Ice Fishing => General Discussion => Topic started by: Minnowhead on January 08, 2012, 10:14:48 AM
Title: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: Minnowhead on January 08, 2012, 10:14:48 AM
My good friend left a Coleman SportCat propane heater in the duck blind by accident. I went back and got it for him on our next trip out. So naturally I had to play with it when I got home. ;D All in all this thing is pretty sweet! It spins on a pounder propane cylinder. It only has on/off. That's it. Turn on and light with a match. There is no flame so wind cannot blow it out. It heats up pretty fast and puts out some very good heat. Should warm up a shanty in no time. I went to Walmart and decided to price it out. It was half the price of a Buddy Heater or Dynaglo. Although it does not have low O2 shut off, tip over shut off, etc. etc. like the Buddy/Dynaglo. It still is a nice heater. Light weight and very portable. For someone who can't spend the $ for a Buddy Heater or Dynaglo, I would say this could be an alternative. My 2 cents.
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: slabslayer on January 08, 2012, 10:45:59 AM
Sounds pretty cool. Does the entire heater get hot or just the front. I had a similar heater, but I burned a hole in my shanty that I had to patch due to the wind blowing the fabric against the heater. One of the things I like about the Buddy is only the front gets hot. The back and sides stay cool and pose no threat to your shanty fabric. I can set the back directly against my shanty.
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: Fishin 2 on January 08, 2012, 11:49:58 AM
Have a friend that used a sportcat in a scout. Wasn't bad unless you had a real cold or a windy day. Kept the chill off but he soon switched to a buddy heater.Mike
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: g on January 09, 2012, 11:33:02 AM
usually at the end of winter, most places run the buddy & dynaglo heaters at half price. if you can wait a little while, you should be able to find some good deals on heaters.
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: erierider on January 10, 2012, 12:44:12 PM
G, Thats how I got my buddy heater. It was on Lowes.com. at the end of February. just ordered it on line. They pulled it from the shelf and was waiting in the store for me when I got there. It was like 35 bucks. 3 years and still going great with it. Made a heating rack for it to heat sandwhiches and the like and it cant be beat!!
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: futurestrader on January 11, 2012, 10:23:45 AM
I have a Coleman Focus 5 Propane heater. Lightweight and indestructable. You know they are good when they cannot legally sell them in stores anymore!, but you can find them on ebay. I have had mine for over ten years now.
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: erierider on January 11, 2012, 10:26:00 AM
Jim, They can not be sold in stores anymore because several people died from lack of oxygen while using them. There is no ODS on them. Can it happen in a shanty?? Possibly, Likely, doubt it, but that depends on how high you are running it and for how long but there were numerous lawsuits over these units. I keep one of the vents peeled or try to bucket fish every once in a while just to get fresh air even with my buddy heater equipped with ods. On low my BH is 4800 btu, and high 9000 btu which is way plenty. I will stick to my buddy heater. Plus, the back can go right on the shanty wall without concern of burning the shanty. Check out this article.
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: futurestrader on January 11, 2012, 10:52:59 AM
Dave, The back can go right against the back of my shanty also. Bottom line do you want to fish in a shanty with a guy bringing a Mr. Buddy or a Coleman Focus 5? Mr. Buddy is not the most manly name and makes me sense you are a little light in the loafers.
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: erierider on January 11, 2012, 01:34:45 PM
Focus 5 and you fishing in the shanty with it??? Now alot of things are making sense about you, I blame alot of it on the Oxygen Depletion over the years!! Oh yeah, I thought you wanted to burn a hole in your shanty and thought the focus 5 would do that for you. You know, to make that make shift FILL IN YOUR OWN WORD HERE you always talk about!!!
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: futurestrader on January 11, 2012, 01:38:29 PM
Alright you got me there I will stop the badgering. I will set up the pop up hub tonight and fire up the focus 5 and practice my jigging techniques to get ready for the start of the ICE SEASON!!!!!!
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: futurestrader on January 11, 2012, 01:42:17 PM
Just to let everyone know ErieRider and I are good friends so its all in good fun. He is an excellent fisherman and great contributor to the site. Lets get back to the task at hand and that is slaying slabs through the ice!!!
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: erierider on January 11, 2012, 01:47:27 PM
Jim, It's all good!! Sometimes if people do not know we know each other then they may take it wrong. However, I thought we would be breaking down on the ice already by now though.
Title: Re: Product review: shanty heaters>
Post by: erierider on January 11, 2012, 01:48:03 PM
Had to get one last one in there. Either heater is fine. Just throwing that out there