All Season Solar Cooker (17) Camper

Like many, I was astonished at how well this lightweight contraption cooks food. (in February, no less!)It cooks food in the morning, in the evening, in the winter, and at more reasonable times of sunlight too. I have adjusted the cooker as suggested to achieve a three-hour cooking window, placed a pan of chicken in it, and left at 1:00 p.m. to go back to work. I came home at 5:00 p.m. to well-cooked chicken, still warm.The design lends itself to so many adjustments that it is possible to capture maximum solar energy at any time of the day or year. Of course, adjusting it frequently will achieve the most cooking energy, but setting it ahead of the sun and leaving it for a 2-3 hour period has worked well enough for me.I most like the ingenuity of this cooker. It's pretty incredible that through intelligent design, plastic board and a shiny surface can be transformed to meet a universal human need--cooking food. It seems like that, with just a few uses, it can be considered a climate change gain. I would love to see this cooker distributed to areas of the world where women have no choice but to cook over open fires.This cooker is not an insulated oven, however, and I think some people have that expectation. There are ovens out there, and they are good, too, but they are not very portable. They are bigger than a suitcase and fairly heavy. I find that the turkey bag and the double bowl set-up does a fairly good job of retaining heat and creating an oven-like environment. It's a trade-off, but to be able to fold this down to an inch-thick and easily store it is worth it!As for the size, well, are you really sure that you want the large one? All the YouTube videos I watched were of the smaller one (on the right in the second photo). The larger one is the only one that is being sold now, and that's what I ordered, not realizing the distinction. (It is clearly stated that this a new, larger cooker, so it was my mistake.)I contacted the manufacturer because, aside from other issues, I couldn't get the large one through my 22-inch door, short of disassembling it each time. I suspect that RVers may have narrow doors, as well, and this might be an issue, in terms of just getting it out of the rain, or out of sight until the next day. I purchased the smaller one which, as you can see in the third photo, I can, with a little scrunching, get through my door. (I have a friend who wants the larger one, so its all good for me.)What I found, though, by having both of them for awhile, was that the smaller cooker is more maneuverable and more 'human-sized". The larger cooker is harder to adjust. Forget the wing nuts, use chip clips, but even then, it's not as easy. It's not because it is badly designed, it's because you can't make human arms longer. It's just harder to hover over the top of the larger one and reach everything. The larger one also doesn't have quite as much of a stable non-moving base. This increase in size does have some trade-offs, but, apparently, everyone wants the larger size and immediately started choosing it over the smaller size.For me, however, the smaller size, with a 12 x 12-inch cooking space works quite well. I would so rarely need to use the 12 x 17-inch cooking space that the slightly increased awkwardness of adjusting it and hauling it around isn't worth it. So, if you want the smaller size, you will need to contact the manufacturer. He said he has about 100 (well, 99, since I bought one) left.Overall, both of these cookers are really phenomenal. They are intriguing, fun to use, and reasonably priced.

These have radically changed my food preparation. I've now bought seven of these and given some away! But I'm using two for myself. I'm a 76 year old widow and loving the challenge of doing something new even though I don't know anyone else who cooks with the sun. People love my stories though...salmon, chicken, beef, lots of vegetables, a ton of winter squashes, 15-bean soup, egg casseroles, the best applesauce ever, mac and cheese, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, casseroles, even brownies in the shade. The all-season cooker lives up to its name and it is well designed and reasonably priced. Think of all the money I've saved in electricity! LOVE. LOVE, LOVE this solar cooking experience!!!!

I am a very experience solar chef, and have used several different types of cookers. This one seems to be effective. I haven't done any testing to see how it compares to other cookers. The coordinated articulating collector panels are a nice innovation. Seems like they would be beneficial in winter or the shoulder seasons, and they probably do extend your range of cooking time to earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon. So it's a neat idea, but realistically, in my 20 years of solar cooking, I've never really felt very limited by those things. I've never worried about early morning or late evening cooking. And yes, I do pack away my solar cookers for the winter, and with this one you may be able to still use it. This is a nice design, but really seems a bit overpriced for what it is. Basically it's just a folded sheet of Coroplast with a shiny side and some bolts to hold it together. If you are new to cooking with the sun, I recommend you either make or get something cheaper as you experiment with solar cooking. Get some cardboard and make a CookIt, or find some boxes and make a box cooker. You'll find lots of good instructions online. Once you get some experience and find you like solar cooking, then maybe you might want to upgrade to this one.On the other hand, if early morning, late evening, or winter cooking is important to you, or if you are rich enough to not worry about the price, then go ahead and buy this. It is a nice cooker, and I'm sure you will be happy with it.