BioLite CampStove 2+ Wood-Burning Stove Review (2026): The

Why you should trust this review

I camp regularly and I came to the CampStove 2+ skeptical of the gimmick, since a stove that also charges your phone sounds like a feature added to justify a price. The unit covered here I bought myself, not a sample from BioLite, and the company had no knowledge of or influence over this review. With camping gear, the only honest test is hauling it on real trips and using it the way you actually would, not a single backyard burn.

My standard for a camp stove is whether it cooks well first and whatever else it claims second, because a stove that boils slowly or fussily is a bad stove no matter what bonus features it bolts on. So I judged the cooking on its own merits and treated the power generation as the thing that either earns the premium or does not. For our broader approach, see our methodology page.

How we evaluated

I used the CampStove 2+ across nine months of camping, feeding it the twigs, pine cones, and small wood it is designed to burn rather than carrying fuel canisters. I timed boils for one liter to put the speed claim to a real number, ran the fan through its four speeds to see how much combustion control they actually gave, and tracked how the stove handled dry versus damp fuel across different trips and conditions.

The power generation was the other half of the test. I charged phones, a headlamp, and a Bluetooth speaker off the USB output, checked how the 3200mAh battery handled charging after the fire died, and used the BioLite app to watch real time energy generation. For the standard protocol behind these checks, see our methodology page.

USB power generation: the category first feature

The power generation is the reason this stove exists and it works as advertised. A patented thermoelectric generator converts the heat from burning wood directly into electricity, producing around 3 watts of USB power while the fire is going. On a multi day trip that means you can top up a phone or a headlamp off the same fire you are cooking on, with no solar panel to angle at the sun and no power bank to remember to charge before you leave.

What makes it genuinely useful rather than a novelty is the integrated 3200mAh battery, which is a category first. The generator only makes power while the fire burns, but the battery banks that energy so you can charge a device at night after the fire is out, which is exactly when you actually want to charge things. That stored capacity turns the stove from a live only trickle charger into a small, fire fed power system, and it is the feature that separates this from a stove that merely claims to charge.

Wood burning and the combustion fan: no canisters required

Burning twigs and wood instead of fuel canisters is the practical freedom this stove offers. You feed it whatever small dry fuel is on the ground, so on a longer trip you are not rationing canisters or carrying spares, and you are not hunting for the right fuel at a trailhead store. For multi day trips where every canister is weight and a logistics problem, foraging fuel as you go is a real advantage that a gas stove cannot match.

The four speed combustion fan is what makes the wood burning efficient rather than smoky. Cranking the fan feeds air to the fire and boosts combustion, which got one liter to a boil in about 4.5 minutes in my testing, a respectable time for a wood stove. The fan also lets you tune the burn for a faster boil or a steadier simmer. The honest caveat is fuel quality: wet wood noticeably reduces both heat and power output, so on a damp trip you want to gather and dry your fuel first, which is a chore gas users never face.

App, build, and the cooking tradeoff

The included BioLite app shows real time energy generation, which sounds like fluff but is genuinely handy for understanding how hard your fire is working and whether feeding it more fuel is actually increasing your charge rate. The foldable design with an integrated grill grate supports real cooking rather than just boiling, and at 2.06 pounds it is packable enough for the kind of car camping and shorter backcountry trips it is aimed at. A one year manufacturer warranty backs it.

The cooking tradeoff has to be stated plainly. This stove boils slower than a dedicated gas stove like a Jetboil, which can get water boiling faster and does not care whether your fuel is damp. If your only priority is the fastest possible hot water with zero fuss, gas wins outright. The CampStove 2+ is making a different bet, trading some boil speed and dry weather reliability for fuel freedom and the ability to charge your devices off the fire. Whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on what you value on a trip.

Who should buy the BioLite CampStove 2+?

Buy it if you take multi day trips and want to charge a phone, headlamp, or speaker without packing a solar panel or a separate power bank, since the power generation plus the 3200mAh battery is unique in the wood stove category and genuinely useful off grid. It is also the right pick if you like the freedom of foraging twigs for fuel rather than carrying and rationing gas canisters, which simplifies logistics on longer outings.

Skip it if your priority is the fastest, most reliable boil in any weather, where a gas stove like the Jetboil is simply better and does not care about damp fuel. Skip it too if you only want a basic wood stove with no electronics, since a Solo Stove Lite does that for less money and with nothing to break. And if your trips are short enough that you never need to recharge anything, you are paying a premium for a feature you will not use.

The verdict

After nine months of camping, the BioLite CampStove 2+ is the stove I bring when a trip is long enough that keeping devices charged actually matters. It cooks competently with a 4.5 minute boil, frees you from fuel canisters by burning the twigs at your feet, and uniquely turns the fire into a power source that the integrated battery lets you tap even after the flames die. It boils slower than gas and damp fuel hurts its output, so anyone who just wants fast water in any weather should buy a Jetboil instead. But for the off grid camper who wants to charge a phone off a campfire, nothing else does the job this well.