The Best Fire Pits: Tested

Folks say a campfire is "the original television" because it's endlessly entertaining to watch flames flicker, spark and pulse. Alone or with a group, we unlock a primeval connection with ourselves and our community when we settle beside a fire. If staring into a flickering blaze is an essential part of your outdoor experience, you may want to invest in a portable fire pit, which lets you bring your campfire with you. Fire pits let you create that sense of retreat not just at the campsite, but also at home, on the beach or at a trailhead parking lot.Fire pits are easy to light and help minimize impact on the environment. The best of the bunch features some sort of heat shield that keeps flames from singeing the ground—as an Leave No Trace strategy, they're typically superior to the traditional ring of rocks around a blackened patch of earth. Sizes vary from small, light and packable to big and gleaming. Many include a grill for easy outdoor cooking.We tested the best portable fire pits available at REI and distilled that feedback into this guide. Most of the fire pits we tested burn wood or charcoal, but we also reviewed a propane option that's smokeless. All the options in this guide let us enjoy fire, warmth and romance, wherever we roamed. Read on to discover our member-testers' favorites—roasting forks recommended, but not required.Note: Before starting a fire outdoors, review Leave No Trace principles and safe extinguishing practices. Only have fires when they are allowed: check the land manager's current regulations for information on where to build a fire, proper fuel to use and potential burn bans.Test ResultsFor quick recommendations, check out the results of our round-robin here, or scroll down for in-depth reviews:Best All-Around Fire Pit: FIRESIDE OUTDOOR Pop-Up Fire PitBest Smokeless Fire Pit Option: Camp Chef Redwood Gas Fire Pit with LidOther Top PerformersSnow Peak Takibi Fire & GrillBioLite FirePit+Best testing story: One bonfire-craving tester dumped a 40-pound log onto the blaze, and the Pop-Up Base Kit eventually reduced it to a scant dusting of ashes.Best testing story: Forget eyebrow waxing. One tester nearly lost her facial hair when she peered into the fire pit while lighting the Redwood (which Camp Chef cautions users not to do).Other Top PerformersShop All Fire PitsFire Pits Buying AdviceBefore you pull the trigger on a portable fire pit, consider where you'll use it and whether you'll need to pack it away between adventures. If you're using it primarily to warm backyard gatherings, look for bigger units that allow crowds to gather 'round. If you're buying it for vagabond adventures, you might prioritize a smaller packed size (some of these "portable" fire pits are actually quite heavy and bulky, so transporting them isn't necessarily a breeze).Do you live where fire bans are frequent? If so, the Camp Chef Redwood might get more use than a wood-burning model that's prohibited more often than not. Then, once you've determined the best fuel for you, mull these variables.PackabilitySome fire pits don't collapse into smaller, more packable shapes, so they're best for households with ample storage space—or ones that plan to make the fire pit a more-or-less-permanent fixture on the patio or deck. The Camp Chef Redwood is a good candidate for extended use. Both include covers/carry cases to protect them from rain, but they're just as bulky in storage as they are in use.If storage space is limited, or if you only expect to use a fire pit a few times per year, look at models that pack small. The FIRESIDE OUTDOOR Pop-Up Fire Pit and Snow Peak Takibi lead this list.GrillabilityYou can hover a marshmallow over each of the fire pits we reviewed, but for real grilling capability, consider models with dedicated grates that are included with the fire pit or offered as accessories. Our grill jockey's favorite was the FIRESIDE OUTDOOR Pop-Up Fire Pit with Tri-Fold Grill Grate (sold separately). Its large surface area accommodates big roasts of meat or zucchini fillets for a crowd, and chefs can modulate the heat by sliding the grate closer or farther from the coals. The Snow Peak Takibi is another prime (albeit smaller) design for grilling. The BioLite FirePit+ is the smallest of the grills we tested, accommodating a pair of burgers rather than a crowd-filling smorgasbord.Heat OutputIn general, bigger fireboxes allow for hotter fires: Several fat logs burning together generate higher-temperature coals than kindling-sized sticks in a smaller firebox. If you want the kind of blazing heat that puts a steakhouse sear on your burgers or keeps a crowd cozy on an icy winter's night, consider a fire pit that can accommodate five or more extra-large campfire logs (the FIRESIDE OUTDOOR both check this box). Of course, heat output varies with the fuel type and quantity used; only the propane-fed Camp Chef Redwood stove offers an official measurement of its heat output (64,000 BTUs, which is impressively warm but not as scorching as the FIRESIDE OUTDOOR when used at full blast).AestheticsWhether you want to gaze at the fire—or at its metal stage—appearances matter. Some testers preferred fire pits that looked stunning even when they weren't in use. Others disliked fire pits that hid the flames. The BioLite FirePit+ contains the logs (or charcoal) beneath the rim, but it's made of a metal mesh that lets the fire glow through.On the "see it all" end of the spectrum, there's the FIRESIDE OUTDOOR Pop-Up Fire Pit, which elevates the fire on a flat base that lets spectators ogle everything from coals to sparks. And although the propane-fueled Camp Chef Redwood impressed even wood-burning snobs with its realistic-looking flames, it still lacked the "wow!" factor of other models.MethodologyOver six weeks, seven families burned through truckloads of firewood bundles, 30 pounds of charcoal and a half-tank of propane (it's efficient!) to sleuth out the advantages and disadvantages of the best fire pits currently available at REI. Some perched fire pits on polished wooden decks to test the contraptions' heat-shielding abilities. Others hauled portable models to remote campsites and fed fires with gathered wood. Food was grilled; s'mores were roasted; errant embers were promptly snuffed.Testers then scored the fire pits based on appearance, ease of use, packability, cooking facility, wind resistance and burn efficiency. Results were tallied and averaged to create a resulting score out of 100 for each fire pit. The Fireside Outdoor Pop-Up Fire Pit received the highest scores across most categories, with the Camp Chef Redwood, Snow Peak Takibi, BioLite Firepit+ scoring well in at least one (but not all) categories.Photography by Dan DeLong.