Top choice
The simple form and stainless steel finish may be the minimalist result you want – or it may look like a dry drum to you. But the Bonfire’s light weight makes it a pit you can drag to use and hide when you cool down.
Get this if: You want a fire pit that’s small and light enough that you can easily move it from a storage space (say, a garage or under a cover) onto the patio. If you buy an add-on stand (which usually comes bundled with the stove), you can even use it on the deck.
Easy to use, easy to store, and easy to move around. Like all of the fireplaces we’ve tested, the Solo Stove Classic Bonfire is easy to load with wood and easy to light — although because of the diameter of the pit (at 17.5 inches, it’s smaller than our other options), you have to place the standard-sized logs carefully to make them fit. It’s half the weight of any of our other options, making it very portable.
It is almost smoke free. No hole we’ve tested is truly smoke-free, this one included. However, once it burns, the Bonfire consumes a lot more smoke; according to our admittedly unusual measurements, a fireplace reduces smoke by about 70% to 80%. (We compared a bonfire to an open wood fire by burning it side by side, using wood from the same source.)
It comes in several sizes and configurations. Solo Stove offers a small size (Ranger, 15 inches wide) and a large size (Yukon, 27 inches wide) and sells a grill grate accessory kit (we haven’t tested it yet). Current Bonfire, Ranger, and Yukon models come with a removable ash pan and grate.
This updated design has corrected an obvious flaw of previous models – you had to turn the stove to dump the ash – so that the whole unit is much easier to clean and throw down after a fire. One good thing about all smokeless fire pits: They leave very little ash compared to a regular fire. However, some cleaning is necessary.
If you’re worried about sparks, there’s a device for that. One of our testers lives in a very dangerous area of Southern California – where flying coals are not suitable – so he also tested the Solo Stove Bonfire Shield, a two-piece stainless steel screen that sits on the edge of the fire pit. It’s not cheap: about $160 for the Bonfire (medium) size. But as a fireplace, it’s well made, and you’ll find it nice to have a spark screen that fits perfectly. It comes with two tools that help you remove the lid to add more wood while the fire is going. (You can easily place it face down inside the fire pit when not in use.)
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The invention of Solo Stove and his name is a mess. A smokeless fire pit is, in fact, a pretty basic thing made of pressed and drilled steel. But trying to track down all the models and sizes of pits on the Solo Stove website can be confusing. Recently, the company added a new and almost identical fire pit, called the Summit series. The Summit 19.5″ Fire Pit costs at least a hundred dollars more than the classic Bonfire, but promises brighter flame height and easier lighting and cleaning. We’re not sure that’s worth the huge price jump; we’re testing the Summit this summer and will report back.
It won’t warm you up like a regular fireplace. Another perhaps unexpected consequence of the post-combustion smoke reduction effect of all smokeless fire pit designs: All that gas redirection seems to release the fire’s heat directly into the air, reducing much of the radiant heat you might expect to feel when sitting next to a traditional fire pit. To mitigate this, Solo offers a heat exchanger for each model, which redirects the stove’s heat back to everyone sitting around the fire.
It needs to be protected. Like any fire pit, the Solo Stove model should not be left out in the rain without a cover; the rain will mix with the ash and make things rust. The Solo Stove makes a fabric cover and a metal cover, although a metal lid from a 20- to 30-gallon trash can can also do the trick.
Details
- Weight: 23.3 kilograms
- Hole opening: 17.5 inches
- Height: 14 inches
- Important: grade 304 stainless steel
- Guarantee: limited life