Looking for a no-fuss wood stove that easily stows into your backpack? The Solognac Stainless Steel Wood Burning Camp Stove from Decathlon does just that. This flat-pack stove takes little space in your pack and it doesn’t require you to carry extra fuel sources.
After numerous field tests, this review will look into Solognac’s features, price, and specs to help you decide if this portable wood stove is for you.
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For bushcraft and backcountry adventurists, even preppers, the Solognac wood-burning camping stove helps with the obvious – making fire, but it also assists in survival situations where water needs to be sterilized, the food needs to be cooked or you need a quick method to warm up.
Decathlon’s Solognac Stove comes with a fire retardant mat, a support tab for loading wood, a grill, and a carry bag. All of which allows you to safely and quickly make a fire in a couple of minutes.
Whether you are faced with windy conditions, the cold or just looking to enjoy the warmth of a small fire, the Solognac Wood-Burning Stove is the perfect solution. With its stainless steel combustion chamber, quick set up and it being a lightweight, flat pack stove, it's a great way to bring relief from the cold, get a warm meal into your belly and even make more drinkable water.
- Easy transport
- Small and lightweight
- Limitless fuel supply
- Corrosion resistant
- Easy to use
- Affordable
- Works in any climate
- Mat offers limited protection
Stove Specifications
Material
Let’s start with the most important feature – material. A portable wood-burning stove should be able to take high temperatures without warping, melting, etc. Thankfully, the Solognac is made from 304 stainless steel, which is the most common stainless steel, and won’t rust anytime soon. It also means you’ll have the stove for a very long time!
Size
I’ve mentioned that the stove is small and flat-packable, but how small is it? The triangular Solognac Camping Stove is 7.87″ (20 cm) high x 7.87″ (20 cm) wide folded or unfolded. Once folded, it is 1.97″ (5 cm) thick. The stove, cover, and support tab tucks neatly into the provided carry bag, allowing effortless packing into your backpack.
Weight
Let’s put the weight into perspective. We have a BioLite CampStove, also a wood-burning stove featuring charging capabilities, which weighs 2.06 lbs (935 g). On the other hand, the Solognac weighs a mere 1.57 lbs (710 g). This weight includes the stove, mat and case.
Being a flat pack is also very advantageous here as it does not take up as much space as the BioLite, which is cylindrical. The Solognac fits in our backpack neatly whereas the BioLite always has to pack separately. The BioLite takes up a lot of valuable space that could be better used for other gear.
Support Tab
When it comes to loading Decathlon’s Solognac stove, you have the option to load from the top or use the support tab found on the side of the wood-burning stove. This is such a useful and well-thought-out feature, especially when it comes to campsite cooking.
Going back to my comparison with the BioLite stove, to feed this particular firewood stove, you need to remove the pot/pan/food from the stovetop to keep the fire going. That is a complete pain and one of the reasons why we do not use the BioLite much.
The Solognac’s support tab allows for continuous and uninterrupted cooking. Even if not cooking, feeding the stove from the side is safer and greatly reduces the risk of getting burned. Especially when a roaring fire is throwing giant flames off the top of the stove. The last thing you want is to seek medical attention in the middle of nowhere.
The Cover
It’s not a cover per se, it’s more like a multi-functional grill top. As mentioned earlier, you can load your stove from the top. With the grill-style cover attached, you can still sneak in your fuel from the top as the grill slots are sized accordingly. However, you wouldn’t need to as this stove will side load.
Positioning a tea kettle, pan, or pot is made super easy as placement does not need to be accurate. Our BioLite CampStove needs the pot to be positioned just right, otherwise, you risk tipping and it’s come close many times – especially once a rolling boil is reached. We always carry a stainless steel cup to boil water to make it safe for drinking, but this cup is a bit small for our other stoves. With a grill top, size does not matter!
If you’d like to see the price and full details, you can find it here.
Flame-Retardant Mat
The Decathlon’s Solognac Stove comes with an 11.69″ x 11.69″ non-flammable mat for added ground protection.
Step-by-Step Guide on How To Use the Solognac Stove
- Find a flat area and clear it from debris.
- Place the inflammable mat down.
- To assemble the stove, simply unfold it, unclip the plate, and push it down.
- Place the support tab into the opening. Make sure it’s locked in place.
- Load the stove from the top.
- Place the cover (grill) on top and place it on the mat.
- Check for level, before lighting! You’re now ready to use the Solognac Wood-Burning Stove!
A few key points to keep in mind:
Storing the Solognac Stove
- Before packing the wilderness stove, pour water to douse the flame on the lit stove.
- Make sure the stove is cool!
- Empty the ash.
- Wipe it down with a damp cloth. (For a thorough cleaning you can use soap with water)
- Fold it up and place the stove and its accessories back into its carrying bag.
Boiling Water
The million-dollar question is always “How long does it take for this stove to boil water?” With the Solognac, I clocked 10.5 minutes for 1 liter of water. And that’s for a really strong, roaring boil. Some people would call it sooner but I prefer being safe – since I scouped my water from a lake…
These boil times, however, can vary based on water temp, container, quality of fire, and so on. The stove’s stainless steel construction will always help to contain and channel heat where it belongs. The bottom, slotted plate raises the fuel off the stove bottom, and coupled with the slots in the sides of the stove, there is plenty of airflow for a good fire. I can wholeheartedly say it’s faster and far easier than trying to make a makeshift fire pit and pot stand in the woods.
Let’s take one step backward as to why water boiling times matter so much. From sterilizing water for safe consumption to cooking meals such as mres, managing and using water in the bush or camp is a very common task.
If you’re interested, check out the Solognac Stove at Decathlon here.
Alternatives to Wood-Burning Stoves
We can chit-chat about the Solognac stove’s merits all day long but it doesn’t mean anything without context. You’re reading this post because you need a stove for your outdoor adventures, period. So let’s look at other various fuels to put the Solognac into perspective.
Gas
A gas fuel source is more convenient, no one can argue that. Flick a switch and you have an instant flame. Often a flame powerful enough to boil water within minutes – and substantially faster than any portable wood stove. There’s the pros and I love my gas burners for certain applications.
The cons (and the big con in the room) is when gas works. In cold temperatures (around freezing or below), the most popular stove models of gas camp stoves (isobutane) fail to work! If cold weather activities are your thing, get a wood burner first. Then add a gas one later as you expand your arsenal of gear.
Second of all, you are looking at a more expensive stove (mine is $180), with fuel that needs to be bought ($7-$15 per bottle) and more importantly sourced and brought into your location. In other words, a limited resource and you best be calculating your gas needs very carefully! For any longer trips, camping wood stoves are much less worry.
Alcohol or Tablet Stoves
Let’s rephrase this, it’s more like alcohol or tablet fuel in a wood-burning stove. Again a limited resource. Tablets I’ve tried and haven’t had much luck with either – nor would I want to grill over top of whatever chemicals are in the tablets.
Neither alcohol nor tablet is my cup of tea. It’s expensive and I find it doesn’t burn long enough to be meaningful.
YouTube Video Review of the Solognac Wood Burning Stove
The Verdict
After many months of field testing the Solognac Wood Burning Camp Stove, I would say that this stove is a winner and highly recommended. Is it revolutionary, mind-boggling or super special? No. But it certainly is a beefier and smarter take on the assembleable (don’t spell check that) wood-burning stove. From an experienced perspective, it’s really hard to find fault with it and it serves its purposes quite well. It’s also a steal at $45 with ZERO ongoing costs!
If you’re ready to lighten your backpack load with a high-quality, versatile camp stove, then try the Solognac Stainless Steel Wood-Burning Stove today!
Disclosure
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Decathlon graciously provided the Solognac stove at no charge to us. We thank them graciously for valuing our opinions and trusting us to review their product. Links to products from our site provide a small affiliate commission to us at no charge to you. We really appreciate you supporting our blog by using our links. You can also support us by following us on social media and subscribing to our newsletter.
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I think my husband would really enjoy this item!
I’m sure he would. It’s such a convenient stove to have in the bush. Thanks for reading my post.
What a good piece of kit.
Yes, it really is and I couldnt be happier with it. Thank you for your comment!