Sunflower or BigBuddy

[TruthWalleyes]

Will Do...Won't be out again until my Marcum comes back from service, so hopefully i'll have some good use out of the big buddy by next monday with the coleman battery pack and some feedback..

I hate unreliability!

[FishinFools]

My lovely bride bought me a Big Buddy for Christmas so I am new with this. First thing I did was stow it in the sled with the fan on. Next thing I did was wire a small LED (red) in line with the fan switch. Nothing says " turn off the fan [PoorWordUsage]" when folding down a shelter in the dark like a red LED. My big problem is when the tanks run out and I put new ones in. I can't get the thing to start again! Could be cold gas? Could be frozen lines? I would love to find a fix to this. I do not want another " big " thing to carry ie a 20lb tank. Where do you get a 5 lb tank?

[Trump34]

I just used my Big Buddy for the first time and noticed several benefits versus a sunflower.

It is a lot safer if you have kids. My 6 & 4 YO spent the entire day with me. No melted snow pants, lines or canvas.

The kids knocked it over twice, shut off immediately, and was easy to re-light.

The fan is awesome and almost mandatory on nasty days like yesterday. The Big Buddy kept my portable warm but it took all it had.

It is also a lot quieter than a sunflower.

Overall I highly recommend it.

[copperjohn]

You can also find 6volt rechargables for Kids electric cars and game trail cameras and some emergency lighting systems. Radio shack and HSO-Classifieds have adapter plugs that will convert 12 volt to 6 volt also. I just use 6 dollar energizer lantern battery and has been working for 2 years now. Lots of options.

[MN BassFisher]

Sunflower's are cheaper and pump out more BTU's. Buddy's are expensive but they have some nice features. You can't go wrong, I got a big buddy and I have heard so many bad things about them. I've used mine about 20 times this season already and haven't encountered a single problem. I use the 12ft quick disconnect hose with a 20lb tank most of the time (I wanna get my hands on a 10lb tank). My friend's dad works as a fire inspector, so we took out his CO meter. We were fishing in a 6X12 with two big buddy's. When the CO meter would reach about 35 ppm the alarm would sound on the meter, and then our buddy heaters would turn off. That's a nice safety feature as Carbon Monoxide poisoning is no joke. Dtro posted about another man dieing in his fish house from CO poisoning. Sunflowers are the good, trusted heating unit. If you decide to get a buddy. I think you'll be happy too (just don't try to use it outside in some wind).

[TruthWalleyes]

To those having problems with your buddies...I suggest reading the manual. I read mine over yesterday before even starting it...learned a few things that could have solved your guy's problems if you had just read the manual.

Interesting fact #1 - Carbon MOnoxide causes cancer in California Lol

Interesting fact #2 - When you hook up a new tank, it may take anywhere from 1 minute to 5 minutes to drain the air from the line depending on the length of hose you are using...probably solves most people's problems.

Interesting Fact #3 - If there are blue flames coming out the top of the burner, there is probably cobb webs or spider webs, dust etc in the burner. Clean it out.

Interesting Fact #4 - They specify a vent size for the big buddy... two 4 1/2" square vents are the MInimum.

I also liked that they have a full disassembly drawing in the manual as well as a parts list...Makes it easy to take apart and clean if necessary.

I had 4 dcell rechargable batteries laying around so i'll probably skip the 6v thing for now.

Man does this thing put out some heat!!

[TruthWalleyes]

My lovely bride bought me a Big Buddy for Christmas so I am new with this. First thing I did was stow it in the sled with the fan on. Next thing I did was wire a small LED (red) in line with the fan switch. Nothing says " turn off the fan [PoorWordUsage]" when folding down a shelter in the dark like a red LED. My big problem is when the tanks run out and I put new ones in. I can't get the thing to start again! Could be cold gas? Could be frozen lines? I would love to find a fix to this. I do not want another " big " thing to carry ie a 20lb tank. Where do you get a 5 lb tank?

Hold down the pilot light without lighting it for a few minutes to drain the air out of the lines.

[CaptainMusky]

Purging the line the first time is a must. It took me what seemed like hours to light the first time, but every time since it has been seconds even when I disconnect from the tank and heater.

Truth, I think life causes cancer. LOL

Interesting some of those little known facts. :-)

[TruthWalleyes]

Ran it for a while yesterday at home...Left the fan on overnight

Good thing i've got rechargeable batteries Cuz that fan is Whisper Quiet!!

[Hawg]

In this post, like I stated, I'm 100% buddy but if you have a cure for the regular buddy not working well (quiet and steady) on the low setting there are 1000's of us waiting to hear it. I have way too many horror stories to tell of sunflowers over the years.

[TruthWalleyes]

Maybe you should take the ceramic heating part out of it and clean it...reading the manual it sounds like a lot of problems can be caused by spider webbs in the burner. I've had a regular buddy for 2yrs with no problems, and i got that unit from someone who had it for a few years prior with no problems.

[Northlander]

I'm probably going to get alot of flack for this post but I'm going to step out on a limb and say they most of the problems with Big Buddy owners is the operator. Many of the early buddy heaters did have problems. These issues have been corrected. You must first ensure that you read the manual to properly run these units. Many problems are related to using the wrong hoses, filter, regulators etc. I have owned two of these Big Buddy Heaters and have no problems. Good amount of heat, clean regarding CO, and have yet to burn a hole in the portable tent. I've had a couple of friends cuss these only to find out they were not working them correctly. Take the leap and buy one. They are well worth the money. I have two sunflowers and they do have their uses - good heat, cook food, and for giving day long headaches. Just my opinion.

I doubt this. Those buddies have way more issues than operator errors. I went through 5, thats right 5. I know it wasnt my fault they didnt work reliably.

By the time you buy the buddy, the hose with special filter/regulator and a carrying case because you better not get them wet with snow it costs a small fortune. No thanks. Sunflower for me. Reliable heat every time. I will open a window and vent.

[Hawg]

Brand new, can't be the ceramic. Gander Mt guy says they are all like that.

[nubote]

I use rechargable a 6v battery from my portable fishfinder. You can find them where they sell deer feeders. I took the the back off the BB and put jumper wires on the power leads and put the wires out the holes to the 1# propane compartment that I don't need. I put the battery in there when I fire it up. The switch placement guarantees that you'll be using lots of D cells because it always ends up on.

[fishersofmen]

Yep the flower for me too. Have been usuing the same one for over 10 years without an issue.

[CaptainMusky]

I doubt this. Those buddies have way more issues than operator errors. I went through 5, thats right 5. I know it wasnt my fault they didnt work reliably.

By the time you buy the buddy, the hose with special filter/regulator and a carrying case because you better not get them wet with snow it costs a small fortune. No thanks. Sunflower for me. Reliable heat every time. I will open a window and vent.

Thats funny, last outing my buddy took a complete shovel full of snow and slush and threw it directly in my buddy heater. NOT on purpose, on mistake. The whole front of it was plugged with snow.

I just about crapped because I figured it wasnt going to light and it was dang cold out.

I took the front grill off and shook the snow out, then stuck the end of my spring bobber in the pilot light to clean it out.

Turned the igniter three times and it lit. There was some crackling from the water/snow still on the elements, but it worked perfectly fine.

[Love2Cabin]

I kind of like my Big Buddy but if it is going to give me some troubles I better stock up on them. To all you guys who want to get rid of their's send me a message and maybe we can work something out.

[FISHINGURU]

Mr Heater cooker

[Captain Happy]

Sunflower or go home to warm up, I've had nothing but bad experiences with the Buddy, wish there was a class action lawsuit on them.

[goose89]

Do a search for problems / issues with mr. heather cookers vs. buddy or big buddy heaters. 'nuf said........good luck............

[AsianSensation89]

I agree with the Mr. Heater cooker FTW.

It seems like you can use this more than just during the winter. The reason why I decided to buy mine was that I realized I could use it during the summer to bring it during camping or something. Times like that it will be very useful. However, if you find that you don't do much camping, then the big buddy will do you well. For the most part, either one of the big buddy and cooker can both link up to a big propane tank. Only difference is cause big buddy is bigger, it will produce more heat. At the end it wouldn't make much difference if you plan to hook them up to a propane tank.

[courtlandpond]

The buddy heaters are great only because of its safety features. BUT in my opinion the sunflower is more reliable and can be used just as safely with common sense. You'll never need it on "HIGH" and you shouldn't ever fall asleep with either one running in an ice house. I have used both and I have chosen to stick with the sunflower. When comparing the two I find the sunflower takes up less space and its great for cooking a meal on those long outings. I'll run the sunflower on my "super low" setting all day and the house temp is perfect.

[fisherman-andy]

I've had bad experiences with buddy heaters myself. They fire up all fine an dandy while at home, in the car, garage. But I can never get them to work properly on the hard water. Often find myself fishing in very cold temps with bad windchills occasionally. The buddy will seem to work fine at first then go out and be almost next to impossible to get it going again consistently.

Im not saying their bad and all and I am certainly thinking of buying a big buddy again to try to renew my faith in the product. But never will I go without a heater/cooker or sunflower when tackling below zero temps. I've learn my lesson big time. Even if the buddy works, I will not leave the heater cooker at home. If your trying to warm a room up fast nothing beats it.

Big buddy = convenience, safety

Heater cooker/sunflower = reliability, safe as long as you understand the consequences of using one

[DeeJ]

To those having problems with your buddies...I suggest reading the manual... if you had just read the manual.

x2!

[SFC]

Maybe everyone who have had problems with the buddy heaters post the year u had bought them and the size u bought. Its obvious they had problems or maybe they still do. Most products get the kinks worked out over time. Maybe this way people will know if they have taken care of the problems. I still see alot of misinformation on the hose-filter-quickcoupler with regulater posted, check their HSOforum for info. I bought a reg. buddy 2009 it has worked great. My dad has a sunflower that has worked for the last 15 years or so, time will tell with my heater.