Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Ok, I really wanted to love this stove and I did a lot of research before settling on this Solo Stove Titan and pot combo. The main selling point for me was the simple rugged construction from stainless steel because I wanted something that would last for years, not a light piece of gear that needed to be replaced after a few seasons. Pros: The stove nests very nicely within the 1800 pot and both appear to be very well made. I really like the fact that they provided separate "stuff sacks" for the pot and the stove to help keep things clean. This stove is very efficient and will burn a long time on a small amount of wood. I had less than a handful of ash after using the stove for almost an hour. I love the way the flame looks when the stove heats up enough for gasification and the second burn kicks in! Neutral points: Soot on your pot. This isn't a flaw for this particular stove, but for all wood stoves. This is something I researched and expected, but I thought I would mention it for people interested in buying a wood stove since it isn't covered in the other reviews. You can minimize the soot by letting the stove heat up and build some hot coals before putting your pot on, but I found that this stove is so efficient that the coals will burn up very quickly. Either way you will need to keep adding more twigs to keep the heat up high enough to boil water, and the soot is caused when the wood is in flames. A lot of clean heat is produced after the flames go out, but as I mentioned the coals burn rapidly. This probably won't replace my JetBoil on backpacking trips, but it is good to have for recreational or car camping because you can carry a mini campfire with you everywhere. Check your local burn laws to see if this is considered an open fire. Cons: The combustion chamber (from the wire grate to the top air holes) is rather short which limits the amount of fuel you can/should put in. It works best with finger length and finger diameter pieces at the maximum. The biggest letdown for me...after owning the stove for less than a week and using it 3 times I found surface rust inside the burn chamber. I know that stainless steel can rust over a longer period of time when exposed to the elements, but this is after only a few uses and I kept the stove in the garage in between. Completely unexpected for rust to form so soon. Customer service was prompt, but basically confirmed that rust is to be expected after being exposed to high temps and recommended I keep it in a dry place. They also said it would not affect the function of the stove, but one of my main criteria for this purchase was longevity. This brings me to my final point. I went back to check the reviews on Amazon to see if anyone else experienced rusting. This is when I realized that all the initial 5 star reviews were not "Amazon Verified Purchases". Further checking revealed that all the initial reviewers appear to have received a few different products from the manufacturer because they all have reviews posted on the same 3 or 5 items. I don't like this practice and it is a lesson learned for me because I am going to be weeding out the freebie reviews when making future purchases. In closing, I really really wanted this stove to be awesome and it was awesome until it started rusting. Maybe my expectations were too high...so I wanted to post this review to help manage expectations for future customers. Before you spend your money on this stove, maybe do a little research on other alternatives and the actual grade of stainless steel they are made of. Update June 2016. After 2+ years of use I am back to update my review of this stove/pot combo and increase it from 3 stars to 4 stars. The rust on the inside of the burn chamber has stayed in check. I have been wiping it out with a light coat of vegetable oil after each use. Overall this is a good quality product that I am comfortable recommending after the amount of use I have put it through. I found this also works great with the BioLite grill attachment which is a major plus and really expanded our camping food menu. The grill legs are a tiny bit taller so there is a slight tilt, barely noticeable. I typically break 2-3 charcoal briquettes in half and burn a fire for about 10 minutes to get it hot. When I start cooking I transition to the small hickory wood chips and keep a slow steady feed to control the heat. You need to constantly monitor it to keep it in the sweet spot, no walking off or the flame will die down. This is a must have accessory in my opinion. There is a time and place for freeze dried meals, but this gives you the option to cook hickory smoke flavored hotdogs (8), burgers (4), chicken thighs, etc. All this with a few briquettes and a few handfuls of wood chips, super efficient and delicious. I also picked up a Trangia alcohol burner to use when I want to cook with the Solo pot 1800. This is another must have accessory because it keeps the pot from getting sooty and it speeds up the process when all I want to do is boil water. The stuff sack for the stove came apart at the seam and was starting to unravel so I had to sew that back together. Other than that and keeping the burn chamber wiped with oil to keep it from rusting...this has been a great stove and has become the workhorse of our car camping kitchen. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but it makes the most perfect roasted marshmallows for smores. Update Aug 2018. Ok, so last summer I bought a second Titan and pot 1800 set plus another solo stove alcohol burner and 2 solo stove windscreens. This setup is our car camping kitchen and is the equivalent of having a 2 burner stove setup. We also found that the alcohol burner works great when used with only the pot stand...meaning set the brass alcohol burner directly on a heat safe surface (silicone hot pad, concrete, etc) then place just the pot stand over that and it is the perfect height to evenly spread the flame/heat. The alcohol burner does work when set into the titan burn chamber, but it is too low and the flame comes up to a fine point so you get a hot spot in the middle of the pot/pan. I also experimented with burning wood pellets and it does work fairly well, but they fall through the grate so it isn't as efficient. We finally had 2 of the grate wires pop out on one side after 4 years of use, but I was able to use a needle-nose pliers to get them setting back down flat...not sure how long that will last. The rust concern is not too big of an issue. We still wipe out the inside with some cooking oil and set it in the oven on a low temp to dry out after a trip.