A few years ago, I took a weekend wilderness survival class. Deep in the remote woods of Oregon’s coast range, we strung plastic sheets up with fishing line for shelter and practiced signaling with tiny pocket mirrors. Enthralled, I watched as the instructor slowly teased a cotton ball daubed with petroleum jelly into a roaring campfire.
Survival class aside, fire starting isn’t one of my skills. I am far more likely to get exasperated and start dumping a bottle of white gas[1] onto a pile of wood (which is not a WIRED-endorsed practice, by the way!) than I am to painstakingly craft lichen and kindling into a cozy home for a newborn flame. Luckily, with the BioLite FirePit, I don't need to.
The FirePit is a sleek, portable, mesh box with removable legs, a hibachi-style grill, and an ash bin. It has a rechargeable 10,400 mAh battery that can power 51 air jets for up to 26 hours. And it’s Bluetooth-compatible, so you can precisely control the airflow—and how high the flames go—on your phone.
While you can charge your phone with the FirePit, the heat generated from the flames does not automatically recharge the FirePit’s battery pack, as with BioLite’s other stoves. So if you’re looking for a product that will let you cook food and charge devices in a natural disaster, the FirePit won't be your first pick.
But if you want to quickly grill kabobs at a backyard or beachside gathering, the FirePit is as good at sparking conversation as it is flames.
Earth, Wind and Fire
With wildfires raging all over the western United States and ground fires forbidden in many locations, a portable fire pit is a very attractive...