Flame Genie FG-16 13.5" Diameter Portable Pit, Smoke Free, Wood Pellet Fire Pit, Smokeless Fire Pits for Outside, Smokeless Firepit, USA Made, Black

This is amazing! I dont understand the one complaint about this having a learning curve or being difficult to maintain. I dumped in about 1 1/2 " of pellets, added a little lighter fluid, and in 3-4 minutes I had a great fire. I got a stick at about 20 minutes and cleared about and inch hole in the middle and put 3 pieces of left over cut wood from a weekend project that we're about 1" x 6" and that REALLY helped extend the fire thru the "nursing" period that everyone talks about. I got a ladel and sprinkled about a cup of pellets around the outer edge (think sprinkles on a cake) and this thing has been going great for an hour. The heat is intense. So much, I stepped away to write this review. Now it's sprinkling rain and the fire seems to be doing ok. The base is cool to the touch (see pictures) as my fire fighter husband questioned my logic of sticking it on the deck. I did that on purpose. So save your money and don't by the Solo, I mean stainless steel is nice, but I like to hang on to my money. I got the 12" genie and I believe it to be perfectly adequate for our camp trailer packing and for nights we want a fast fire to knock the chill off and enjoy a drink before bed and not have to waste precious water when dry camping to put it out a typical fire.As a special note: PELLETS CAN CROSS STATE LINES AND INTO CANADA WITHOUT CUT WOOD RESTRICTIONS.I also already know that this will be great with briquettes with a round grate for a little bbq, so the hibachi is going bye-bye.Since starting this, we have been having a heavy rain for 2-3 munutes and it did finally put it out, but the pellets had burned down a good bit. I added two hand fulls and fanned it 30 seconds with a piece of cardboard and have a nice fire again. Yes, when it goes out like that it will smoke as the the pellets heat the smoke then flash over to ignite...all if these type stoves will do that.So, between baking a cake and taking a few phone calls being interrupted writing this, it has burned for almost 90 minute with minimal effort. Also, with this fire, the paint seems to be curing well.I look forward to hundreds of hours of use with this amazing genie!Just go for it! This won't disappoint!

I decided to rewrite my review after giving this fire pit another try. This is a great little fire pit for it's size. Make sure there is no wind and you do not attempt to add more pellets while there is a flame. The best way to use it is to start it up (use about 3 Fatwood sticks to initially start) and then let it go until it burns out--approximately 40 minutes. You can then add more pellets and start the process over. If you don't set your expectations too high, the unit is really pretty cool! We were going to send it back but then decided to try using it again on a calm night without wind and allowed the pellets to burn without adding more and were pleasantly surprised at how well it worked! This was purchased with a gift card that was given to us so we had wanted to buy something fun that we might not otherwise have purchased and were glad we did! I would recommend this as a relatively safe way to have a small bonfire without the hassle of gathering wood and waiting long times for the fire to burn down. It does get VERY hot and there are some hot ashes that do drip down. We used a metal oil pan underneath to catch the ash and soot and occasional hot ember. DO NOT use this on a wood or composite deck!

Great little fire pit. When its burning at full burn, it really puts off a lot of heat and it looks great while doing it. The secondary burn at the top really creates some unique patterns. Cleaning is a snap to. I have a stick that I just tap on the grate after it has cooled down and any ash still siting on the grate then falls through.Now there are some issues I feel that need to be noted. This isnt like a regular fire pit where you got lots of time with a few big chunks of wood that are on fire. There is no popping or cracking of fire wood, Just a nice looking flame coming out of the top and some great heat at full burn. Full burn though, is very short. You have to put about 2 inches of pellets in the bottom and get it started. If you use a gel fire starter, its best to give a quick squeeze over the entire area for even burning and a much quicker start. If you only light a couple spots, your going to be waiting a really long time for this thing to catch fire. You put enough starter gel over the entire top and it will be at full burn in about 15 minutes tops and this is where the issue starts....You constantly have to feed this thing pellets. Like every 5 minutes or so. So it can make it difficult if your trying to sit around it with your friends and relax. I dont think this is designed to be used for hours at a time. I think its basically, get it going, throw some pellets on it a few times then let it go out. 30-45 minutes, maybe an hour if you are feeling frisky. The constant need to feed it is its biggest downside. This also requires a fair amount of practice!. I have added to much on a few occasions and had it smother it right out and turn what is almost completely smokeless, into a column of smoke that you are now afraid your neighbors are calling the fire dept thinking your house has got to be on fire! Seriously, the mount of smoke that it can cause is just absolutely unbelievable. The good news though is that the chamber is still very hot. Let it smoke and build up the gases in it for about a minute then just try to relight the very top of the pot. It will instantly flame back up and all smoke is gone. So adding pellets so you dont have this problem will take some practice if you are not used to working with pellets.I had about 6, 45 minutes-1 hour burning sessions with it before I finally dumped the ashes that collected underneath. To my surprise, it was only about half full. Overall very pleased with my flame genie!Attached a couple pictures. One at full burn, notice how high the fame is and the little fire wizard wielding his flaming sword! Its putting out a lot of heat at this point. The other picture is of it just about done. Notice how most of the embers have fallen through the grate and into the bottom and it is now lit up with the red words, Flame Genie. A very nice touch!!