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A heard some folks talking about winter camping the other day and they mentioned having a camping heater. Its not a huge deal here in the south, but it does get pretty chilly of course. And of course most of you know I hate cold.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a good safe camping heater? Like one that you could use in a tent?

why you need a heater, you got a wife to keep ya warm

wendy wrote:why you need a heater, you got a wife to keep ya warm

tent heaters aren't needed here in TAG

Yeah, it gets a little cold sometimes but just cuddle up with the wife like wendy sez. . . they make double sleeping bags, of course they usually aren't winter weight so you will need an extra comforter to throw on top of the bag. Lately I've become an air mattress wimp when camping where I can drive up in my car. The airmattress helps a lot in insulating you from the cold ground.

Seriously some people have something called a Mr Heater that runs on a small propane tank that claims you can use it in an enclosed space.

hahaha The heater is for my wife more than me!! I guess I am too cold

Dont feel bad... I am a air-mattress wimp too. There is something about how the ground in TAG just grows rocks right under your back at night..

I bought a coleman catalytic propane heater a few weeks ago that I've used in my truck camper several nights already. Mine is called the "sportcat" and was about 40.00. They have a smaller one called a "survivorcat" for 25.00 and a larger one too. They are fine for semi enclosed spaces such as a tent (or my drafty camper shell), but you don't want to knock it over, it does get hot to the touch. I wanted one of those "buddy heaters" like Martha was talking about but they are closer to 100.00 and use a bit more fuel than my little sportcat.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good safe camping heater? Like one that you could use in a tent?

How big of a tent. I have a couple of Coleman "Black Cat" heaters that run off of 1 pound propane bottles. The flame burns in a ceramic fiber that has been dosed with a catalyst and they claim that this means you don't have to worry about Carbon Monoxide. Also the exterior of the heater does not seem to get hot enough to start a fire - I have tried holding match heads to the metal screen over the glowing hot ceramic fibre. Still, you don't want to use this in a small tent. Even though it may not start a fire it can still cause a nasty burn. I was using one in a large tent where I was sleeping in a cot and got a nasty burn on my arm when I reached out to move the heater and brushed against the metal screen.

http://www.rei.com/product/6077481.htm

I see that Target is $5 cheaper:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr ... B000HN1ZAO

Coleman has some other models:
http://www.coleman.com/coleman/ColemanC ... oryID=3000
The Sport Cat looks nice. It runs twice as long as the Black Cat (of course producing half as much heat per hour). That was an inconvenience of the Black Cat which runs about 7 hours on a cylinder; if I turn it on at dinner time then by the time I am ready for bed I have a half full cylinder that needs to be changed or it will not last till morning.

In either event, I think it is worth the few extra dollars to get a version with a piezoelectric igniter.

ok my first few TAGs i used my queen sized air mattress, but i would freeze, cuz the air in the mattress was getting ground temperature. Now i use my thermorest and sleeping bag. When I use my hennessey hammock (and i could do this for my thermo rest too) I lay down the car windshield screen the one that is silver on one side and kinda looks like bubble wrap, you know what I am talking about....anyway, I sleep on it silver side up and I am as toasty as a baked tater, I even got too hot while in the hammock and it was 32ºF outside, and had to loose a few layers of clothing

What's the coldest it gets at night where you live? Get a sleeping bag that's rated at least for that and maybe a little more. Wear your polypro top and bottom with socks. Maybe a beany on your head. DEFINATELY use a ground pad...eat well before bed, no alcohol! Cuddle with wife...your golden!

I wouldn't recommend using any type of flame heater in your tent...that's an accident waiting to happen.

You could stuff some heat packs at your feet

oh i got a link for that, and they are re-usuable

http://www.thermo-pad.com/


i wear my beenie to sleep when its cold

also i have a friend that has a fleece insert for this sleeping bag like this

http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/store ... d=12500226

very toasty

Cavemud wrote: no alcohol!

This camping trip sounds miserable already...

JoeyS wrote:

Cavemud wrote: no alcohol!

This camping trip sounds miserable already...

while i understand why cavermud says not to drink, i still feel better having a flask of a little something-something in the tent with me

wendy wrote:

JoeyS wrote:

Cavemud wrote: no alcohol!

This camping trip sounds miserable already...

while i understand why cavermud says not to drink, i still feel better having a flask of a little something-something in the tent with me

It's called a Flaskheater... Very popular during those winter football games at the alma matter. Instead of burning the fuel, you would consume it. Very efficient and no open flames

JoeyS wrote:

wendy wrote:

JoeyS wrote:

Cavemud wrote: no alcohol!

This camping trip sounds miserable already...

while i understand why cavermud says not to drink, i still feel better having a flask of a little something-something in the tent with me

It's called a Flaskheater... Very popular during those winter football games at the alma matter. Instead of burning the fuel, you would consume it. Very efficient and no open flames

holy hi-jacked threads batman.......anyway, when i was out in CA caving last May, I had my flask by the campfire, and some guy asked me bout it, and my response was to look around, there were 4 other flasks around the fire, and they sure did get passed around, at least mine is engraved so it always gets back to me

this is the one that I am eyeballing

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/601-2843157-5366552?asin=B0002KLQXI&AFID=Yahoo&LNM=B0002KLQXI

Wendy, how long do those thermo-pads put out heat? The website doesn't seem to say. I have a small Chinese one that claims to heat for 4 hours, but it starts to cool noticeably after 20 minutes. That would help get your bag warm initially, but you couldn't depend on it for a whole night.