It looks like there’s finally some competition for Mr Heater in the heater business. Has anyone seen or used one of the heat hog heaters? The tilt feature looks like a nice feature.
Maybe some competition will force Mr Heater to add some innovations or changes to their lineup. My big buddy has always been reliable but I’ve always disliked how [in certain situations] medium can be not enough heat and high is way too much.
well flame king also makes one but i havent heard of anyone that has bought one but it has a thermostat that would be nice. dewalt has one also with a fan. im suprised milwaukee hasnt made one with a fan on it yet
My big buddy has always been reliable but I’ve always disliked how [in certain situations] medium can be not enough heat and high is way too much.
A tip for everyone with a Big Buddy:
You can run the second lit burner on “low” manually.
Just find the sweet spot in the dial between medium and high 
To do it, light the second burner (on “high”), then back the knob down some towards “medium”.
It gives you a 75% throttle option, instead of going from 50% (one burner on high) right to 100% (two burners on high)
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Good to know, thanks B man. I swear I’ve tried to fine tune it before but didn’t notice a difference. It’s quite a big jump going from 9k (med) to 18k (high) BTUs
Good to know, thanks B man. I swear I’ve tried to fine tune it before but didn’t notice a difference. It’s quite a big jump going from 9k (med) to 18k (high) BTUs
Yeah it’s something I figured out on my own years ago….but I’ll admit not enough years ago 
It looks like there’s finally some competition for Mr Heater in the heater business. Has anyone seen or used one of the heat hog heaters? The tilt feature looks like a nice feature.
Maybe some competition will force Mr Heater to add some innovations or changes to their lineup. My big buddy has always been reliable but I’ve always disliked how [in certain situations] medium can be not enough heat and high is way too much.
How many times have we heard of the downfall of Mr Heater?
I gave up on Big Buddies a long time ago. I only run a Sunflower but I may try one of these hog heaters.
How many times have we heard of the downfall of Mr Heater?
Where did I say anything about a downfall? Competition is a good thing for the consumer, monopolies generally are not. If a new company or product comes along and is innovative, other brands will have to keep up and the consumer wins.
I gave up on Big Buddies a long time ago. I only run a Sunflower but I may try one of these hog heaters.
Why’s that ? I have 2 big buddies one is 8 years old and 1 is 5. Both perform flawless. I thought the one was junk but after a good cleaning it performs flawless. I hate every sunflower I ever used. Thermocoupler eaters
Why’s that ? I have 2 big buddies one is 8 years old and 1 is 5. Both perform flawless. I thought the one was junk but after a good cleaning it performs flawless. I hate every sunflower I ever used. Thermocoupler eaters
Hell my little buddy heater is at least 20 years old and only issue I’ve had is the rubber washer where the tank hooks up was dry rotted
All the plastic started to crack on my hunting buddy heater. I have no idea why. I picked up the dewalt version last year and it’s been great. It has a built in light and fan that runs off of a 20v dewalt battery. Oh and has usb chargers too.
What I’m looking to find out is if the Heat Hogs have a pilot flame. THAT would be a huge differentiator. Mr Buddies are useless in any wind.
What I’m looking to find out is if the Heat Hogs have a pilot flame. THAT would be a huge differentiator. Mr Buddies are useless in any wind.
I’d be curious about this as well if anyone can chime in with first hand knowledge on the heat hogs.
I can’t remember who or what thread, but recently someone posted a mod they did to their buddy heater that was a wind shield around the pilot and it was a great idea. I think it was made of sheet metal and fastened in with rivets if I remember correctly. Anyone remember who posted that?
I gave up on Big Buddies a long time ago. I only run a Sunflower but I may try one of these hog heaters.
My head hurts and my eyes are burning by just reading that lol
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Eelpoutguy wrote:</div>
I gave up on Big Buddies a long time ago. I only run a Sunflower but I may try one of these hog heaters.My head hurts and my eyes are burning by just reading that lol
Lol I was feeling the same way
My head hurts and my eyes are burning by just reading that lol
Lol I was feeling the same way
Don’t forget the melting and burning of everything around them too haha
These hog heaters where leaving the ice show like they gave them away free.
A couple of dings on the Heat Hog that might sway a decision.
1. It seems to trip the tip sensor every time you tilt the mechanism.
2. The large version (Big Buddy competitor) only runs 1 tank. 2 will fit in the housing, but only connection for 1 tank. Also the range of motion to swivel the tank was a bit limited compared to Big Buddy (but much better than none which is on the Flame King).
A couple of dings on the Heat Hog that might sway a decision.
1. It seems to trip the tip sensor every time you tilt the mechanism.
2. The large version (Big Buddy competitor) only runs 1 tank. 2 will fit in the housing, but only connection for 1 tank. Also the range of motion to swivel the tank was a bit limited compared to Big Buddy (but much better than none which is on the Flame King).
So I havent had any issues with tilting mine, I have 2 five pound LP tanks through mine with zero issues. I have the medium one and the big one on the way.
It does have a pilot light, that’s the “low O2 sensor”. O2 gets low the pilot light goes out causing the thermocouple to shut off the gas.
Ya ever been out 10 miles on LOTW, -25, wind howling, you get to your spot and set up only to find the ceramic broke on both sides of your Big Buddy?
Heat Hog has a pilot and mine doesn’t trip when tilted. So far, seems to be nice with the tilt option.
Heat Hog has a pilot and mine doesn’t trip when tilted. So far, seems to be nice with the tilt option.
So I havent had any issues with tilting mine, I have 2 five pound LP tanks through mine with zero issues. I have the medium one and the big one on the way.
thanks for the feedback guys. How many specific settings/levels of heat (i.e. low/medium/high) does it have? is there any more adjustability beyond 2 or 3 settings?
the tilt feature looks awesome. No more puddles in the middle of your portable. I built a small 2×4 frame that I bring with out on the ice to set my big buddy on to avoid the melting puddle and it’d sure be nice to get away from that
Ya ever been out 10 miles on LOTW, -25, wind howling, you get to your spot and set up only to find the ceramic broke on both sides of your Big Buddy?
Yes many times but never had mine break. And that’s in my otter behind my snowmobile.
That would suck butt though. But the amount of times I’ve done that with it still working makes me believe you should get a carrying transport case for yours. I had brat grease gum mine up on red and I couldn’t get it to fire. That sucked. Luckily I had a wire brush in my truck
On the big heat hog I would be afraid to put a spare tank behind the heater. I would worry that the tank would leak with the cold to hot change and rough handling. Fire in ice shack is no fun.
Haven’t seen in person. Tilt feature looks nice. AAA batteries for the igniter seems really dumb though.
How much more do these weigh then a buddy heater
Mine in the medium one and has a pilot, 4k and 9k option. It does work 4 and 9 as I have done that.
I’ve use the Heat Hog 9k a few times this year. Tilt feature has provided zero melting on the ice for me. Now that there is water everywhere it’s less impactful.
Here is a great video on the features that Alex Timm created.
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Ya ever been out 10 miles on LOTW, -25, wind howling, you get to your spot and set up only to find the ceramic broke on both sides of your Big Buddy?
Was the heater laying on its back? That will do it every time. The only time my buddy had one break was because of that. We’ve flown across LOW to Garden island with these things in sleds many times and only that one time had an issue because one of his fishing partners put it in the sled on its back.
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