Next, you need to pop the ash pan in the bottom, with the base plate centred on top. There’s also one more metal ring, the flame ring, to slide into place on the top lip of the Bonfire 2.0. This ring has angled edges that help funnel flames and smoke away from your face. Superheated oxygen-rich air leaving the upper vent holes ignites smoke particles coming off the burning wood before they have a chance to exit the fire pit. This “secondary burn” creates a bright flame at the fire pit rim above the burning firewood as it eliminates most of the annoying wafts of smoke. Yes, a Solo Stove can be used on grass, concrete, or outdoor rugs, but it’s important to place a protective pad or heat shield underneath the stove to prevent any damage to the surface. DUAL FUEL PERMITS VARIOUS USE: Mesa can run on more than one fuel source since it is designed to do so. You have the option to burn with pellets or any available fuel thanks to the integrated pellet burner adaptor. Whether you’re burning wood or pellets, Mesa’s flames will burn extremely hot thanks to its signature 360° Airflow. It’s not recommended to build around a Solo Stove as it can obstruct ventilation and increase the risk of fire.

Most likely, you want a fire pit that adds ambiance to your outdoor space, provides warmth on chilly evenings, and maybe even grills up some tasty meals. What you don’t want is a ton of smoke that leaves your eyes watering and your clothes smelling like a weekend camping trip. What you’re looking for is a smokeless fire pit. But is the Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0 really smokeless? This has to be the million-dollar question and the answer, from me, is yes. And no. The carry bag is substantial and doubles as a cover once the Bonfire 2.0 has fully cooled. I didn’t find it very easy to get the Bonfire 2.0 into the bag without assistance, but once in, it’s definitely easier to carry. Because of its weight, I wouldn’t want to schlep it very far though! We’ve come to appreciate Solo Stove’s smokeless fire pit technology, which really does work. The fire pit is a double-walled, stainless-steel cylinder with holes ringing the base on the outside and around the top on the inside. It seemed to radiate a lot of heat out at an angle thanks to the bowl shape and created a warm zone in the shape of an inverted, squat cone, even when the flames weren’t reaching out of the fire pit. When they were, we could feel even more heat radiating straight out from them.As the largest model of the lot, the X Series was easy to load with wood and start the fire. We fit 18- to 20-inch logs into it, laying them across the raised X in the bottom of the pit. This patented design keeps the logs high, allowing air to flow in and feed the fire from the bottom. For those who want a durable and attractive low-smoke fire pit for entertaining up to five guests, the Solo Stove Bonfire makes a great choice. This wood burner is easy to transport and set up, it’s mostly smoke-free, and it’s built to last. It took top honors in our roundup of the Best Smokeless Fire Pits of 2022, with only the Cast Master Bon 2000 even coming close in terms of overall functionality. The two are similarly constructed, but the Bonfire is lighter in weight and easier to transport, less expensive, and offers more versatility thanks to its numerous accessories. Weighing 9.07kg and with a diameter of 49.5cm. It is 35.5 cm high without a stand and 38.5cm tall on the stand. Consequently, the high-quality steel Solo Stove Bonfire takes hardly any effort to move. ADD A POP OF COLOR TO YOUR TABLE TOP MEAL EXPERIENCE: Mesa is a tabletop fire pit that adds warmth to the table and is ideal for urban and garden settings. The Mesa is a more smaller version of our famous Solo Stove Fire Pits, making it ideal for terraces, balconies, and tiny gardens. Mesa is a dynamic centrepiece that improves the appearance of your area. It was thoughtfully designed with new seasonal hues.

First for the science bit. Solo Stove’s smokeless situation works via secondary burn, made possible thanks to its double-skin steel construction with vent holes at the top and bottom. Cool air is pulled through the bottom, heats up within the double cavity, and rises to the top, which invokes secondary combustion as the hot air exits the top vents. The Bonfire catches loose ash in the bottom and is easy to clean. The Solo Stove Bonfire Kit pushes the limits of combustion airflow efficiency—the minimalist outdoor stove burner design results in a portable, easy-to-clean, low-maintenance fire pit. The perfect outdoor wood burner This fire pit is easy to assemble and use, mostly smoke-free, built of extremely durable materials, and offers tons of versatility, especially when the available accessories are considered. In my opinion, the Solo Stove Bonfire is definitely worth the money. Should you buy a Solo Stove Bonfire fire pit?

Admittedly, the price tag is high, especially considering you can make a fire pit out of a steel shopping basket, dustbin or old washing machine drum! However, the Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0 burns very efficiently, and uses precious little fuel, while producing barely any ash, and is more or less smokeless, all of which means it punches way above regular fire pits. And, if you do buy into the Solo Stove hype, you should be set for life thanks to its lifetime guarantee. Once they were burning, we walked toward each pit until we could feel noticeable heat, then circled them to see how even the distribution was and how much it was affected by wind. We also looked at them through a Flir infrared camera to see if there were any concerning hot spots on the fire pits’ bodies.

But if you find that the accompanying smoke dampens that pleasure, or if your neighbors prefer to keep their bedroom windows open to catch the cool air, you might consider using a so-called smokeless fire pit, which eliminates some (but not all) of your fire’s smoke and most of the ash. In testing, the body drew air in at the base to feed the fire both at the bottom and along the top lip, functioning as intended to reduce smoke. Aside from when we were initially lighting the fire, we noted nearly no smoke at all. Lighting the Bonfire 2.0 is the same as lighting a woodburner indoors, or any other fire for that matter. Apart from a decade renting in various cities, I’ve always lived in the country, in homes featuring some form of wood fire. This meant I didn’t need Solo Stove’s fire lighting instructions but they’re fairly standard, and I was glad to read I’ve been doing it right all these years. Moreover, the stand fits effortlessly into the grooves on the bottom of the stove, providing a stable footing. Store the Stand in the Solo Stove.

More heat doesn’t necessarily mean much if it is lost in the atmosphere. In the summertime that may be fine, but in cool weather, capturing that warmth for a toasty fireside experience is essential. The heat deflector is a stainless steel, saucer-shaped device that simply stands on the rim of the fire pit. It redirects rising heat outward toward those seated nearby. Yes, a Solo Stove can get wet or rained on, but it’s recommended to cover the stove with a protective cover when not in use to prevent rusting and damage. The most striking detail of the X Series 24 is its corten finish—it’s designed to oxidize, creating a natural finish that protects the steel rather than continuing to degrade it. It weighs more than twice as much as most of the other models we tested, which means it’s not exactly portable—but it’s built to last. Initially, we were concerned with how effective this would be in fostering a smokeless fire but it was as smokeless as any we tested. To build the fire, we used logs 12 to 13 inches long. As with any round fire pit, filling it with wood requires logs of different lengths—longer in the center and shorter at the edges.

The Bonfire projects heat—a lot of it—in an even circle, but mostly from the rim and up. If we had the fire roaring, the heat radiated more evenly but didn’t really reach our feet on a cool day. Native Americans employed the Dakota Fire Hole to create hot fires that would burn in windy conditions and not spread. It consisted of two holes in the ground connected by a tunnel: building a fire in one hole causes the rising heat to draw cool air through the tunnel from the other hole. This constant flow of air fueling the fire creates a hot fire that burns close to 100 percent of the wood—similar to the modern smokeless fire pits that pull air from the bottom or sides to fuel your fire and leave a minimum mess. The Best Smokeless Fire Pits We found the firebox to be a little shallow at eight inches, but we were able to get two layers of logs loaded in. This meant re-loading a little more frequently, but that had no bearing on its smoke-free performance. The main point to note is that you should not overfill the Bonfire 2.0. If the wood/kindling sits higher than the upper vent holes (inside the rim) you will stuff any hopes of smoke-free burning and it’ll also compromise the airflow burning system, too. Due to the Peak’s weight, we were pleased with the ability to pull the ash pan to clean it out. While Blue Sky recommends removing the grate and ash pan together, we found it a little difficult to brush ashes from around the edges through the small holes in the grate. Instead, we removed the grate, brushed the ashes into the pan, pulled the pan, and emptied it. Since the pan drops into a hole in the bottom of the burn chamber, a few stray ashes fell on the ground when we did so. Note that with the pan out, you can see the ground beneath through the big hole—without a bottom cover, you’ll want to be sure you don’t use the Peak over combustible or heat-sensitive surfaces.Clean-up required scooping ash out, as the unit is too heavy to dump out easily—Breeo sells a shovel designed to ease this process. The brand also offers several accessories for cooking over the fire, which make the X Series as much as grill as it is a fire pit. Those in need of either a larger or smaller fire pit may want to take a closer look at the Bonfire’s sister models. The compact Solo Stove Ranger measures 15 inches in diameter by 12.5 inches high, while the larger Solo Stove Yukon measures 27 inches in diameter and 17 inches high. All of these Solo Stove fire pits share the same efficient smokeless design and heavy-duty 304 stainless steel construction. You can’t go wrong with any of them. Where to Buy the Solo Stove Bonfire It’s not recommended to put a Solo Stove in a fire pit as it can obstruct ventilation and increase the risk of fire.