2014 Gear Of The Year: Biolite Basecamp

Like many others, the 50 Campfires crew was sitting around one day thinking, “Man, it’d be pretty cool if we could have a compactable stove top that also had a large enough cook top for something like eight burgers at once. If that stove top could have foldable legs to adjust cooking heights, that’d be even better. For the times we need to transport this stove, it’d be really great if it came with a handle. What if the stove had a lever that could turn from grill to boil with one touch? If we want to get real crazy, how cool would it be to have a USB port built in to charge all our favorite gadgets? While we’re at it, maybe it could cook for us too. Yeah, wouldn’t that be a dream?”

Then, like the eighth wonder of the world, Biolite swoops into our conversation (like they do with everyone’s conversations) and says, “As a matter of fact, 50 Campfires crew, our Biolite Base Camp Stove does all of that. It comes with a 5 watt USB charger, large cook top, a smart dashboard to show heat temperatures and charging voltage, a 1-touch grill-to-boil lever, foldable legs, and a handle for use. We will even throw in a nifty USB light that attaches for when you need to cook in the middle of the night. As for cooking your food for you, you’re on your own.”

Much like everyone else, our own response was, “Wow! The Biolite Base Camp Stove should be 50 Campfires Gear of the Year for how great it is!” So it was said, and so it will be done. Oh, and for the cherry on top, Biolite makes a Home Stove that is being populated to areas in India and Africa to help with clean cooking to underprivileged areas. The success of this project all depends on the success of their other products. How cool is that?

Price: $299.99