful of coffee can wood burning stoves. In a lot of situations, a good wood burning stove is handy.
Karlos
I've had many cups of tea brewed in a good old "Bengahzi Burner" on the side of a hill teeming with rain and blowing a gale.
http://www.thermette.com/thermette_history.htm
worth a look for serious outdoorsfolk (as Kiwis are)
Kevin Kelly
@Brad: Clarke wrote the Scoutmaster review for himself and then he sent a re-written version to us. That seems very scout-like generous to me.
Bob
My friend has one of these
http://www.occuk.co.uk/outdoor
It has help us keep warm on many a cold night.
you could say it save our bacon and cook it:)
Tye
I love cooking with wood. I've always wanted to try one of these, but they are kinda pricey. http://www.garrettwade.com/small-foul-weather-kettle/p/48C02ddd01/
Foraker
Clarke: To increase the efficiency, it seems like you should just move the pot supports to the lower position so that the pot sits down inside the ring, rather than crafting an additional part to surround the pot.
PutnamEco
Another take on wood burning camp stove along the lines of the Sierra Stove that I believe is more efficient.
http://www.woodgascampstove.com
--------
Re:
Tye
I love cooking with wood. I've always wanted to try one of these, but they are kinda pricey.
----
A.K.A. Kelly Kettle, Eydon Kettle/Storm Kettle, or a copper version called a Thermette GIYF
------
See also volcano stove
and my favorite (but hard to find) Swosthee stove
Aryeh
You may want to try out the penny wood stove http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/pennywood.html
Roger Knights
The Littlbug stove is designed so that it can use alcohol fuel, either in liquid or jellied form (Sterno). So it can be used in alcohol mode in those forests where wood gathering is forbidden. The company also sells a $25 accessory "Firepan & Hanging Chain Set" that allows the user to protect the ground from being charred.
Browsing the company's site makes interesting reading. It has a nice tone.
fireworker
Just a thought,
Fire is a natural occurance, it was here long before man and it will be here long after man.
Have you ever been up close to a forestfire?
Have you seen what it does?
Seen the good that is does?
Just days after a fire, new growth has already begun.
It doesn't kill everything as some think, infact some tree species have evolved around fire.
The Jack Pine needs fire to open up the pine cones to disperse it's seeds.
Tread lightly all you want, and it's great that we do but realize that without fire the forest would be a tangled dieased mess unable to sustain it's self.
So please, give fire the respect that it deserves and above all use it wisely