WhatStove?

Review of Morso Owl stove

Good, but not as good as a Clearview

Stephen Tan 14 years ago

We bought this stove because we live in a Smoke Control Area and it

was the smallest one that was approved. It has performed well but as

other review suggests, it needs to have the wash on high in order to

keep the glass clear. (This comment also applies to very dry seasoned

wood!) This is a bit of a bugbear for me as we can't have clean

burning and low wood burning rates at the same time.

It does goes through wood at a fair rate - quicker than I would really

like. I would say that it goes through about 2-3kg per hour depending

on the wood. You can get it to go slower, but this involves lowering

the wash and soot starts to form on the glass.

I would guess that you would need to recharge the stove about every

60-70 minutes.

I would reccomend getting a stove thermometer as this helps greatly

with gauging the temperature of the stove.

My only point of comparison would be to a Clearview stove. My parents

have owned 3 Clearviews over 12 years. To compare the two brands,

there would be no competition - the Clearview wins in terms of

airwash, ease of lighting, build quality and time taken for fuel to

burn. If you pack the Clearview, then you can leave it low for 2 hours

easily and not have gunk on the glass. This is not true of the Morso

which will exhaust all fuel on just over and hour and will fog if you

leave the wash turned down.

As stated above, the only reason I bought this was because it was the

best fit for a smoke control area. It is a decent enough stove but

compared to a Clearview, comes up short.

If I could have, I would have bought a Clearview Pioneer 400. In terms

of going through wood, you'd get better value because the Clearview

won't go through as much.

Overall rating:

4 flames

Build Quality 5 flames (avg 4.9)
Quality of finish 5 flames (avg 4.7)
Value for money 4 flames (avg 3.9)
Ease of use 4 flames (avg 4.4)
Ease of lighting 4 flames (avg 4.6)
Firebox size 4 flames (avg 4.3)
How well does the airwash work 4 flames (avg 4)
Controllability 4 flames (avg 4.2)
Handle operation 4 flames (avg 4.6)
How likely are you to buy it again? 5 flames (avg 4.5)
What is your overall satisfaction? 4 flames (avg 4.5)