What is your #1 heater?

[dan z]

Big buddy here, my only complaint is its a little to touchy with wind or tilting. I do like the o2 sensor though. and you dont have to have your volume on ten to hear over the hummmm of the sunflower/cooker

[ozzie]

big buddy for bigger house and regular buddy for my 1 man never have had much of any problems with them. still remember the first outing I had with the little buddy after using a sunflower heater and when I was done fishing I felt good and not like I had carbon monoxide poisoning like I always felt with the sunflower heaters....

[mr_jman]

Looks like the buddy heaters are winning this one hands down. My only problems are that the wind or tilting the heater seems to knock the pilot flame out sometimes but especially when the tank is getting near empty on my little buddy. Also screwing in a new 1 lb tank can sometimes be a hassle. Maybe its just my threads but sometimes the new tank just doesn't want to screw in quite right!

Out on wide open ice in the wind I have a small Coleman one only 1100 BTU but enough to keep the hands warm. Good for deer hunting too! Anyways that thing will stay going in a blizzard if you can get a match to it! I rarely use it anymore but its light enough to carry around if its a little cold but you want to hole hop.

[superseal]

Coleman ProCat heater with fan. Heats my Clam Pro easily. It's a catalytic heater (no flames to blow out)

Coleman ProCat Heater

[Steve Foss]

What is the one heater you would take out on the ice...If you could only choose one? mr.htr/ckr for me.

I'll tell you what. I've been fishing out of 2-man shelters for many years, and for about 8 years I've had a Buddy knockoff called a Dyna-Glo. Bought it at Menard's on sale for about $50. It's got 8,000 btu on high, 1,000 less than the standard Buddy, and I've been running that sucker hard in mighty cold temps up here laker fishing. It's had its share of knocks and cracks and bangs, but those are my fault, not the heater's, and it just keeps on ticking.

I almost plopped down a bunch more jing on a replacement Buddy, but in the end didn't see why I should spend it on a new one when this one is going to give me at least another year.

All in all, of the popular name brand heaters, I'd take the 9,000 btu standard Buddy. It's all a person needs btu-wise in a portable shelter that's nicely banked in with snow. Unless someone comes out with something revolutionary, I'll be going Buddy next year or the year after.

It would be different if I cooked on the ice, but I don't. I'm there to fish, not barbecue, so I don't need the cooker style heaters. Plus, you can always lay a tinfoil-wrapped bratwurst or whatever on top of the Buddy/Dyna-Glo and she'll heat it up just fine.

[TyGuy02]

Big buddy here, my only complaint is its a little to touchy with wind or tilting. I do like the o2 sensor though. and you dont have to have your volume on ten to hear over the hummmm of the sunflower/cooker

I have to agree with you on the carbon monoxide poisoning feeling.

I always had a tank-top sunflower with my portable and I hated it. I left the ice feeling sick. I was even more mad this weekend when I tried to get one of my 3 to work and couldn't. Needless to say I'm in the market for a heater now too.

I'll probably get a regular buddy.

Ohh, I almost forgot. I hated carrying the huge tank.

[westrush]

Big Buddy The Best

[Coon]

Portable Buddy...If real cold and windy I go with heater/cooker

[hamms-scooter]

Originally Posted By: hamms-scooter

What is the one heater you would take out on the ice...If you could only choose one? mr.htr/ckr for me.

For what make/model of ice house?

I use the htr/ckr in my fish trap guide. And prefer that heater but it can be a bit much in the scout so i use the buddy in there, with both heaters i hook up to 5' hose and a 5lb tank.

[HaRdWaTeR jUnKy]

big buddy

[hamms-scooter]

I took a pop can and cut it to make a shield for the pilot of my buddy heater .It works great and i just screwed it on with self tappers.The wind no longer blows it out. will be swapping it out with a shingle tin soon though pop can got brittle now over last 3 years.

[picksbigwagon]

Okay, I own 4, yes 4 propane heaters. I started off with the double sunflower, which rarely was used on both sunflowers, I then went a little more portable and got the single sunflower. It has its uses when it is really cold out and is always in my voyager as a back up. I then bought a buddy heater knock off (another dynaglo) and it has been my go to heater in my voyager and my solo house for a long time. I keep the heater in the sled of the voyager on a shelf that I clamp on behind the seats. Sure it might get a little cool in front where the holes are, but with reflectix, you don't stay cold for long.

Last winter I bought that new small buddy base camp heater and use that in my solo house. Lots of heat in my small otter house, but once again it is insulated with reflectix as well.

I haven't used my double sunflower in probably 5 years, but it is still in it's box and will be used again at sometime.....

[Nilsfisher]

I have a Mr. heater/cooker model. I have a 12ft. hose that runs to the 20lb tank that I leave in the sled. I can go almost the entire winter on one tank with the heater on low and that heats my ice house almost too well, need to open the door sometimes. I made a little stand to block up the one end to aim at a 45 degree angle so it aims at me and not up or straight along the ice.

just my 2 cents.

[kklund]

dynaglow!! easy to start and the price was right!~

[fish]

Sorry to be off topic.

I have had a Big Buddy for three years. It is so unreliable. I have a hard time lighting the pilot and an even harder time keeping it running. I had heard it was important to run it with a filter when using a bulk tank. I always have. I am to the point with it where last year I didn't even use it and just used my heater/cooker as that is extremely reliable. I feel like I wasted a lot of money.

Does anybody have a thought that would be helpful for me?

[hamms-scooter]

I have a Mr. heater/cooker model. I have a 12ft. hose that runs to the 20lb tank that I leave in the sled. I can go almost the entire winter on one tank with the heater on low and that heats my ice house almost too well, need to open the door sometimes. I made a little stand to block up the one end to aim at a 45 degree angle so it aims at me and not up or straight along the ice.

just my 2 cents.

That is something i need to do is aim that thing up a bit ice melts ao much.

[shiltsy]

I was going back and forth trying to decide what heater to pick up. I grabbed the Big Buddy (on sale at Northern Tool) today for $99, which is a good price.

I had it out all afternoon and into the evening in my Clam Expedition. It started/ran like a champ and kept the temp very comfortable on medium. I tried High just to see what kind of heat it could put out... it would have to be WELL below zero with heavy wind to need high.

Time will tell, but the first experience with the Big Buddy was excellent.

[Fred_Bear]

Between me and my father we have 5 propane heaters; 2 sunflowers, a portable buddy, a coleman pro cat, and a smaller coleman catalytic. The two that come with us are the buddy heater and the coleman pro cat. He obviously gets first choice since he bought it all and uses the pro cat in his house and I get stuck with the buddy heater. The pro cat is awesome if you do a lot of hole hopping, and the buddy heater just plain sucks but is still better than a sunflower or heater/cooker. The pro cat only puts out 3,000 BTU but has a fan to circulate heat and keeps a 1 man portable PLENTY warm for the style of fishing we do.

[chrismackmn]

I have used a sunflower, little buddy and big buddy. The little buddy is ok for anything over 20 degrees. If it gets any colder and you may be chilled. A sunflower can crank out the heat but I have many burn holes in my jacket from it. The big buddy really gets the job done. It is small enough to put in one corner of a yukon and heats it well below zero. 99 bucks is a good price and I would recommend it.

[wolfman-k]

I found that when I use my small 'platform', a piece of plywood with four 3inch 2X2 legs, I don't have as many issues with wind & the pilot light. It also cuts way down on the amount of melt water around the heater. I also learned the hard way to have an extra red setting knob after I broke one while it was -20 one time on Mille Lacs.

I also own a Mr. heater/cooker & don't leave home without it--as my back-up or to cook with.

[hunter101]

ive got a sunflower heater, but i just cant stand the fumes. is a big buddy heater that much cleaner burning? i need to try something or im going to have to stop ice fishing. can you add a hose and run a big buddy off a 20lb tank?

[hamms-scooter]

Yes you can run that off a hose it will also heat safer. I own a buddy not the big one but they are the same.

[Fredd]

Focus five (no longer made and very expensive on HSO-Classifieds) otherwise a mr heater sunflower. A few years ago I had a buddy heater but didn't know how it was going to like the rough ride on the ice, so I took it back.