I agree with Bob and Andy. The workmanship in the Bushbuddy is fantastic - rows of tiny spot welds almost like stitching in material that is mostly only 0.004" thick (0.010" for the inner firebox).
Before I got the Bushbuddy I had a couple of other "lightweight woodburners" - the performance and ease of use of the Bushbuddy is streets ahead at a fraction of the weight. No disrespect to Mike's metalworking skills, but it would be way out of my league; a precision-made top quality bit of kit that works very well.

There is an active thread over on backpackinglight.com here. Someone seems to have made a pretty decent looking version from three different cans. The trick seems to be finding cans of the right size so that they fit together correctly.

The intial price of the Bushbuddy is high but think what you would save on the cost of fuel if you backpack frequently!

It's on its way!
A lot cheaper ordered direct from Bushbuddy rather than thru Backpackinglight.com.
£57 inc. p/p from the former and $140 plus p/p from the latter.

Mike,

Be interested to know when your stove arrives. I also ordered direct from Bushbuddy 3 weeks ago, much better price than through backpackinglight.com, but it hasn't turned up yet. Think its just lost in the post.

Fritz at Bushbuddy agreed without question to send another one out by expresspost - but be interested to know if you have any problems.

I'll let you know when mine arrives too.

Good luck!

Mine took a while to arrive too - the culprit was that nasty little man at UK Customs and Excise.
I eventually had a card thru the letter box telling me I had to pay the duty at the postal delivery office before I could collect the stove. The Post Office also whack their own admin charge on you as well!
If Fritz has sent another the second one would get caught in the same net as the first, I guess....

I saw an american guy with one (now named bush buddy)

who struggled to heat a pan of water with dry wood in good conditions & took a HOUR to get it in his words....warm water.
(not boiling.)

glad he didn't have near hyperthermia & wet wood!

looked a nighmare to me, but fun if nothing to do in camp. & his weighed a pound.....camp fire weighs nothing!

i'm sure other people have better experiences?

I can't understand what that guy must have been doing for an hour - mine works beautifully and boils water in a time that compares reasonably with other types of stoves.
The one area where I admit to cheating a little bit is that I carry a small plastic container holding a couple of firelighters. I pare a little off one of these - about the size of a thumbnail and 3mm thick - to start the fire with. It's just quicker and easier than rubbing two boy scouts together.
I've never timed the Bushbuddy, so I'll do that in the next day or two and report back with some results.
If I take some photos, does anyone know if I can show them on the site?

Lilo, yes I met the same guy too (Rob) and it was interesting to see him use his BB on the same campsite as Colin, at the same time.

Colin had cracked it. He used the impregnated card from Hike-Lite and built a small temple fire over the top of it with small sticks, which he very carefully collected from 'within' the trees. Thus they were very small and dry. He had his fire up and running in no time and was boiling a pint of water in about 15-20 mins.

The American guy - Rob - used my tampons as tinder idea, and was much more cavalier about where he got his wood from and how he build the fire inside the BB. It was just thrown in any old how and took much longer for the tinder to ignite the thicker wet twigs. So whereas Colin took a good 20 mins of careful selection, Rob literally just picked damp wood off the floor by his tarp.

The result was lots of smoke, but not much heat, and this was why he took so long to get anywhere with his results. He admitted to me that he hadn't used the stove before and this and the rest of his equipment was all new to him. (This was also probably why he pitched his tarp upside down each night too - I didn't have the heart to tell him!)

I used the folding one we sell at the weekend, and was happily doing pans of piping hot food on 2 handfuls of twigs. Even though it is a more crude design, the principle seems to be catching on, and we've had a run on them over the last few weeks. Very popular with kayakers and others for keeping the midges away at food time - which has got to be a big bonus this time of year.

The BB is the Rolls-Royce though. I just wish I could find a small manufacturing company in the UK to make something similar. The concept really seems to be catching on.

I did a timed boil-up with the Bushbuddy in the garden this afternoon. From the first match (lighter actually) to putting the kettle on was 2 1/2 mins., then to boil about 3/4 pint of tap water (Snow Peak 450 mug, nearly full) was a further 8 mins. It could probably have been a bit quicker as I was messing about taking photos instead of concentrating on the fire and I let it burn down too low at one point.
I made no attempt to shield the fire from the (light) breeze, which would also have helped. I've found that one of the Caldera Cone windshields does the job very well.
Let us know how you get on with the Bushbuddy Mike. As Bob has reminded us, it still requires the old-fashioned firelighting skills, but then takes the results to a new level. I love it.
One thing though - it wouldn't be too great at keeping the midges away; once the fire gets going properly it's almost smokeless. Ah well...

Hurrah!

Noel, you were right. Got a card through the door today asking me to attend the sorting office and cough up 16 squids duty for release of said bushbuddy.

Fortunately caught Fritz just before he mailed out a 2nd stove.

Can't wait to pick it up and give it a whirl!

made one tonight and it worked ---baked bean ring pull can 105 mm high for outer--drilled series of 1/2 inch holes in sides close to base---the smaller inner can is 100 mm high --drilled 3 series of 1/2 inch holes at (from the bottom) 15 mm 60 mm 90 mm--- then drilled a lot of small holes in base to make a grate---drilled and put a piece wire across outer at 20 mm from base to stop inner can falling to the bottom---made a fire of small twigs and after initial smoke middle holes started gassifieing--no smoke and really hot---but because inner can is so small it needed constant feeding---took 20 mins to boil 1 pint of water --it weighs 76 gms and fits inside snow peak solo

Card thru' door from PO saying mine has arrived. £16 duty.
I am a firestarter, a twisted firestarter!!!

What do you all think about using a BB in a national park like the Pyrenees. The rules say no fires but is the BB a fire or a stove ?

From reading the Backpackinglight.com forum (USA), the BB is there regarded by "the authorities" as a fire and would be frowned upon except on those official sites that allow open fires. It is certainly possible that it could emit sparks, so their stance is understandable.
Having said that, Ryan Jordan was using the prototype BB Ultra in remotest Alaska, but I guess it was not during a dry period and I'm sure no-one was there checking up on him.

I use a MSR Titan kettle which the Bushbuddy fits inside but is too tall to close the lid. I've found that if you use the stuffsack from a pair of Montane Atomic pants(large), you end up with a neat and stable cookset.
I place the Titan lid in first, then the pot containing the Bushbuddy. Tighten the drawstring then rethread the velcro back on itself thru the drawstring to hold everything tight.Pack a few cottonwool balls(use them as firelighters) around the Bushbuddy to stop any rattling.
Of course this tip is useless unless you have all three.:-)!!!

My best fit so far is the Snow Peak Trek 900 cookset - it fits very well and the lid goes on fine.
I bought mine from a UK eBay seller, although there do not seem to be any for sale in the UK at the moment. However, there is a USA site offering free postage to anywhere in the world. Search on 'Snow Peak Trek 900' and you will get a choice of aluminium or titanium.

Mike, I forgot to ask, are you pleased with the Bushbuddy?

Cheers Noel but one pot is all i need!
Haven't had a chance to try it yet but it looks the biz.