JSA369

OK, so this is a cheaper knock-off of the original model made in Europe for several times the cost. I don't like that, but I wanted this stove for a "trial run" before investing considerably more for the original. See, I've been a fan of twig stoves for years, but I've never worked with one this size before. My previous twig stove was a 3" x 3", which is great for the occasional cup of coffee for one person, but now that I am leading groups again I needed something with a bit more horsepower but without the weight of a fueled stove.This unit performs very well. As soon as it arrived I took it out for a burn-in fire. Using very dry oak splits I built and maintained a hot fire in this stove for over 3 hours. Really hot...hot enough for some of the edges to glow. I was looking for warping that some other reviewers of this and similar stoves have mentioned. Allowed the stove to cool off and then checked it carefully...not a single wave or unflat surface; disassembled and reassembled exactly as when new. Perhaps some others have dumped water on it after they finished but before it cooled off, which is a great way to create warping.Had no trouble maintaining a hot fire. The opening through which you feed the fire is very ample, and once you get a decent bed of red coals feeding long splits through the opening and pushing them in further as they are consumed is definitely superior to tossing in small chunks. This is exactly as I have found with other twig stoves.Keeping it burning and hot is many orders of magnitude easier than my 3" x 3" stoves as the coal bed is large enough to maintain decent thermal inertia.I like that the criss-cross pot holder on top can be used to match the top edge of the stove for a large flat surface for a pan or grill, but can also be flipped over when heating a cup to allow the bottom of the cup to sit lower in the stove. With a moderate fire water in my 20-ounce Stanley cup boiled in less than 5 minutes, which is good performance indeed.The bag that it comes with is no great shakes, but it does the job.Would I buy this item again if cost was a serious consideration? Yes. Will I eventually purchase one like it from the original European maker because I don't feel good about the misappropriation of intellectual property and undercutting a dedicated design and manufacturing team? Absolutely.