I’ve not had a lot of luck with wood burning stoves, nor in fact in my quest for any type of lightweight stove. Come to think of it, apart from the good old Trangia, I’ve had no joy with stoves at all.
I’ve tried the Pocketcooker (too heavy) and even made my own hobo stove (too big.) I’ve also tried combining elements of different stoves like the hexy burner stand, Trangia burner and billy into a Heath Robinson type of cooking unit (too inefficient). What I really want is an all in one efficient, reasonable small (fit inside 12cm or 14 cm billy) lightweight unit with a wood burning stove as a base but capable of being adapted for other fuels that I can use for all occasions. Not much to ask eh?
I spotted the Bushbuddy at the Bucks meet and thought this might be the answer. I ordered one and it duly arrived last week. Herewith, an initial review.
The Bushbuddy comes in two versions; the standard version and an ultra-light version. According to the maker, Fritz Handel from Bushbuddy, Canada, it’s an improved version of the Trekstov. I elected to go for the standard version which weighs in at 6 oz.
The dimensions are 4 ¼ inches diameter and 3 ¾ inches high when nested. The stand part fits snugly into the burner unit. You can add another couple of inches when the stand is placed on top of the burner unit. It is surprisingly stable even though there are no physical clips to connect the two parts of the unit. The unit is made of 18% chromium and 8% nickel and the grate is nichrome wire. All this means nothing to me but it may to you. Roughly translated I guess it means it’s designed to last.
The most unique difference between this and other stoves is that it’s double skinned. This gives the stove an opportunity to preheat secondary combustion air making it clean burning and efficient. There are vent holes at the bottom of the outer skin and at the top of the inner skin.
The first time I used the unit, the birch bark ignited flame went out in my over-enthusiasm to load in the small twigs, but amazingly, I blew it back into life. The second time I had no problem at all firing up the unit by adding small twigs and gradually working up to finger length and thicker wood. Once the billy (or even crusader cup) was fitted to the top of the stove, wood can be fed through the gap created between the stove and the stand. This is less fiddly than it sounds.
Because of the low profile of the unit, the whole thing is pretty stable, but I would be aware of uneven ground when using the stand. An option would be a wooden dangler of course. Because of the double skin, there’s no scalding of the ground in fact you can move the unit by placing fingers at the very bottom of the stove. Err…don’t do this when you’ve got boiling water on the go. Did I need to say that? Yes, I probably did!
My highly scientific test involved boiling half a litre of water in a covered crusader cup. There was no wind and the temperature was about 10 degrees C. Not exactly testing conditions, but suitable for a first go. After three minutes the stove was hot enough to put the water on. After 8 minutes, I had a rolling boil. Now that’s not bad. Of course, things may be different in more adverse conditions, and I’ll certainly let you know how I get on during the winter.
Fritz does admit that the stove isn’t so efficient in windy conditions; therefore, it’s worth spending some time finding a sheltered location. I might just get myself a wind shield.
Obviously with wood stoves, it’s not that easy to regulate the heat. As already mentioned a wood dangler might be the solution, but it’s also worth experimenting with how much wood you feed the stove; for example adding a single larger piece of wood for simmering. I very quickly got used to this and ended up making a full English breakfast without any sign of blackening, burning, sticking or barbeque syndrome (outside cooked – inside cold). The instructions enclosed with the unit described some of these techniques which will be handy to the wood burning stove novice.
It’s easy to rave about a new product that is brand new and still all but shiny, but I think that my Bushbuddy and I are going to get along fine.
How much? Yeah, well it’s not cheap. 100 Canadian dollars. That’s might be acceptable if you live in Canada. If you live in UK, you have to consider running the gauntlet of the VAT man, import tax and Royal Snail Mail handling charges. You have to buy it directly from Bushbuddy.ca as there are no UK suppliers.
What you get is great support including personal emails from Fritz which is very refreshing and a great product. He packed and dispatched it the day after I ordered it and warned me of the possible length of time it would take to arrive.
Now, all I have to do now is tell Mrs Pablo that I’ve got a new Bushbuddy. I bet she’ll say, “Who is she then?”
Welcome.
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great review Pablo, i was wondering, is it easy to clean the stove out after use and does it cool down reasonably quickly?
Hi Pablo,
How much did it total in £’s and how long did delivery take?
Thanks
Adam,
Very easy to clean out. It cools down very quickly (about 5 mins at most) and you can just shake out the ash. Being so efficient, it burns to fine ash. As the stand fits upside down in the burner, there’s no soot to get on your kit. If you need to, you can wipe this away later.
Zammo,
about 2 weeks to UK total £50.60 including air mail P&P. Don’t be surprised if it takes longer and you get stung by customs plus Royal mail handling charges(possibly up to an additional £35).
Pablo.
Great review Pablo.
Bit more to it than i expected, seems good.
Video review was a great touch, you got to do a lot more of them
Hi Pablo
You will be pleased to know that we have a stock of 24 Bushbuddy, and 12 Bushbuddy Ultra on the way from Canada, and we will be retailing them direct to UK customers. We are being granted sole UK Distributor status (although you will still obviously be able to buy direct from Fritz still). We are hoping to have the first shipment in the next few weeks.
Many thanks
Jon
You can buy the bushbuddy at backpackinglight.co.uk for under £50
Its not on their website then??
I’ve bought my BB directly from Canada. Absolutely no problem and took only 5 working days. Also it seemed to have slipped through the customs, since I did not had to pay any extra fees.
Still very happy with it!
Got a BBU off ebay UK, £73. Could have got the BC for £54. But went for the BBU. Does anyone think the difference is worth it?
Hi Pablo,
Great review. I am thinking of getting one but have also seen the Woodland edge firebox, and wandered what you thought of it. I cant afford both and wondered if he fire box had more uses – what do you think?
Darren – I thought about the firebox as well. If I had the choice it would still be the Bushbuddy. The Bushbuddy is far more efficient because of the dual skins. Although the firebox is more flexible and packs down better the Bushbuddy is 6oz as opposed to 4 pounds of the firebox.
I see what you mean, and as you can get the bush buddy inside a billy can it wouldn’t take up any more room either. That just leaves the weight issue and lets face it, the rucksack weighs enough with just the main gear in
Cheers Pablo, my mind is made up.
The bushbuddy is OK but I prefer the
Fire-Spout it’s a great cooking stove, if you put long sticks in it becomes a camp-fite and it folds flat
http://www.occuk.co.uk/outdoor
My freind introduced me to it he has had one for years and swears by it
Hi Pablo,
I will just say fisrtly that you have created a wonderfull and informative site, so thank you.
But what I really would like to ask (I know this is an old post – so I hope that you get this message) but for this initial review of the bushbuddy on October 24th, 2007 there is a photo on the page [3rd photo] which shows a BCB crusader cup canteen – but I am wondering -What is the cup/lid ontop? it looks really useful as the silly plastic BCB cup lids (which some inteligent designer thought plastic and flame where a good combination and idea) just melt or the plastic buddles. so I would be most interested to know what you have used – as I have not seen it before.
many thanks.
keep up the great work.
Thanks for your comments Criag. The lid is just a top from the smallest of the three Tracpac billy sets. It doesn’t really fit properly. I know those plastic ones and they are rubbish. Someone on BCUK makes aluminium ones for the crusader. I use anything to hand!
Cheers, Pablo
Hi there.
Is the Bush Buddy still available from you – or anyone in the UK? Looks fantastic.
Thanks, James
Hi James,
You can only get them form Canada, but try the Bushcooker form http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product398.asp I’ve heard it’s just as good and cheaper.
Come on then Pablo, it’s three years down the line. Are you still using the Bushbuddy? Are you still in love with it? Or, has it been dispached to the bushcraft gear cupboard under the stairs with all the other stuff we put there meaning to use one day but secretly know we never will???
Good point Sainty. I think I’d better do a follow up review on some kit. For a quick answer, No I don’t use it all the time. I prefer taking the mini trangia BUT I still take it when I want to save weight on fuel. I still like the stove. It’s the only wood burning stove I would recommend.
Pablo
Have you had a look at the 1 pint kelly kettle? Im looking into it or the bush buddy and Im stuck on the fence. Help?
Sean
Sean,
You’ve got to remember that the Kelly kettle can only do one thing and that’s boil water. It’s also quite big and heavy. The Bushbuddy is expensive but its more flexible and you can tuck into a small billy and even put a meths burner inside it if you don;t want to use wood as fuel. I know lots of people who have the kelly kettle. They are good for car camping and if you’ve got a lot of space and you have another stove to cook on.
Spent 14 weeks around Europe car camping mainly in mountains. Did nearly all cooking and water heating with BBU, fantastic performance and great fun collecting wood etc.
If you’re quick you may still get some stoves at a discount from http://wildstoves.co.uk/
It costs £92 not including postage which is extortionate. I calculate it at £62 to UK and Ireland including postage. (using http://www.xe.com/ucc) but If your stuck for one and need it now then maybe it could be handy otherwise order direct from http://www.bushbuddy.ca
Hi all,
Interesting to read these views on the BushBuddy.
As a business Wild Stoves does, of course, make a small margin on the sale of a BushBuddy.
However, subscribers to this discussion should be aware that a simple conversion from CA$ to UK£ does not tell the whole story. Paypal calculates total cost at £64.75. Upon arrival HMRC will add on VAT and import duty, and the post office/ courier will charge you a customs release fee (usually £8 to £10). This takes the price to around £89.
So buying the BB can indeed be a touch cheaper than buying here in the UK, but we don’t think it’s extortion and many people appreciate the ability to get hold of one at very short notice – sometimes within a few hours for a last-minute trip.
Happy cooking!
Jonathan
Owner, Wild Stoves
I would like to apologise for my post it isn’t extortion I didn’t mean for that to sound so agressive. It is handy to be able to buy one in the UK as it would be much quicker and you would be supporting a UK business as well as a Canadian one.
Apologies
Sean
No worries Sean, and thanks for your reply.
Jonathan