okay, finally had a day out with it. as i think i previously mentioned i bought the Picogrill 239 from the company in Switzerland. final price to me was just under £90 and i had no problems with customs or the post:
in my opinion the pros of this stove are:
given the length and intensity of the test burn i fully expected some warping and buckling. I did notice that it didn't pack quite as flat after the burn as it did before but with a light squeeze -- i used a thin metal clip -- it collapses to its original thin profile without difficulty. no other issues. in other words warping etc doesn't seem to be a problem.
all in all i'm quite pleased with it. it ain't cheap and it ain't 100% perfect but it ticks a lot of boxes for me. there's nothing about it i feel i need or would want to change so i think my quest for the right "me" stove is over for the foreseeable future. if i had the option to undo my purchase i would not, i'm confident the Picogrill will serve me well. if "buy once, cry once" is a thing then this is surely a perfect example.
in my opinion the pros of this stove are:
- super lightweight, the stove alone is roughly 300g.
- very easy to pack and carry (collapses flat, everything goes into what is roughly an A4 sleeve).
- very easy to set up: just press in from the "ends" and the burn plate and cross braces flip into place, you're done.
- supports considerable weight (i imagine you'd want that cross brace in place though i've got it laying on the fire blanket near the axe).
- large enough to have a good sized fire going.
- the light gauge stainless cools off quite quickly when you're ready to pack up.
- multiple ways to load fuel in.
- to a certain degree it acts as its own wind protection.
- seems relatively unaffected by long, hot burns.
- the thin gauge metal doesn't radiate much heat like for instance the stainless Firebox does.
- it does have quite a number of holes in it, if the wind picks up your fire is going to get buffeted around a bit.
- it feels flimsy because of the thin gauge stainless although it's actually a lot sturdier than you'd think.
- the wideness of the thing is great for getting a large fire going but it does allow a lot of heat to vent off if there's a bit of a wind up. the grill is handy for giving you the option of easily moving your heating vessel over the hot spot.
- if you're going for long, hot burns you're going to need something to get it up off the ground to avoid scorching the earth. i have the stand but haven't used it yet.
given the length and intensity of the test burn i fully expected some warping and buckling. I did notice that it didn't pack quite as flat after the burn as it did before but with a light squeeze -- i used a thin metal clip -- it collapses to its original thin profile without difficulty. no other issues. in other words warping etc doesn't seem to be a problem.
all in all i'm quite pleased with it. it ain't cheap and it ain't 100% perfect but it ticks a lot of boxes for me. there's nothing about it i feel i need or would want to change so i think my quest for the right "me" stove is over for the foreseeable future. if i had the option to undo my purchase i would not, i'm confident the Picogrill will serve me well. if "buy once, cry once" is a thing then this is surely a perfect example.
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