Camco 58031 Little Red Campfire

[DR BrianO]

Any reviews or thougths would be appreciated my family is looking at adding this to our camping supplies. We usually camp where open fires are aloud, but with a two year old sometimes gathering wood is more of a chore than it used to be.

We would also plan to use it as a backyard entertaining center piece.

http://www.amazon.com/Camco-58031-Little-Campfire-Propane/dp/B000O51VJ0

Thanks,

Brian

 

[ExpoMike]

There are a couple threads here that talk about this and a couple other units. After reading through them, we bought one last week and hope to try it out next week. Do a search and you'll find them. I'll have a better idea how well it works after our next trip.

 

[lupinsea]

I used to scoff at these but after this fall's camping trip I'm a believer, sort of.

We ended up camping during a burn ban, across a valley to the south of a major wild fire. So, it was either freeze, don't go camping, or use a portable camp fire. Needless to say, we picked up the portable campfire. It was surprisingly awesome. You NEED the lava rocks that come with it as they'll get glowing hot and it's these rocks that radiate the heat. But they produce a nice size flame that gives a similar ambiance to a real campfire.

But you also need to lug along a backyard-BBQ-sized propane tank. . . these suckers burn through the propane fast. We went through two BBQ-sized propane tanks in the course of a 4-day, 3 night camping trip. . . but that was also burning the fires in the mornings AND in the evening. Man it was cold.

 

[Honu]

good thread for ya
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/75182-Which-propane-camping-fire

 

[JDaPP]

I bought the camp chef and then bolted a grill on top (took the grill from from a walmart camp cooking tripod). Benefit was great price and instead of ceramic logs it has lava rocks, so I cook on it and then throw out the rocks when they get too messy.

 

[ExpoMike]

Well, time to report my findings on the LRC. Took it with us on our trip last week (only 2 camp days, rest was in Vegas). First night we didn't use it because there was too much wind and the wind was cold! Tried it on the second night. It worked as advertised. It's nothing like a full on wood campfire but for 2-4 people who don't mind sitting close to the fire, it was nice. It did give a decent amount of warmth (being the temps were in the low 30's) and on medium the flame size was nice for the ambiance. About the only complant was the mild "hissing" noise it makes due to some restrictor built in. I read somewhere where someone modified it and that problem went away. Ours is still stock.

Some pro's to this is, instant fire and no worries when you turn it off. Made things very simple. Also it and the propane bottle take up a fixed amount of space so it made packing easier. No changing amounts of wood as you use up logs.

Con's are less heat output then a wood fire and smaller fire size. Hissing sound when medium or higher levels.

Here's a pic with the wife sitting at it.