*Thanks for watching! Let me know what you think of the video and what else you want to see on the channel!* 👉 Check out the detailed comparison for these Buddy Heaters: ruclips.net/video/uUqogfs7cVU/видео.html
This is great information. Im not an Ice Fisherman. I just bought an 8 Man Ice Fishing Shelter, just to take out side in cold weather. I'm in NYC, I camped out in Central Park, something I wanted to do for awhile. So I'm still trying to buy things needed to be out in my shelter to keep warm. Cooking stoves etc, I like the Buddy Flex cuz of the cooking attachment. Would love to invest in that. Kills 2 birds. I'm a retired disabled vet, just celebrated 22 years not working but I left the Battle field in 87. So I am trying to stay out of these 4 walls. I have PTSD and Bipolar Disorder. So your info is much appreciated. Thank you
@@bigmangmc Wow, thank you for your service! And glad the videos are helpful to you. As ice season is right around the corner a lot of what us ice fishermen consider ice camping gear could definitely be useful to you and your winter time excursions so stay tuned. Sounds like fun to camp out in Central Park, one of these years I might have to try that! Thanks for sharing your experience and glad you are part of the community here!
I just bought the portable buddy for my 24' RV to take the edge off in the winter. I did a test myself and compared it to my RV furnace. ( I am a licensed gas technician) My RV furnace is rated at 30,000 Btuh, and the portable buddy is rated at 4000 btuh on low and 9000 btuh on high. The temperature outside for this test was around -3 degrees Celsius for the furnace/ -4 for the portable buddy and the indoor temp was 4 degrees Celsius. I ran my furnace with a new 20lb tank of propane and the thermostat set to 18 degrees. It took 18 minutes to bring the indoor temperature to 18 degrees Celsius and fired intermittently to keep this temperature. It was 8am Wednesday when I started the furnace. The 20 lb tank was empty on Sunday around 10am. So my furnace could run for 5 days before running out of gas. I just finished the same test but using the portable buddy heater. I fired the portable buddy on high to start with a honeywell fan overtop and a CO detector next to it. It took 23 minutes to bring the room from 4 degrees to 18 degrees. I then set the burner level to low. It burned continuously. I found that the temperature would slowly drop when set to low and would keep the room steady around 14 degrees. Every few hours I would set to high for 5 min to bring the temp up ( it would get quite hot. The hottest the RV got was around 26 degrees Celsius.) When I slept I would turn the portable buddy off and turn on my electric fireplace. The temp would drop to 6 degrees by the time I woke up and I would turn the portable buddy back on to high , than set to low when desired temp is reached. It was Sunday around 11am when I started using the portable buddy and was hooked to a new 20lb tank. My propane tank did not go empty until the following Wednesday around 5 pm. So the portable buddy can last for 10 days on one 20lb tank fill if not using at night. Twice as long as my furnace. So I now have 3 - 20lb propane tanks. I fill all three and the propane will heat my trailer for a full month. I no longer use my furnace and my portable buddy has a special little corner in my RV that makes it feel much like a fireplace. At about $25 to fill a 20lb tank I will be spending only $75 a month in propane and $40 a month for my electric heat for a grand total of $115 per month to heat my RV. It would cost $150 in propane every month to heat with my furnace. Safe to say my furnace is out of commission now.
Youre the man. SO many people need to see this. This winter is gonna blow so LOL. Tons of people will need these with the shit shows happening evrywhere. I have a propane stove and one of these. Thanks for your tests
I recently used My New Big Buddy heater on low with two full flame king refillable propane tanks and My run time was roughly 8 hours. Kudos for the informative video and thank you!
OMG that was a great demo of the actual units themselves. Your demo was a big help in steering me in the right directions. will this info with all my camping and hunting buddies. Thank You
WOW!!! Excellent Video... Great job! Thank YOU so much for taking all that time to do this video! This really helped. I'm really surprised the difference in the High and Low speed heat.
Alex Timm: Nice test. 3:53: Question: Are your listed times for the Big Buddy the times that the unit took to burn through two canisters for the low setting test and two canisters for the high setting test?
Very nice video no annoying sounf track. I just got a portable buddy for Christmas and suffered short run times. I will startbabtesting campain to see if theyre shrink-flationing the tanks by weighing new tanks, weighing refils and checking run times.
Yeah, I might do it, just have to figure out when I can do the multiple day testing on it. And each propane tank once refilled will be different depending on where you go. If you go to U-Haul or most of the mom/pop shops they usually fill it to full capacity unlike the swap places.
Thank you for your test. Just tried using a 18k buddy for my camper van. Was surprised to have to wake up in the middle of the night to swap a 1lb bottle. I thought it would've been 6 hours since MFG says 12 hours with 2lbs of propane on low. 7-8 hours definitely sounds more accurate (with two 1lb bottles.)
I appreciate the video brother! My ladyjust got me the tough buddy single burner for hunting. Its great but I do notice the actual run time vs manufacturer spec.
You're welcome, glad it was helpful. And yes! I just was reading an article that this year they are expecting a huge spike in propane prices as well. So time to stock up if you can I guess
Not perfect math, but ideally you should be able to multiply the times with the 1lb by 20 to get rough estimates. I may look at doing that test though. It for sure will go for a couple days! Thanks for watching and commenting, if there is enough request I will make it!
@@AlexTimm A 20# refillable tank is filled to a maximum of 80% capacity (i.e. 15-16lb). The disposable 1# containers actually contain 1#. You should multiple the results by ~15 to get an estimate.
I've got it on my list to do if I can get the time for it. They will last for days so need to have tons of time where I can carefully watch and film them. But yes, I've got it on the list! Thanks for letting me know you think it would be helpful!
Hey thanks for the video. I was looking at the Mr Buddy line recently. This helps me a lot. But maybe I'll need to get a big tank instead of those little bottles.
Hey Ed, thanks for watching and commenting! Glad the video was helpful. I would recommend the bigger propane tanks if looking to use more frequently than a couple times a year as the savings in propane costs and not needing to switch tanks after just a few hours is worth it!
I use a Mr Buddy in my semi truck attached to a 5 gal bottle. It cloggs easily with heavy use so, I was told to use a filter and haven’t had any problems since.
Wow. Looks like the Buddy Flex wins as far as performance goes. GREAT video! It's nice to see a real-live test, side-by-side like this. (Nice music and fast-forward too! Great production! Keep 'em coming!)
Be interesting to see the end weights of the propane tanks after a run time test video. My experience with the portable buddy is the tank ices up on low and doesn't completely empty the 1lb tanks. But my real life run time, in a shanty, is very comparable to this on low. On high I get slightly less as the tank ices up faster being closer to the ice. But only marginally.
This is the answer for the Big Buddy as well (which, in this test, performed horribly compared to the box spec). There is often quite a bit left in my tanks on low, but even performing the extrapolation will not get you to 12hours - MrHeater literally pulled 12hrs from their butts and hoped no one would care to test.
Thanks for taking the time to do this!! I wonder in the run times are linear for different size tanks... For instance, if the Mr. Heater Buddy will run 4 hours on the 1# tank, does that mean it will run 20 hours on a 5# tank, 40 hours on a 10# tank, and 80 hours on a 20# tank?
It should be linear, if not a little better on a bigger tank. But temperature around the tank also has a lot to do with it, the colder the temps once you get below freezing, the less efficient the gas is
I’m really surprised to see how on high the buddy flex heater had the biggest benefit with an increase of the manufacturer spec by an addition hour. And as an emergency heater in the home 1 or 2 of these would probably be the best bet. Also really curious if you did a review of the Mr. Heater cabinet heater as a shop/cabin/emergency heater
The big buddy on low is the biggest surprised. Was torn between the Big and Flex. Already have the Buddy and Little Buddy. Wish the Flex had a lower BTU setting, closer to 4K
Thanks for the info needed it I bought a flex n now I'm finding out that the big buddy heats longer going get a big buddy have a 600 square foot apartment will that do
If it is well insulated then it should for sure provide some decent heat, but it is only rated up to 450 sq. ft. So if you already have the flex and use both in opposite areas of the apartment, I would think together they should do the trick
I have the portable Buddy heater that I use in my 12 x 16 shop which is very well insulated and I can heat the room with the heater on low in about an hour. A 1 lb tank will last me 2 days running the heater on and off as I need it. I refill the tank from a 20 lb tank. I have 7 1 lb standby tanks to carry me through rain days when refilling isn't an option. Best investment for the money.
How long will mr buddy pilot light run without using the low or high settings? I have a insulated topper on my truck. The low setting gets it to hot. Thanks.
I wonder if these have changed over the years. My portable buddy gets right around 6 hours on low but I've had it for many years. That might explain the measurements being off as well. Fwiw when I first started refilling the 1lb bottles I found that new ones weighted about 1.85 lb. I guess I should weigh a recent one and see if they still contain the same amount of propane.
I just ran my Buddy Flex for 2 nights camping on low, at least 7 hours of runtime per night off a 11lb Flame King tank. I somehow only used 3lbs of propane based on weighing the tank before and after the trip.
My husband and I have been camping for a bit have found an interest in winter camping. As far as the mr heater buddy products go… I would like to see how it does in different tents and in different temperatures. Would you be willing to experiment?
Hi Kimberly, thanks for commenting and super cool, sounds fun! I use these primarily in insulated ice fishing shacks that are of a tent like material and of many different sizes. Are the tents that you are using a specific size? Also are they insulated?
I have used the little buddy and big buddy in 3-4 man tents and both will heat fine on low from low teens to about 25 degrees F. If a teepee tent is used I highly suggest hanging a fan to circulate air. My 4-5 man teepee will hit temps of 93 degrees at 66 inches of height and temps at 45 near the floor. (It was 24 degrees out). With a fan it can keep it at about 65 degrees evenly. Roughly. Teepee tents seem to deal with the moisture a buddy heater creates better than a standard tent. But with that said you still can easily use standard tent just try and make sure there is some air circulation.
I used mine for the first time last weekend. Went through 3 full 1lb containers in about 8 hours on low. Is this typical? It says 5.4 hours on the manual
Im just run a 20lb tank in the basement i think. Its heated but there is a chill all the time. The upstairs floors stay much warmer, so when im messing around in shop i dont have to be uncomfortable. Plus i can use it as emrgency heat plus bring it to the kids games if needed so win win win in my book
Really wish they would make one of these with a low setting about half that of the portable Buddy. I have an old Colman that is around 3000btu and it's closer to the right amount of heat for me but it's a lot more dangerous than these modern ones.
On the Big Buddy if the heater is in a room that doesn’t warm up well when ran on high the propane tanks will freeze up from fuel consumption and pressure will drop and heater will go out. After the tanks unthaw pressure will increase and heater can be restarted.
Hi, don't know if you'll see this, but here it goes...I just got a Portable Buddy from Wally World yesterday ($79) and am trying to learn what to do and what not to do. As far as the time on the Big Buddy -- that time is using two-one lb. tanks, right? And it's roughly double the time of the Little Buddy. Wouldn't that technically put them on equal ground if you had a spare 1 lb. tank for the little guy? Am I right? Heck, go easy on me, lol...a math whiz I ain't 😉Thanks for your videos!
Nice buy! Yes the time is with 2 - 1lb tanks in the big buddy. Yes if you had an extra tank laying around for the portable buddy they would be similar on the low setting or medium setting on the big buddy and high setting on the portable buddy. You just have to change the tanks twice as frequently vs letting it go without needing to touch it. If you don't ever need that high setting the portable buddy is a FANTASTIC heater!
Actually I've got both the big buddy and the portable and was wishing the same thing. I've recently discovered the flame king and have been tempted to buy it. I live in Canada and our big buddies don't come with fans. The flame king tho has a fan and a thermostat apparently. The pilot stays lit and it turns itself off and on. There are 2 models I believe. A smaller one and a 20,000 btu one. Not sure if I can post links on RUclips so just incase I'll post a link in my next reply to the page I was checking them out on. I haven't read any reviews or anything. Just came across them @alextimm maybe you could do a review on them? BTW just sub'd
Looks like links don't work cause I came back to comment and say I see you've used the flame king after coming across your vid on how to usb power the flame king fan off a battery bank
If you look at the BTU ratings from the manufacturer, the low on the big buddy is equivalent to the low on the portable buddy and the high on the big buddy is equivalent to twice the high of the portable body. The big buddy supports two 1lb tanks and the portable buddy one 1lb tank. This all lines up with what the data from the manufacturer.
@@pjfsr7024 Agreed! I can understand slight variability based off ambient temperature, but some of these numbers are WAAAYY different then the specs say
Interesting, but the mfg times you have listed aren't even close to what the mfg has listed on their website. Either way we all know these heaters use a lot of fuel
YES, that would be great if they made something for AC when summer camping! From the bit of research I've done on it tents can be relatively complex with AC as they are not usually insulated very well and leak the cool air pretty quick so you need to have a unit that can run almost constantly without damaging itself. If I was going to do an AC setup in a tent, I would look at a 150 sq ft or 250 sq ft window unit that you could set on a milk-crate or some sort of stand outside the tent with an opening (modification) in the tent so you could let the air come in from the front of the unit, or fab up around one of the tent doors / windows for it. Let me know if you do figure something out, would be interested to see what you do! Thanks for watching and commenting 👍
@@YourstohaveinLou Right on, I'd use a window ac on a milk crate or some other homemade stand (don't put it on the ground). But you will need power / generator
the QA and QC on the Flex model is total grabage..I ve run thru 4 of them,..when you call the 800 service number, you get put on terminal hold and never get an answer nor help..so, I returned all 4 thru the local store I purchased them thru..they ,also checked them and found them to all have the same fault with the pilot ignition system..they all suffer the same problem...the location, of the thermal couple, is not close enough to the pilot flame, nor will this unit ever get lite off with a lighter or match, because ALL control to the fuel flow valve run thru the spark module....making any other mode of ignition impossible....total crap QA and QC and Service.......went back to tank mount 20year old all steel radiant unit..that is flawless...
@@freetheppl5376 my pleasure,I found all of them to be a waste of money... simple items always seem to work better, though certainly not attractive,I would rather use an ugly heater,that works, then a pretty one,that does not...lol. Just my opinion
Oh yes, many, many times! I've learned a thing or two not to do in terms of using foil and pans haha. This buddy heater has had multiple plastic pieces already replaced and looks like this again 🤣
The problem I see with the test is that is does not account for the different btu's of each unit. The Portable Buddy has 9,000 btu on high and 4,000 btu on low. The Big Buddy has 18,000 btu on high and 9,000 btu on medium and 4,000 on low. The Buddy Flex has 11,000 btu on high and 8,000 on low. On high the Big Buddy gives almost 3 hr at 18,000 btu , Portable Buddy gives almost 3hr at 9,000 btu, Buddy Flex give 3 hr at 11,000 btu. On low Big Buddy gives almost 8 hrs at 4,000 btu, Portable Buddy gives 4 hr at 4,000 btu, Buddy Flex gives 3 1/2 hr at 8,000 btu. Even though the Big Buddy uses 2 propane cylinders in my opinion if you want to stay warmer this is the one to pick.
Yes, the BTU difference is key in which one will be best for your needs. More than anything I wanted to show how they match up to their manufacturer specified ratings, and then to your point, a person can consider which will be best for their needs. Appreciate the comment and detail you put into it
I'm just testing my Big Buddy tonight and saw this video. Extremely, extremely disappointed in the run time. What a difference between 7 hours and 12 hours. All of them were so low compared to the manufacturer's specs. That is completely false advertising.
My rough math is saying you would go through about 2lbs in 8 hours on low, so about 10 days 🤷♂️ - But I have not actually done this test with a 20lb tank so speculation based off small numbers being scaled out
*Thanks for watching! Let me know what you think of the video and what else you want to see on the channel!*
👉 Check out the detailed comparison for these Buddy Heaters: ruclips.net/video/uUqogfs7cVU/видео.html
This is great information. Im not an Ice Fisherman. I just bought an 8 Man Ice Fishing Shelter, just to take out side in cold weather. I'm in NYC, I camped out in Central Park, something I wanted to do for awhile. So I'm still trying to buy things needed to be out in my shelter to keep warm. Cooking stoves etc, I like the Buddy Flex cuz of the cooking attachment. Would love to invest in that. Kills 2 birds. I'm a retired disabled vet, just celebrated 22 years not working but I left the Battle field in 87. So I am trying to stay out of these 4 walls. I have PTSD and Bipolar Disorder. So your info is much appreciated. Thank you
@@bigmangmc Wow, thank you for your service! And glad the videos are helpful to you. As ice season is right around the corner a lot of what us ice fishermen consider ice camping gear could definitely be useful to you and your winter time excursions so stay tuned. Sounds like fun to camp out in Central Park, one of these years I might have to try that! Thanks for sharing your experience and glad you are part of the community here!
Should your tanks be warm or does this matter
I just bought the portable buddy for my 24' RV to take the edge off in the winter. I did a test myself and compared it to my RV furnace. ( I am a licensed gas technician)
My RV furnace is rated at 30,000 Btuh, and the portable buddy is rated at 4000 btuh on low and 9000 btuh on high.
The temperature outside for this test was around -3 degrees Celsius for the furnace/ -4 for the portable buddy and the indoor temp was 4 degrees Celsius.
I ran my furnace with a new 20lb tank of propane and the thermostat set to 18 degrees.
It took 18 minutes to bring the indoor temperature to 18 degrees Celsius and fired intermittently to keep this temperature. It was 8am Wednesday when I started the furnace. The 20 lb tank was empty on Sunday around 10am. So my furnace could run for 5 days before running out of gas.
I just finished the same test but using the portable buddy heater.
I fired the portable buddy on high to start with a honeywell fan overtop and a CO detector next to it.
It took 23 minutes to bring the room from 4 degrees to 18 degrees. I then set the burner level to low. It burned continuously. I found that the temperature would slowly drop when set to low and would keep the room steady around 14 degrees. Every few hours I would set to high for 5 min to bring the temp up ( it would get quite hot. The hottest the RV got was around 26 degrees Celsius.)
When I slept I would turn the portable buddy off and turn on my electric fireplace. The temp would drop to 6 degrees by the time I woke up and I would turn the portable buddy back on to high , than set to low when desired temp is reached.
It was Sunday around 11am when I started using the portable buddy and was hooked to a new 20lb tank. My propane tank did not go empty until the following Wednesday around 5 pm. So the portable buddy can last for 10 days on one 20lb tank fill if not using at night. Twice as long as my furnace.
So I now have 3 - 20lb propane tanks. I fill all three and the propane will heat my trailer for a full month. I no longer use my furnace and my portable buddy has a special little corner in my RV that makes it feel much like a fireplace.
At about $25 to fill a 20lb tank I will be spending only $75 a month in propane and $40 a month for my electric heat for a grand total of $115 per month to heat my RV. It would cost $150 in propane every month to heat with my furnace.
Safe to say my furnace is out of commission now.
Youre the man. SO many people need to see this. This winter is gonna blow so LOL. Tons of people will need these with the shit shows happening evrywhere. I have a propane stove and one of these. Thanks for your tests
I agree, this winter has already proven to be SUPER cold these last few weeks after a warm start. I don't think it's going to warm up anytime soon!
Just ordered the big buddy based on it's low setting time run. Perfect for what I need.
But is the time with the Big buddy on low is with 2 1 pound tank compare to one for the other two heaters?
OK you’re four hours and 10 minutes were spot on with my portable buddy. Of course that’s for 1 pound of propane. Great video and very educational.
I am just now starting to watch the video in the intro and loving it already. Much much appreciated.
Very well done I was waiting for someone to get the true specs on how these products work
BLUE MOOSE, Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching and commenting!
I recently used My New Big Buddy heater on low with two full flame king refillable propane tanks and My run time was roughly 8 hours. Kudos for the informative video and thank you!
Thanks for sharing!!
OMG that was a great demo of the actual units themselves. Your demo was a big help in steering me in the right directions. will this info with all my camping and hunting buddies. Thank You
Theodore Reveles, You are welcome! Thanks for watching and commenting!
3:52 ...impressive findings....thanks for this review.
I am thinking about picking up a B.Flex heater
Glad I could help. All 3 are good heaters, can't go wrong with any of them depending on your usage
Great job producing this video and for your patience testing each product. Thanks buddy!
Thanks! I enjoy doing it and sharing!
WOW!!!
Excellent Video... Great job!
Thank YOU so much for taking all that time to do this video!
This really helped. I'm really surprised the difference in the High
and Low speed heat.
You're very welcome! Thank you!
Alex Timm: Nice test. 3:53: Question: Are your listed times for the Big Buddy the times that the unit took to burn through two canisters for the low setting test and two canisters for the high setting test?
Most excellent, I need one for my camper this winter, now I know what I’m buying 👍
Perfect! Have fun!
Very nice video no annoying sounf track. I just got a portable buddy for Christmas and suffered short run times. I will startbabtesting campain to see if theyre shrink-flationing the tanks by weighing new tanks, weighing refils and checking run times.
Very interesting vid, keep up the great work! Congrats on 300!
Thank you!
Agreed would love to see the stats on a 20 lb tank...and show the measured weight...ive heard some/many of these are only filled to 15 lbs(blue rhino)
Yeah, I might do it, just have to figure out when I can do the multiple day testing on it. And each propane tank once refilled will be different depending on where you go. If you go to U-Haul or most of the mom/pop shops they usually fill it to full capacity unlike the swap places.
Interesting info...who would know a 20 lb tank is only filled to 15lbs
@@stevenovotny9391 Right, I was shocked when I first heard about it as well
Yes that's right blue rhino is only 15lbs
@@timcopeland5045 And they are a big time ripoff too, often 2-3 times the price of a standard fill. Just a disgusting brand.
Thank you for your test.
Just tried using a 18k buddy for my camper van. Was surprised to have to wake up in the middle of the night to swap a 1lb bottle.
I thought it would've been 6 hours since MFG says 12 hours with 2lbs of propane on low.
7-8 hours definitely sounds more accurate (with two 1lb bottles.)
Great information! I am surprised at the low time on the big buddy - that’s a big difference between the actual and mfr
Cynthia appleget, I was surprised as well! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Best Propane run time video out there!!!
New sub! Appreciate your interactions with your "peeps," and your info. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Suzanne! 👍
Thank you. Finally, a useful video with ACTUAL useful information. How rare ! So for a 15 lb tank, multiply by 14 to be safe. Thanks, again.
Going camping thanks for the vid saved me couple hrs of being frozen literally only bought 2lbs of propane thinking that was enough lol.
I appreciate the video brother! My ladyjust got me the tough buddy single burner for hunting. Its great but I do notice the actual run time vs manufacturer spec.
Yes, it surprised me how off it was
definately helped me make my decision. The cost of propane adds up. Thx
You're welcome, glad it was helpful. And yes! I just was reading an article that this year they are expecting a huge spike in propane prices as well. So time to stock up if you can I guess
Finally, real answers. Thanks.
Glad you found it helpful!
Interested in one canister on low in the Portable Buddly vs. One, just one, on low in the Big Buddy. Thanks.
Pls test flex with the 20 pounders. Just got the flex after Houston power problems.
Not perfect math, but ideally you should be able to multiply the times with the 1lb by 20 to get rough estimates. I may look at doing that test though. It for sure will go for a couple days! Thanks for watching and commenting, if there is enough request I will make it!
@@AlexTimm A 20# refillable tank is filled to a maximum of 80% capacity (i.e. 15-16lb). The disposable 1# containers actually contain 1#. You should multiple the results by ~15 to get an estimate.
@@bd5863 Thanks for the info! Very helpful!
Would you be will to do a time test but connected to a 20lbs tank?
I've got it on my list to do if I can get the time for it. They will last for days so need to have tons of time where I can carefully watch and film them. But yes, I've got it on the list! Thanks for letting me know you think it would be helpful!
Hey thanks for the video. I was looking at the Mr Buddy line recently. This helps me a lot. But maybe I'll need to get a big tank instead of those little bottles.
Hey Ed, thanks for watching and commenting! Glad the video was helpful. I would recommend the bigger propane tanks if looking to use more frequently than a couple times a year as the savings in propane costs and not needing to switch tanks after just a few hours is worth it!
thanks for the comparison. I wonder why the high heat with two 1 lb propane cylinder burn just as fast as the other
I use a Mr Buddy in my semi truck attached to a 5 gal bottle. It cloggs easily with heavy use so, I was told to use a filter and haven’t had any problems since.
Thx for doing this.Very informative.
Glad it was helpful!
Wow. Looks like the Buddy Flex wins as far as performance goes. GREAT video! It's nice to see a real-live test, side-by-side like this. (Nice music and fast-forward too! Great production! Keep 'em coming!)
Thank you for watching and commenting! I will definitely be working on more content!
Is there a way to hook the Flex cooker up to the Big Buddy Pro?
Nice video , I’d be curious if you set these up with a 20 lb tank and let us know how long they run off of that
Thank you! Had a couple people ask about that too, we will see might end up doing it. Would have to be a multiple day test
I am thinking you could take the results of the 1lb bottles and then multiply by 20... should be somewhat close.
Thank you sir it made my decision on which heater to buy much clearer
Great! Happy it helped! Which one did you end up choosing?
I end Up getting Big Buddy heater I order two of them . specialy now how crazy the weather is i live in utah where snow in winter .
@@bigosito4052 Great choice!
@@bigosito4052 you use them in your house?
Great video. Very informative!
What a great video! Just bought my heater today! Thank you! 🥰
Glad it was helpful!
Great test. I like the test format.
Be interesting to see the end weights of the propane tanks after a run time test video. My experience with the portable buddy is the tank ices up on low and doesn't completely empty the 1lb tanks. But my real life run time, in a shanty, is very comparable to this on low. On high I get slightly less as the tank ices up faster being closer to the ice. But only marginally.
Good call-out. I will do that for future time tests!
This is the answer for the Big Buddy as well (which, in this test, performed horribly compared to the box spec). There is often quite a bit left in my tanks on low, but even performing the extrapolation will not get you to 12hours - MrHeater literally pulled 12hrs from their butts and hoped no one would care to test.
And a starting weight just in case one was slightly under-filled.
Thanks for taking the time to do this!! I wonder in the run times are linear for different size tanks... For instance, if the Mr. Heater Buddy will run 4 hours on the 1# tank, does that mean it will run 20 hours on a 5# tank, 40 hours on a 10# tank, and 80 hours on a 20# tank?
It should be linear, if not a little better on a bigger tank. But temperature around the tank also has a lot to do with it, the colder the temps once you get below freezing, the less efficient the gas is
This was so great. Thanks
Great video, Im about to buy one and was wondering about this. Thank you!
Thanks! Glad it was helpful!
I’m really surprised to see how on high the buddy flex heater had the biggest benefit with an increase of the manufacturer spec by an addition hour. And as an emergency heater in the home 1 or 2 of these would probably be the best bet.
Also really curious if you did a review of the Mr. Heater cabinet heater as a shop/cabin/emergency heater
Yeah, the time tests surprised me as well. I have not done a review on the cabinet heater, but will put it on my potential future list!
Can you hook up the Hummingbird mega live to a big screen TV?
Congrats on 300 subs!
Thanks! I appreciate all 300 of them! Hopefully many more to come!
Thanks. This was helpful.
Absolutely! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for putting in the work. Great info
Thanks! Absolutely
@@AlexTimm Here, take this 👍 and sub.
I’m totally confused how the little buddy and the big buddy have the same run time-does the big buddy put out more heat -and also burn more?
Big buddy runs on Two 1lb tanks (one on each side)
The big buddy on low is the biggest surprised. Was torn between the Big and Flex. Already have the Buddy and Little Buddy. Wish the Flex had a lower BTU setting, closer to 4K
I agree, if the flex had a lower low end I might use it more
Did the big buddy use two 1 lb propane cylinders for the tests?
Yes it did 👍
Thank you for this!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the info needed it I bought a flex n now I'm finding out that the big buddy heats longer going get a big buddy have a 600 square foot apartment will that do
If it is well insulated then it should for sure provide some decent heat, but it is only rated up to 450 sq. ft. So if you already have the flex and use both in opposite areas of the apartment, I would think together they should do the trick
I have the portable Buddy heater that I use in my 12 x 16 shop which is very well insulated and I can heat the room with the heater on low in about an hour. A 1 lb tank will last me 2 days running the heater on and off as I need it. I refill the tank from a 20 lb tank. I have 7 1 lb standby tanks to carry me through rain days when refilling isn't an option. Best investment for the money.
That is awesome! Very well insulated, nice work!
@@AlexTimm You can't beat these little heaters and they'll serve you well if you take care of them.
@@flash001USA Absolutely!
1 hour?? Doesnt sound THAT well insulated, lol!?
Gm can u tell us how many hrs you can get with the Mr. Buddy on a 20lb tank running on low thank you.
I'm looking into doing that in an upcoming test 👍
Thank you for this accurate info❤❤
You are so welcome
How long will mr buddy pilot light run without using the low or high settings? I have a insulated topper on my truck. The low setting gets it to hot. Thanks.
I've never tested that! I would imagine for an incredibly long time. Might need to do a test on it!
I wonder if these have changed over the years. My portable buddy gets right around 6 hours on low but I've had it for many years. That might explain the measurements being off as well. Fwiw when I first started refilling the 1lb bottles I found that new ones weighted about 1.85 lb. I guess I should weigh a recent one and see if they still contain the same amount of propane.
Very helpful. Can you do all 3 with a 5 or 20 lb propane tank
I just ran my Buddy Flex for 2 nights camping on low, at least 7 hours of runtime per night off a 11lb Flame King tank. I somehow only used 3lbs of propane based on weighing the tank before and after the trip.
Which one puts out more heat.
The Big Buddy does
My husband and I have been camping for a bit have found an interest in winter camping. As far as the mr heater buddy products go… I would like to see how it does in different tents and in different temperatures. Would you be willing to experiment?
Hi Kimberly, thanks for commenting and super cool, sounds fun! I use these primarily in insulated ice fishing shacks that are of a tent like material and of many different sizes. Are the tents that you are using a specific size? Also are they insulated?
I have used the little buddy and big buddy in 3-4 man tents and both will heat fine on low from low teens to about 25 degrees F. If a teepee tent is used I highly suggest hanging a fan to circulate air. My 4-5 man teepee will hit temps of 93 degrees at 66 inches of height and temps at 45 near the floor. (It was 24 degrees out). With a fan it can keep it at about 65 degrees evenly. Roughly. Teepee tents seem to deal with the moisture a buddy heater creates better than a standard tent. But with that said you still can easily use standard tent just try and make sure there is some air circulation.
Thx bro Saved a lot of time 🇺🇸👍🏻
Glad it helped
I used mine for the first time last weekend. Went through 3 full 1lb containers in about 8 hours on low. Is this typical? It says 5.4 hours on the manual
Which heater?
@@AlexTimm Mr. Buddy 9000BTU
Very helpful
It would be nice to have weighed the cylinders before and after the tests. That way you would be sure how much propane was actually used.
That's a great suggestion! We'll definitely keep that in mind for future testing. Thank you
Im just run a 20lb tank in the basement i think. Its heated but there is a chill all the time. The upstairs floors stay much warmer, so when im messing around in shop i dont have to be uncomfortable. Plus i can use it as emrgency heat plus bring it to the kids games if needed so win win win in my book
Thanks for making!
You bet! Thanks for watching and commenting!
A test on the Little Buddy vs the Piglet would be solid
So is the big buddy lasting so much longer because it uses both cylinders ?
Yes on low and medium vs the portable buddy correct
@@AlexTimm ok thanks
Thanks
No problem
Thanks.
You're welcome
Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Is this safe indoor
Yes with the appropriate ventilation/ windows cracked it is
You can see the frost line on the portable buddy. Propane boiling point is -44 degrees.
Really wish they would make one of these with a low setting about half that of the portable Buddy. I have an old Colman that is around 3000btu and it's closer to the right amount of heat for me but it's a lot more dangerous than these modern ones.
On the Big Buddy if the heater is in a room that doesn’t warm up well when ran on high the propane tanks will freeze up from fuel consumption and pressure will drop and heater will go out. After the tanks unthaw pressure will increase and heater can be restarted.
Cool video thanks 👍
No problem 👍
Nice very helpful
Hi, don't know if you'll see this, but here it goes...I just got a Portable Buddy from Wally World yesterday ($79) and am trying to learn what to do and what not to do. As far as the time on the Big Buddy -- that time is using two-one lb. tanks, right? And it's roughly double the time of the Little Buddy. Wouldn't that technically put them on equal ground if you had a spare 1 lb. tank for the little guy? Am I right? Heck, go easy on me, lol...a math whiz I ain't 😉Thanks for your videos!
Nice buy! Yes the time is with 2 - 1lb tanks in the big buddy. Yes if you had an extra tank laying around for the portable buddy they would be similar on the low setting or medium setting on the big buddy and high setting on the portable buddy. You just have to change the tanks twice as frequently vs letting it go without needing to touch it. If you don't ever need that high setting the portable buddy is a FANTASTIC heater!
@@AlexTimm Awesome! Thank you for responding...much appreciated ❤I love the prepper community...great people!
Would be nice to see how long the Big Buddy will last on 1 tank
I will try to do that test here coming up!
just half the time
I've used Mr. Buddy heaters for years..Flame King just came out with one with a real thermostat on it..might try that one.
Yes! I just got the Flame King heaters too, looking forward to trying them out
Positive Comment!!!!
Thanks! 😊
I would love it if little buddy had a burst mode where it would automatically turn on for 20 minutes or 10 minutes every few hours
Funny you say that, I was just thinking that last weekend (or a thermostat option)
Actually I've got both the big buddy and the portable and was wishing the same thing. I've recently discovered the flame king and have been tempted to buy it. I live in Canada and our big buddies don't come with fans. The flame king tho has a fan and a thermostat apparently. The pilot stays lit and it turns itself off and on. There are 2 models I believe. A smaller one and a 20,000 btu one. Not sure if I can post links on RUclips so just incase I'll post a link in my next reply to the page I was checking them out on. I haven't read any reviews or anything. Just came across them @alextimm maybe you could do a review on them? BTW just sub'd
Looks like links don't work cause I came back to comment and say I see you've used the flame king after coming across your vid on how to usb power the flame king fan off a battery bank
My Big Buddy ran 78.50 hrs on low on a 15lb tank.
Thanks for the info 👍
If you look at the BTU ratings from the manufacturer, the low on the big buddy is equivalent to the low on the portable buddy and the high on the big buddy is equivalent to twice the high of the portable body. The big buddy supports two 1lb tanks and the portable buddy one 1lb tank. This all lines up with what the data from the manufacturer.
Yes, exactly right! 👍
They still are OFF in their assessment of time; they should improve their product to actually give what they state.
@@pjfsr7024 Agreed! I can understand slight variability based off ambient temperature, but some of these numbers are WAAAYY different then the specs say
That 5 hour difference was a big surprise
Absolutely
@@AlexTimm 👍
Are those fully charged tanks? (No, what you get from a gas station swap is not full. Its 3/4) edit: also, super useful video. Thank you 👍
Hey Matthew, yes, they are brand new tanks and weighed at full capacity before using to verify as well 👍 Thanks for watching and the kind words!
Interesting, but the mfg times you have listed aren't even close to what the mfg has listed on their website. Either way we all know these heaters use a lot of fuel
🙏🏼
What would you use for air conditioning in a 10 x14 tent. The Buddy brand should make the same for air conditioning.
YES, that would be great if they made something for AC when summer camping! From the bit of research I've done on it tents can be relatively complex with AC as they are not usually insulated very well and leak the cool air pretty quick so you need to have a unit that can run almost constantly without damaging itself. If I was going to do an AC setup in a tent, I would look at a 150 sq ft or 250 sq ft window unit that you could set on a milk-crate or some sort of stand outside the tent with an opening (modification) in the tent so you could let the air come in from the front of the unit, or fab up around one of the tent doors / windows for it. Let me know if you do figure something out, would be interested to see what you do! Thanks for watching and commenting 👍
@@AlexTimm I know it is difficult so that's why I am asking
@@YourstohaveinLou Right on, I'd use a window ac on a milk crate or some other homemade stand (don't put it on the ground). But you will need power / generator
the QA and QC on the Flex model is total grabage..I ve run thru 4 of them,..when you call the 800 service number, you get put on terminal hold and never get an answer nor help..so, I returned all 4 thru the local store I purchased them thru..they ,also checked them and found them to all have the same fault with the pilot ignition system..they all suffer the same problem...the location, of the thermal couple, is not close enough to the pilot flame, nor will this unit ever get lite off with a lighter or match, because ALL control to the fuel flow valve run thru the spark module....making any other mode of ignition impossible....total crap QA and QC and Service.......went back to tank mount 20year old all steel radiant unit..that is flawless...
Thank you so much for your helpful feedback! I won't be buying the flex buddy!
@@freetheppl5376 my pleasure,I found all of them to be a waste of money... simple items always seem to work better, though certainly not attractive,I would rather use an ugly heater,that works, then a pretty one,that does not...lol. Just my opinion
@@stevendedeian7774 Thanks for you reply! What propane heater do u recommend. I'm buying some for my kids 4 christmas N myself.
Thanks Steven, I learned something. Hopefully Mr heater fixes these issues! I've been lucky and haven't had any issues getting mine lit
@@AlexTimm that's great.....I ve just NEVER found a good one perhaps
Man just saved me a buttload of money
Big buddy surprised me
Yeah, quite a bit off from the MFG specs
Looks like you cooked on the big buddy, lol i did the same to mine aha
Oh yes, many, many times! I've learned a thing or two not to do in terms of using foil and pans haha. This buddy heater has had multiple plastic pieces already replaced and looks like this again 🤣
The problem I see with the test is that is does not account for the different btu's of each unit. The Portable Buddy has 9,000 btu on high and 4,000 btu on low. The Big Buddy has 18,000 btu on high and 9,000 btu on medium and 4,000 on low. The Buddy Flex has 11,000 btu on high and 8,000 on low. On high the Big Buddy gives almost 3 hr at 18,000 btu , Portable Buddy gives almost 3hr at 9,000 btu, Buddy Flex give 3 hr at 11,000 btu. On low Big Buddy gives almost 8 hrs at 4,000 btu, Portable Buddy gives 4 hr at 4,000 btu, Buddy Flex gives 3 1/2 hr at 8,000 btu. Even though the Big Buddy uses 2 propane cylinders in my opinion if you want to stay warmer this is the one to pick.
Yes, the BTU difference is key in which one will be best for your needs. More than anything I wanted to show how they match up to their manufacturer specified ratings, and then to your point, a person can consider which will be best for their needs. Appreciate the comment and detail you put into it
Dammm I'm glad I refill my one pounders. as fast as they burn out that's your best bet 🤦🏽♂️
Yeah, or go with a bigger tank like a 5lber I've found to be great too!
@@AlexTimm yeah, good idea!
I'm just testing my Big Buddy tonight and saw this video. Extremely, extremely disappointed in the run time. What a difference between 7 hours and 12 hours. All of them were so low compared to the manufacturer's specs. That is completely false advertising.
My big buddy heater runs for 3.5 hours on two 1lb disposable little green tanks
The Buddy FLEX Heater on low approx 8hrs a day on a 20lb Propane tank would probably last 14-18 days depending on usage.
My rough math is saying you would go through about 2lbs in 8 hours on low, so about 10 days 🤷♂️ - But I have not actually done this test with a 20lb tank so speculation based off small numbers being scaled out