which heater to use??????

[mrjohnny]

who uses which heater and why? I would like some idea on heaters and wonder how long a one lb. cylinder last on the small buddy heater

[Holewatcher]

mine lasts about six hours on low, a lot less on high

[NWIicerookie]

i have the small buddy heater i use in my clam basecamp on low it lasts about 5.5 hrs and does more than fine for me

[wallyspartan]

i go old school.  got a coleman catalytic heater that i've never ran a full tank of fuel out of when fishing.

[ryguy201386]

i use a coleman single burner cooker top on a 1lb tank in my frabill commando on low nice and warm for 7 hours on 1 tank  

[Rat-Man]

I use a small buddy heater in my clam and just run on pilot to keep hands warm, works good.

[Bout-Time]

I use a Mr Buddy heater/cooker.

I heat my coffee water on it, and it keeps my 4x8 pretty toasty on low. I have to shut it off after 10 minutes.

I get 3-4 days fishing out of a 1lb tank usually. (my shack is painted black for solar heat and is insulated very well though)

[Tainterslayer]

About 22,000 BTUs in a pound of propane.
Jut divide by the number of BTUs per hour your heater uses
Regular buddy heater is 22,000/4000 so about 5.5 hours but might last longer since pressure decreaes at lower temp

[davejohnson2]

my buddy heater lasts about 3 hrs on high and 6 on low

[da.mike]

Me and my fishin' buddy have a Mr. Heater run off of a 20# cyclinder. Heats a 3 man Frabill Outpost all too well! Usually lasts the whole season too! I don't use it that often but when I do it works great.

[cold h2o]

i use the .buddy heater. and refill my propane myself. about 5hrs on low.  great to cook on.

[VanderLaan]

I use a small Mr. Heater that screws onto the top of a 1lb cylinder.  It will drive me out of my 2-man trap (Guide) on anything higher than low.  It has a thin wire metal frame/stand that allows me to use it to heat up soup too.  I got mine at Farm & Fleet for around $45.  My GF has a little buddy heater, but it does not heat the shanty quite as quickly as the sunflower heater does.

[W4lleye]

Well i wouldn't use just a lantern unless you have great outdoor gear.     Trust me...  *cough cough*  


When i broached the subject of heaters with one of the guys at Dick's (who also used to work at Sportmans) what the failure rates lie he told me this:  Coleman had less a return rate across the board, but  I think Mr Heaters just don't like being tossed around.  If i were to pick a heater knowing this?  I would still pick the Mr Heater, throw one of my 10 coupons at it, and a expired 20% off coupon (cuz they are crazy like that) and add the 5 year warranty.  The angled Coleman's look like an accident waiting to happen in any shanty me and my 15" boots are in.

[eriksat1]

Maybe I'm the only guy here who likes free? I use a small homemade portable wood stove. Maybe a little more trouble to haul around with a milk crate full of cut up wood. But free is free and you can't beat the dry heat with no condensation problems.

[Hagigun]

It all depends on shack size. The smaller your shack, the smaller your heater can be to stay warm. Also depends where you live and how cold it gets.

I have a Clam Command post 4-6 person at 8x12. The first night we had a "Little buddy" and it just never did anything for us. Not even close to enough heat. Just way too much space.

Now we run a Mr. Heater double Sunflower on a 20# tank. We live in MN and it can get real cold, but most of the time we just light 1 of the sunflowers and we ALWAYS run on low. That still is plenty of heat and we usually open doors here and there to cool it down and vent it out. We drive our cars out, so i dont worry about weight/bulk of the tank.

All that said, the Big Buddy would probably be a better choice for our shack. Less space than my 20# tank, probably plenty of heat, and we wouldnt have to turn on and off alot. However on real cold days and nights, not sure how it would hold up, but I suspect it would be fine.

So, match your heater to your shack size and weather conditions.