Colorado startup Howl Campfires fired its best shot at a real problem upon its launch: the lack of any useful warmth coming from a portable propane fire. The difficulty was, it put so much coin and effort into the solution, it created a whole new problem: the ludicrous price of a portable propane fire capable of delivering useful warmth (that's this baby). With its second product, Howl looks to find a more practical mix of performance and cost. The all-new R1 fire pit is much cheaper, more compact and manages to spit out a flame nearly high enough to singe your beard hairs.
As much as we related to the idea of a warmer propane fire, we really worried for the future of a company whose first and only product was a $1,299 portable fire pit. Sure, overlanders, hunters and other outdoorsy types like to spend money, and many of them have plenty to spend. And sure, the Solo Stove and others like it have proven there's a very nice market for premium portable fire ware. But $1,300 is multiple times more expensive than other portable fire pits and tests one's wildest imaginings of just how much the market will pay.
The all-new R1 expands Howl's target market in a big way. At $349, it's priced much more in line with the competition, and if big, flickering flames are your thing, it might just be the best value available.
When we first spotted the R1, we assumed it was a smaller, more wallet-friendly version of the R4. Sadly, though, it doesn't offer the R4's red-hot-metal radiation trickery and comes with no claims of rivaling a wood fire in terms of heat. It won't. In fact, it's based on the very type of simple, heat-shedding propane-fueled flame Howl created the R4 to outperform.
But if you were buying any other propane fire pit for a fifth or so of the R4's price, you weren't getting that infrared warmth, either. And the R1 offers a couple of intriguing advantages over the price-point competition. Most crucially, it uses an open chassis that lets the flame rise straight up and out, instead of keeping it contained inside a bowl or box the way other portable LPG designs such as the Ignik FireCan do. The 160 holes on the comprehensive burner system all feed in small flames to combine into the tall, powerful fire that surges upward out of the grille.
Not only does this layout create a more mesmerizing fiery display, it eliminates the need to crank the output to max just so you can see the fire peek over the edge of the bowl. Howl's flame always rises up out of the chassis so you can enjoy the experience while using less propane. "Every bit of fuel you burn becomes light you can use," the company summarizes.
Of course, if you want to crank it up to 11, you can get that powerful skinny triangle of a flame to rise up to 32 inches (81 cm) high. Howl estimates a burn time of eight hours per 20-lb tank when going full blast or days on end when dialing it back.
While propane fire pits are less likely to spark a wildfire than wood fires, and are allowed under several US forest burn restrictions that ban some or all wood campfires, we do wonder what happens when someone accidentally knocks that 32-in fire sideways. We suppose so long as you have a good radius of clear dirt or rock around, without any duff, debris, branches or brush within flame's length, it shouldn't spark a wildfire before someone picks it up. Still, we'd be a bit more worried about something that high than a more contained unit, in terms of potentially igniting a big, out-of-control fire or possibly burning a person.
That said, the R1 looks to be a low-set, stable design much less likely to tip over than something like the Tripod Torch. If anything, burning your own leg would be more of a worry than knocking the whole unit on its side.
When it's time to break camp, the R1's legs fold in and the total package measures 13.3 x 8.4 x 6 inches (34 x 21 x 15 cm). Howl compares it to the size of a shoebox, which checks out when we're talking men's shoes. That small size is aimed at easier packing within a truck bed or SUV trunk already overstuffed with days' worth of camping and travel gear. The R1 can also strap right to the propane tank, whether it's being carried inside or outside the vehicle (strap not included). At 11 lb (5 kg), it's a breeze to carry and about a third the weight of the R4.
Howl hammers the R1 out with the same style of durable, hard travel-ready construction as the R4. It uses a hydraulic brake press to bend the 304 stainless steel into shape and puts the entire shebang together at its Colorado factory.
Howl launched the R1 earlier this month and says it's been pulling in orders ever since. Lead time is already out to mid-June, so if you want one of these for Summer 2025, Howl suggests putting that order in ASAP.
Source: Howl Campfires
