BioLite FirePit+ Review: The Ultimate Portable Fire Pit

Nothing beats grilling and sitting around a campfire with friends. Photo: Rebecca Parsons

Bonfires are my absolute favorite part of camping. Nothing beats sitting around a campfire with friends, eating, drinking, and swapping stories. Some campgrounds don't have fire pits, but most allow fires, as long as they’re contained. Cue the BioLite FirePit+. The FirePit+ is a portable, wood and charcoal-burning fire pit that produces smoke-free flames, energy for your devices, and makes an incredible cook stove, to boot.

Measuring 27" x 13" x 15.8" and weighing in at 19.8 pounds, the Biloite FirePit+ burns firewood or charcoal. The upgraded body design works to radiate heat outward and the upgraded high-temperature enamel coating ensures the fire pit is durable. The fire pit has 51 air jets that inject the fire with oxygen along key locations, resulting in a uniform temperature across the pit.

The FirePit+ has an adjustable fuel rack to accommodate firewood or charcoal, as well as a grill grate. The fire pit has x-ray mesh, allowing heat to radiate from all sides of the pit. The legs fold for easy transport, and you can purchase a carrying bag to make things even easier.

The upgraded 12,800 mAH battery allows for long burn times: 30 hours on low, 14 hours on medium, or seven hours on high. The size of the flames can be controlled manually on the fire pit or remotely with the free Bluetooth app.

The BioLite FirePit+. Photo: Rebecca Parsons

I recently went on a three-day camping trip at Peacock Flats, a remote campground on the west side of Oahu with some friends. Eager to test out the Biolite FirePit+, we stopped on our way out of town and purchased some charcoal, firewood, and food to give it a go.

While the fire pit can be used without the battery pack, you’ll want to charge up ahead of time if you want to get the full use out of your pit. Unlike Biolite's CampStove 2+, which turns fire into energy, you actually have to charge up the FirePit via an outlet if you wish to use the fan and charging capabilities.

We started off with the charcoal to cook pizzadillas (quesadilla style pizza) on the grill grate. The FirePit+ was user-friendly and in no time, we had everything lit and ready for grilling. On the second night, we opted to cook hot dogs over the grill and then switch to wood for hanging around the fire. It was easy to adjust the fuel rack to transfer from charcoal to wood and after we were finished cooking, we removed the grill to enjoy the flames.

While the FirePit+ is advertised as "smoke free," we found that it did emit some smoke. However, thanks to the fans, the smoke was continuously directed upwards and never blew in our faces or caused any trouble. As someone who prefers to stay off my phone while camping, I preferred to use the manual adjustments on the FirePit+, but the app was straightforward and is a good option for the tech savvy among us.

We really enjoyed the ability to adjust the flames, allowing us to have a small, long-lasting fire, or a raging bonfire depending on the aesthetic and function we were after. The FirePit+ includes a micro-USB input, which we used to charge phones and appreciated having on a three-day trip. When we were finished, everything was easy to clean and it packed down nicely, ready to be stowed away until the next adventure.

When you’re finished grilling, you can remove the grate for a traditional campfire experience. Photo: Rebeca Parsons

If you prefer to get a little extra out of your FirePit+, Biolite offers a range of accessories to allow for more uses. They sell a FirePit Griddle, a Grill Lid, a Fire Pit Poker, a FireMat, Carry Bag, and the Prep & Grill Toolkit. While I didn't have the chance to test out the accessories, I’d be especially excited to check out the griddle for pancakes and the carry bag for easy transport and storage.