Thank You to Otter Outdoors

Huge thank you to Otter Outdoors introducing the All New “Insulated” portable fish houses this season. Lord knows many of us are clearly about ready to bounce off those padded walls in anticipation of our first ice adventures.

With the greatly enhanced “Warm Factor” I’m looking at propane savings. Heck I always am looking for the best product on the market, but at the same time always visit the economic side of the equation. I’m looking to heaters now that can be dialed down to efficiently provide a trickle of heat to this insualated house. Idea’s Gentleman?? Of course I’ve gone through about 20 Mr. Heater heads. They frankly are not something that handles my hard use, and has started nearly everything I’ve owned on fire at one point or another. Besides those factors I question whether they can be dialed down enough? How about the Buddy Heaters or others people may have used?? Sometimes a guy forgets propane fills on tanks add up over the course of a season. For me……A LOT. The break even point from a few extra dollars in the insulated house considering propane savings and the “Blue Sky” value of comfort might seem a bit petty for the “Ice Head”.

Suggestions?

Buddy heaters seem to work well other then they have a tendency to blow out easily on a breezy day when the door gets opened up and the wind swirls in. They can not take the wind like a Mr Heater does, at least in my experience with them.

I run a Modded Mr. Double heater with a hose to a twenty pound tank in my lodge. You can buy a lot of propane for the extra $$ for an insulated house. Heaters are one the neglected areas of advancement for modern day ice fishing.

I like the Buddy heaters based on the fact that I don’t have to worry about buring holes in things like a Mr Heater quite as much. You can dial them down on warmer days. I have the Big Buddy heater with the 2 one pound tanks that usually takes care of us for the day in the Moorhead MN area unless it’s really windy and cold. I know this costs more but less stuff to deal with when the kids come with. It has the starter on the heater so we don’t need to remember anything extra to start them. Heaters and all the manmade fibers in a shelter make for a tough deal of warmth versus trying not to burn the place down.

Chris, I have the smaller Buddy heater (1lb tank) and love it over my old Mr. Heaters. It heats my two man otter beautifully on the coldest days, and also has the igniter. I too got tired of burning things up with my Mr. Heater, and it didn’t stand up to my abuse. My Buddy works well in the duck blind too. For me, it uses less fuel, heats better/more consistently, takes more abuse and I haven’t yet singed my line/bibs/fingers/bait/boot toes/seats/etc. etc. with it. Should at least give a couple a try.

I’d be happy to bring mine up and try it out in one of your new insulated shacks!

This is my experience with insulated houses. Granted what I have is not per say a portable like the otter, Canvas Craft 8×8 with the R2 which I believe is the same material Otter uses.
You will find many days a heater will not be needed but on a cold windy day it will not take much to take the chill off. I use a Big Buddy(Ive heard the regular buddy works fine in the Otter also} and on cold days low is all I need with a little air circulation to keep the holes from icing up. On windy really cold days I may have to go to medium. If I want to be in my underware and t-shirt and stretch out on the lawn chair and take a nap I go to high. Thank god the game warden needs to knock. sorry for that image.

Like said buddy heaters are safe easy to use and can dial into a specific heat zone but with the headache of the heater going out with some wind. Buddies usually start up with a turn of the knob so the inconvenience aspect in my mind is a wash when I think of the benefits.

For being a guide the reliability factor of the Mr.Heater is hard to beat and honestly you having dealing with the costumer’s comfort I dont know what the best option is. Hopefully you can make a good informed decision with the rest of the responses.

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Chris, I have the smaller Buddy heater (1lb tank) and love it over my old Mr. Heaters. It heats my two man otter beautifully on the coldest days, and also has the igniter. I too got tired of burning things up with my Mr. Heater, and it didn’t stand up to my abuse. My Buddy works well in the duck blind too. For me, it uses less fuel, heats better/more consistently, takes more abuse and I haven’t yet singed my line/bibs/fingers/bait/boot toes/seats/etc. etc. with it. Should at least give a couple a try.
I’d be happy to bring mine up and try it out in one of your new insulated shacks!

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I’m definately leaning towards adding a few buddy heaters to the fleet. Along with my hope to add the Otter Insualated house I also have (4) small 5×7 permanent houses that have spray foam insualation. Frankly up here a grill propane tank fill is a $27.00. Over the course of an ice fishing season this tends to add up running 4-5 heaters a day in different houses. Still beyond the economic side I want warmth without the hiss of the Mr. Heater that disallows me to hear customers screaming like schoolgirls as they hook up a fish. Converstations house to house are tough for me with that Mr. Heater noise. Yes burning most everything I own also is a concern. I do believe I’m going to try the smaller buddy in that insulated house. Frankly I bet it isn’t going to take much heat AT ALL. I’ll be reporting back once I have firsthand experience!!

I have used and own numerous Otter portables and they have all been great houses.

I was waiting for Otter to go to the insulated portables and it sounded like that was not in their future so I purchased an Canvas craft insulated and they are very nice.

Might have to look into the new Otters.

For your 5×7 spray foam insulated houses, the little buddy’s will do just fine. For your portables, I would go with the big buddy. Blast that heater when you first set up, takes about 30 seconds and the heater is on low. Best investment I’ve made for cold weather.

I’m opting to add a few small wall mount heaters to the “perms” to reduce load on travels/clutter. Will definately go “Buddy heaters” for the portables though!! Sounds like a nice plan to blast the heat then turn to low.