I received my mega stove a few weeks ago, but only had time to fire it up last night. I filled it with pellets and a little lighter fluid on top and lit it up. I was skeptical about how hot it could get, but it was amazing. Probably the coolest $190 gadget I’ve ever bought in my life. It was a little chilly on the driveway, and we’d just come back from a fishing trip, and were in for a couple hours of fish cleaning outside, so I fired it up and even from five feet away, we could still feel the warmth, and it provided some nice ambiance to an otherwise somewhat dreary chore. Running a propane heater for 2-3 hours would have cost me at least $13-15 in propane, and not looked nearly as cool as the mega–running the mega for 2-3 hours (it ran so long I had to dump the burning pellets in my grill to clean up) cost me about 75 cents of fuel.The main reason I bought this thing was because my friends and I have grilling parties outside all winter long to take the edge off the boring Boston winters, and I’m always looking for cheap sources of heat and for people to sit around (makes for good ambiance). 55k btus of heat will be perfect on those freezing nights. I foresee buying a couple more megas in the next year.
I’ve never emailed a company that I’ve bought a product from. But these wood-gas stoves are so ingenious, I just had to let you know how much I appreciate these products. Btw, my GE combustion research scientist friend is buying a MEGA stove as we speak–he was very excited when I told him about it.
Mike, Boston MA
Sept. 2009