Another stove question...Smith or LO?

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Aug 6, 2016
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I'm about to get a sawtooth I think. Narrowed my stove selection down to the 18" Smith or the 18" liteoutdoors. Opinions, knowledge, and experiences would be welcome.

I gather that, from what I've read, both will adequately heat the shelter. And there isn't a lot of difference in weight.
 

FlyGuy

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I have the Kifaru Smith, but if I did it over again today I would go with the LO. Primarily b/c of their door. It is cut both larger (Bigger diameter wood) and lower (much easier access for your bic lighter to actually reach down to the tinder. That is hard to do with the small and center cut Kifaru door opening, and when everything is wet it becomes very frustrating trying to get the fire going. The LO stove also seals much tighter than the Kifaru so I think it will burn longer. The baffle looks like a great addition, but I can't say from experience if it actually makes a difference.

The Smith is great, don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of Kifaru , But I think LO has just put a lot more design effort into their product.

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OP
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That's one thing I did like about the liteoutdoors. The connections with the springs and rods seem like they might create a better seal than wiring the thing together.
 
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Having had both I sold the LO and kept the Smith.

Smith is definitely lighter weight (18” body and 7’ pipe). No small parts to lose (wing nuts, springs, rods etc). The large door is great when wood is dry and pristine but wet or crappy wood pops embers out the giant front door. It seals well enough that when the door is shut to avoid embers flying out it would starve for air and rattle the door like crazy. (Super annoying). Then you’d have to find the sweet spot for enough air in and to stop rattle but not so open the embers we’re flying out at you. (Never had a problem like this with the Smith stove).

So with price near the same but Smith lighter weight and no worry about embers flying out I’m glad I kept the Smith stove.
 
OP
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Thanks for the insight bill. I sort of figured they were both going to be noisy and that was just part of the deal when using a stove like that.
 

Hall256

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In my opinion the Lite Outdoors does not have the issue as noted above. Not sure what small parts that were being mentioned but the hole stove is 3 18" rods, a front plate and a base plate....oh and 4 legs. Perhaps the user had an older model. Noise...no real issue. The only time I have had my door rattle is when I closed the damper too much and reopened it....but during normal burns with the damper used properly there was no door rattle.

I have not used the Smith stove, but have used the Kifaru box stove....honestly both are good, but the Lite Outdoors is just a little better. My friend who has the box stove is switching to a Lite Outdoors this year.

Hope that helped a little, you would probably be happy with either.

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530Chukar

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In my opinion the Lite Outdoors does not have the issue as noted above. Not sure what small parts that were being mentioned but the hole stove is 3 18" rods, a front plate and a base plate....oh and 4 legs. Perhaps the user had an older model. Noise...no real issue. The only time I have had my door rattle is when I closed the damper too much and reopened it....but during normal burns with the damper used properly there was no door rattle.

I have not used the Smith stove, but have used the Kifaru box stove....honestly both are good, but the Lite Outdoors is just a little better. My friend who has the box stove is switching to a Lite Outdoors this year.

Hope that helped a little, you would probably be happy with either.

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I’d agree with the above statement. I have the LO and not really any small parts. They provide you with more than enough cables for the body and pipe. I think you could even get away without the body cables if you wanted. Using mine I’ve never had the door rattle or embers popping out the front. The only noise that has been created was when the fire is stoked very well and it is trying to suck more air in the front damper faster than gases can be exhausted out the pipe and this makes a bit of a pudding sound through the front damper with some smoke. The door seals very tight.


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Have you guys found a way to cook on the cylinder stoves? I’m looking to get one and I’m torn between the SeemOutside and the LO


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OP
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Thanks for the reply guys. I think the older LO soves had wing nuts, but from what I've seen and read, the newer ones don't. Is that correct?
 

Hall256

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Thanks for the reply guys. I think the older LO soves had wing nuts, but from what I've seen and read, the newer ones don't. Is that correct?
Correct...the new rods have a spring tensioner. It is a pretty good design and a quick set up. I forgot to mention in my last post, but if you go with LO make sure you also order the baffle....that thing works pretty damn good.

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Hall256

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Have you guys found a way to cook on the cylinder stoves? I’m looking to get one and I’m torn between the SeemOutside and the LO


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Have not cooked on it, but did place a MSR skillet and 1L pot on it to keep food warm, and it did fine (like burned my mouth because it got the stuff too hot).

Have no doubt that if I wanted to cook someting from scratch I could, but just haven't tried it yet.

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OP
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It's looking like I may go with the liteoutdoors. The design just appears more solid to me. So other than the formentioned of noise and a few ounces, is there any real benefit in going with the Smith?
 

Ross

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The lite outdoors from my review was just more refined. There are no wing Nuts, no wires looks to seal tighter with the updated use of springs to seal the stove to the door and back and the larger door serves you better for larger wood if wanted. I have found no rattling issues so far. Good luck on your choice selection.
 

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sneaky

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Having had both I sold the LO and kept the Smith.

Smith is definitely lighter weight (18” body and 7’ pipe). No small parts to lose (wing nuts, springs, rods etc). The large door is great when wood is dry and pristine but wet or crappy wood pops embers out the giant front door. It seals well enough that when the door is shut to avoid embers flying out it would starve for air and rattle the door like crazy. (Super annoying). Then you’d have to find the sweet spot for enough air in and to stop rattle but not so open the embers we’re flying out at you. (Never had a problem like this with the Smith stove).

So with price near the same but Smith lighter weight and no worry about embers flying out I’m glad I kept the Smith stove.
Your experience is a compete 180 from what everyone else reports on the LO stoves. As far as small parts, doesn't your Smith stove come with a bunch of wires? Lose those and you are SOL. You obviously had an older LO stove, because the new one is a great piece of gear, and not everyone uses or needs a 7' pipe. I'll take the spring loaded rods over a bunch of wire ties any day of the week.

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Your experience is a compete 180 from what everyone else reports on the LO stoves. As far as small parts, doesn't your Smith stove come with a bunch of wires? Lose those and you are SOL. You obviously had an older LO stove, because the new one is a great piece of gear, and not everyone uses or needs a 7' pipe. I'll take the spring loaded rods over a bunch of wire ties any day of the week.

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I did have early versions of the LI Stove. The smaller front door and the larger front door model. One model with cables and one model with rods, springs, and wing nuts. Wont say either model was a bad stove or design. Had great use from both.

When I started looking at reducing overall pack weight I looked into the Smith Cylinder Stove. Compared to the two LO models I had....It’s lighter and has less “free” moving parts. Period. I was also skeptical about the wire ties and called Aron asking about them. He assured me they’ve been well tested and as a back up measure there’s extra length to them if a guy had to cut one to use somewhere else it would be possible. There’s no way a guy is gonna be stranded without a way to hold anything together. We also talked about shitty wood and the ember popping. He agreed “good” wood burns better than “bad” wood and when I’m trying to burn wet green wood I’m gonna probably have some embers flying. That’s not any stoves fault but mine and what’s available for me to burn. Again, having 2 LO stoves and the Smith Stove hunting and camping in the same areas I see similar wood and haven’t had the same issues with the Smith Stove I had with my LO stoves.

I’m not trying to convince anybody to buy one over the other and everybody’s experience will be a little different.

But from my experience....I’ve had less issues with the Smith, it weighs less, and has less moving parts to worry about. I spend too much time plotting, planing, waiting for the month of Sept to have the stove on my radar of stuff to think about. Best advice is go with the model you feel most confident with and have fun.
 
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