Coleman Black Cat heater

[Crusty]

Any comments good or bad would be appreciated. Thx.

[Slannesh]

If you're planning on using it for ice fishing? Don't bother. I've got the small one and it puts out only 1500 BTUs the big one puts out 3000. Might be enough to take the edge off in a small tent if it's hovering around zero but it's strictly a late spring early fall take the edge off the cold in a tent thing for me.

[Crusty]

I have a 2p. shack. Any recommendations? Wondering about venting also. No point if you have to leave a flap wide open or ........................?

[hockey1099]

I have a 2p. shack. Any recommendations? Wondering about venting also. No point if you have to leave a flap wide open or ........................?

I have a Mr. Buddy and a sunflower heater that puts out 12,000 btu's. Bothj are good but the sunflower makes more sense as you can use a 20lb propane bottle. The buddy heaters can be modified to use a 20lb bottle as well. The smaller 1lb bottles end up costing too much if you fish alot.

All of the heaters advise not to use inside a tent. The warnings are for liability reasons. The Mr. Buddy heaters are approved for use in tents in the states but not in Canada.

[chubbdarter]

I have a Mr. Buddy and a sunflower heater that puts out 12,000 btu's. Bothj are good but the sunflower makes more sense as you can use a 20lb propane bottle. The buddy heaters can be modified to use a 20lb bottle as well. The smaller 1lb bottles end up costing too much if you fish alot.

All of the heaters advise not to use inside a tent. The warnings are for liability reasons. The Mr. Buddy heaters are approved for use in tents in the states but not in Canada.

watch for crappy tire sales....i stock up when they are 3.99 each...not too bad. the 20lber takes up to much room in my 3 man frabil

[Crusty]

What's a sunflower? Who carries them? I'll say thank you for information already posted & any new info.

[chubbdarter]

What's a sunflower? Who carries them? I'll say thank you for information already posted & any new info.

fishin hole, princess auto, crappy tire

[chubbdarter]

https://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?getProductsByDeptG=07&ALL=ALL&d=07

click on ice fishing
page 16 in that section

[WayneChristie]

I use a buddy heater, have a 3 foot hose I use to connect it to my 10 pound and 20 pound bottles, you can leave those outside the tent. the buddies go out if they tip or if you run out of air. I find my sunflower in the 2 man tent is nice heat, but if you have lots of gear or 2 people you cant get far enough away from it and end up smoking :bad_boys_20: plus they dont shut off if you run out of air or co2 builds up, at least mine doesnt

[Slannesh]

I've got a sunflower heater that does I think 8-12 thousand BTU and it's worked well so far in my 3 man tent. Haven't tried it out in any real cold yet but even on low it made life a lot more tolerable at -20ish without any wind. I'd imagine that if it was howling and -40 i'd be running it on high and hoping for the best :)

That being said if the wind was really blowing i'd be a lot more worried about the tent collapsing than being cold since mine is a pop up style one heh.

Anyhow, for a smaller tent I think the Mr. Buddy heaters are easier for size but the sunflowers are cheaper if you already have the propane tank to use and they do put out more heat overall. If I recall correctly the bigger Mr. Buddy does 5-8 or 10 thousand BTU? I'm sure someone who actually has one can correct me on that. I went with the sunflower because it was cheaper and i'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to dealing with cold so I went with the overkill option ;)

[huntsfurfish]

I have a blackcat 3000 BTU that I used all last winter. It was good (for me) on all but about 4 days(Very cold north winds). On those type of days I have a sunflower to take with me now. The days I used th 3000 my hands were comfortable and usually had my coat off or at least undone. I dont care for wet ice(melting) in the tent but want to be comfy. The tent is a large 2 man-Clam Yukon.

However, if you dont want to have two heaters go with the larger, you can always turn it on and off to stay comfortable.

What I would like is one that would put out 3000 - 6000 BTUs, prolly perfect range for me.

[mulecrazy]

I would imagine the blackcat would make a small shack plenty comfortable. Not smokin hot but comfortable enough to allow you to take your gloves off. I had a sport cat for hunting. It was a little under powered for sitting in the open on a snowy cutline at -20 deg. It helped with the hands but thats about it. Others in our group used the black cats. They worked great even when fully exposed (no blinds). They just set them up about a foot infront of them and had it pointed towards them. Made sitting for 6 hours a lot more comfortable.

[Geezle]

I run one of the sunflower style heaters on a 20lb bottle and love it. In my 2 man Clam Expedition I've never had to run it higher than its lowest setting. On warmer days I'll even turn down the valve on the tank to get it to run even lower. I'd much rather be too warm than too cold out on the ice, and since I get out a fair bit the 20lb bottle is a lot more economical than paying almost $5 a pop for the 1lb bottles. I believe that my heater is the 10000 - 14000btu model.

[thorne]

I run one of the sunflower style heaters on a 20lb bottle and love it. In my 2 man Clam Expedition I've never had to run it higher than its lowest setting. On warmer days I'll even turn down the valve on the tank to get it to run even lower. I'd much rather be too warm than too cold out on the ice, and since I get out a fair bit the 20lb bottle is a lot more economical than paying almost $5 a pop for the 1lb bottles. I believe that my heater is the 10000 - 14000btu model.

I also had a few of the coleman small bottle types....as far as cost BTU's and reliability....get teh sun flower, way more bang for the buck and far superrior for reliability...

[Perchfisher]

I have both the Buddy and the Sunflower. They both work well but you have to be a bit more careful in the wind with the Sunflower in a pop up or you will be repairing burnt holes in the fabric like me. I also use the hose on the Buddy and leave the tank outside the tent which I like better than having it in the tent.

[Crusty]

lots of info, everyone has there preferences, very hard to decide but ended up with a big buddy, 20lb w/ 15 ft. hose, (for o/s tent) and fuel filter. I'm going out friday & let you know how it all went, fishing and heating. HNY everyone !!

[Jiffy10]

Mr. Buddy definatley !!
my 4th season with it and its great
I have a few other flower stand up type and
I find them a bit tippy etc. .
and ...... your gonna laugh but..
I have one of those $2 toaster baskets and ... yup
I hang it off the front grill of my Mr. Heater with an S hook
and toast my sandwiches on it.

I guess its a small version of a propane Bar-B-Q

as far as cost of running it.... WOW ! I dont mind
the little green tanks. One per day in my outfit does me
and I'd pay 5 times that just to go fishing....