New BioLite stove runs on twigs, while also generating electricity to charge up your phone or GPS unit.
It's not out until early 2013 in the UK, but the new BioLite stove is an intriguing technological mix that looks set, say the UK importers, to, erm, 'revolutionise the camp ground'.
We don't know about that, but it's definitely an interesting bit of kit. One the one hand it's an eco-friendly camping stove that burns twigs, pine cones or wood pellets to produce heat for cooking or boiling water just like, well, a conventional stove.
Burns Twigs In A Contemporary Stylee...
Which all sounds very old school, but it actually does it in a very high tech way using and we quote: 'ground-breaking thermoelectric technology to optimise fuel efficiency, circulating air around the stove to improve combustion and increase the stove’s energy output.'
Heat from the burning twigs is converted into electricity using a built-in thermo-electric generator, run from an internal lithium ion battery, which, in turn, powers a fan which feeds additional air into the burner and thereby improves combustion.
Charges Your Gizmos.
It doesn't stop there though. The BioLite can also be used to recharge phones, GPS units cameras or any other suitable electronic gadgets while you're cooking your tea. The stove kicks out a claimed maximum continuous USB power output of 2W at 5v or a peak 4W, which, says UK importer Whitby and Co, means 20 minutes of charging is enough to give 60 minutes of talk time with an iPhone 4S.
It cooks too with a litre of water boiling in a claimed 4.5 minutes depending on the strength of the fire. Some 46g of wood needed to boil that litre.
But It Ain't Light...
Which is all quite impressive. All that functionality doesn't come without weight however, the full stove tips the scales at 935g, which will rule it out of the equation for most lightpackers, should be good for basecamp-style camping however. Packed size is 8.25"x5".
Finally, at a suggested price £149.95 when it goes on sale in March 2013, you'll need to burn an fair number of twigs to break even over the equivalent number of gas canisters. The US price is $129 by the way.
More information at www.biolitestove.com.
