- BioLite Smokeless Grill
- Solo Stove Ranger 2.0
- Blue Sky Outdoor Living Smokeless Portable
- WinnerWell Flatfold Fire Pit
- Fireside Outdoor Pop-Up Fire Pit
- Primus Kamoto OpenFire Large
- Pit Boss Smokeless Fire Pit
- Stone Ring Pit
It’s time to man up and take the kids camping. A fire pit is the crucial centerpiece to any campsite. It brings people together for smores, tall tales, sipping whiskey and cooking hot dogs while watching the flames dance. A portable fire pit can go from the backyard to the campsite within seconds. Most the fire pits on the market today offer grilling accessories so you can get a 2-in-1.
How We Test
We tested these fire pits like a man should. Threw some wood in them and fired them up while sipping whiskey.
These are our top picks of wood burning portable fire pits we tested:
1. BioLite FirePit+. Add wood, a lithium-ion battery, a fan, Bluetooth, and fire you get this cool fire pit. Setting the fan to low, you can get 30 hours of run time. You can detach and recharge the battery via USB. Control the four-speed fan via the free app or manually change speeds using the buttons on the side. This smokeless fire pit holds 12-14-inch-long logs effortlessly. Unlike other fire pits with solid double-walls the FirePit+ offers metal mesh walls for a warmer fill. Clean out is easy, it has a trap door at the bottom to remove ash. This fire pit comes with a grill and foldable legs.
Fuel: Wood or charcoal
Dimensions: 27”w x 13”d x 16”h
Weight: 20 lbs
2. Solo Stove Ranger 2.0. Solo Stove is the industry benchmark for portable smokeless fire pits. The sleek sturdy double-wall stainless steel design comes nearly ready to use out of the box. Just add the ash pan, base plate, wood and sit back and relax. The stainless-steel construction will hold up for a lifetime of burning hot dogs. Located at the bottom of the pit is the ash pan, so clean out can be tricky and you must let it cool down before removing it. Be sure to have plenty of firewood available because it burns through the wood and radiates the heat. We used split logs about 12 inches long. Check out the vast array of accessories from heat deflector, shield, lid and much more. The pit comes with a carry bag.
Fuel: Wood or Charcoal
Dimensions: 15’’ diameter x 13”h
Weight: 15 lbs
3. Blue Sky Outdoor Living Ridge Smokeless Portable. This inexpensive smokeless fire pit gets the job done. Throw some wood in it and set it ablaze. This double-walled fire pit is made from heavy-duty steel and coated in high temperature paint. So, try not to scratch the paint because it isn’t stainless-steel and will rust quickly in the outdoors. We used split logs about 12 inches long. It didn’t seem to burn as hot as the Solo Stove Ranger 2.0 but did hold its own. We experience the steel warping as the pit heated up which could lead to the spot welds cracking overtime. For the price, we were surprised by what little smoke there was. The fire pit comes with a carry bag.
Fuel: Wood or wood pellets
Dimensions: 16” dia x 13”h
Weight: 15 lbs
4. WinnerWell Fastfold Fire Pit-Large. Made from 304 stainless-steel, this minimalist foldable fire pit design didn’t disappoint us. At first glance the fire pit seemed rickety but when we added firewood it stabilized. We were able to use split logs about 12-14 inches long. It offered good radiant heat all around it. This fire pit is more of a grate design so hot coals will fall to the ground, and we recommend getting something to protect the ground beneath it. After awhile the stainless-steel did start to discolor although that is expected with its design. This fire pit folds down very flat and easy to stow. Like the other fire pits WinnerWell offers several accessories. The fire pit comes with a carry bag.
Fuel: Wood or charcoal
Dimensions: 16”d x 16”w x 9”h
Weight: 9 lbs
5. Campfire Defender Protect Preserve Fireside Outdoor Pop-Up Fire Pit. With its 4-square-foot of burning area this fire pit is the largest of our picks. The manufacture claims that this fire pit can hold up to 125 pounds of firewood. The mesh 3.5 inch stainless-steel walls promotes a nice balance of airflow to reduce smoke. We used 14-20 inch logs with room left over. With it’s open top tending to the fire is extremely simple. This fire pit was the most complicated set-up of all the pit we tested. Some rigging of the heat shield will be needed. We suggest setting this up prior to heading the campsite.
Fuel: Wood or charcoal
Dimensions: 24”d x 24”w x 15”h
Weight: 7 lbs
6. Primus Kamoto OpenFire Large. This X shape stainless-steel fire pit offers a modern minimalist design. Drop the legs add the wind shields and light the fire, its that easy. We used 12-14 inch split firewood. The large ash pan made clean up easy. Since the ash pan is attached to the bottom of the legs a flat area of ground is suggested. Primus needs to smooth out the stainless-steel edges to reduce the risk of boo-boos. Don’t worry it grew back. This fire pit comes with a grilling grate and carry strap.
Fuel: Wood or charcoal
Dimensions: 19”d x 26”h
Weight: 15 lbs
7. Pit Boss Smokeless Fire Pit. Leave it to Pit Boss to design this hoss. The footprint of this steel double-walled fire pit is huge because it can be filled with a 40 pound bag of wood pellets for a long night of burn. This fire pit is high temperature painted with sand finish. A hang-up of ours is that over a few long hot burns the paint seemed to fade or discolor. We use wood pellets and split firewood cut to about 10 inches. It provided a nice heat with very little smoke. It comes with a wind shield and cover.
Fuel: Wood or wood pellets
Dimensions: 23”dia x 18”h
Weight: 40 lbs
8. Classic Stone Campfire Pit. For centuries we have cleared a spot, gathered stones, and collected some firewood. Some of my fondest camping memories were created around a simple campfire surround by stones. It’s a great way to continue sharping your skills and an enjoyable task you can do with your kids.
Fuel: Wood
Dimensions: TBD
Weight: None
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