I purchased the Big Buddy heater in October 2011 as an emergency heater (we were in the early part of a snowstorm-induced 5 day power/heat outage). It works with those disposable 1lb propane tanks; I also purchased the quick-connect hose adapter to allow me to connect it to a standard "grill sized" 20lb propane tank (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UC7966)
I used this heater for indoor emergency heat during that October 2011 outage, and again this year during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, when we were without power / heat for two weeks (and again, treated to a snowstorm). Have not used this heater for regularly heating my home, or for any other purpose such as heating a garage, heating any outdoor area, etc. So my review is based on use as a residential heating appliance in emergency situations.
In my experience, this heater performs very well, and I can't think of anything that I think needs to be changed or improved. It's lightweight, portable, and reliable. It puts out a good amount of heat, and functions well as a room heater in our old, drafty house. I did not detect any odor or fumes when using the heater. Nonetheless, as with any non-vented combustible heater, one must be careful because ALL such heaters will output carbon monoxide, and you need to make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector in the room you will be using it.
I prefer to use this heater with the 1lb disposable propane bottles (the heater uses two of them at a time). It makes the heater much more portable. But more importantly, I have come to understand that it is very dangerous to bring a 20lb propane tank indoors, because of the risk of leakage (propane is a gas that is heavier than air, and it will invisibly pool on the floor and could ignite if it encounters a source of ignition, such as a gas stove pilot light, or a furnace pilot light, etc.) I had never realized the lingering danger that propane presents to indoor use. Outside, or in certain indoor locations that have lots of venhilation, such as barns, sheds, etc., you can count on the fact that the propane will dissipate before it becomes a danger; the same is not true in most residential houses.
In truth, even a 1lb bottle of propane can be a risk indoors, it's just a lesser risk due to the lesser amount of potential leakage. It's no fault of the heater, it's just a fact with propane as a fuel source, and one must really understand this when making decisions about these types of heaters.
By contrast, with something like a kerosene heater, you sometimes hear comments about how it might smell (I think mostly this is due to either a faulty or old heater, or improper operation/maintenance). But at least with kerosene, it will not give off vapors that can spontaneously ignite and explode, and you can be pretty sure that, so long as you are following proper procedure and refueling outdoors when the heater is cool etc., it's not going to explode on you. Propane is, in my opinion, a more dangerous indoor fuel, because you are at possible risk of mechanical failures (e.g. leaking valves on even the 1lb propane bottles, or some internal leak in the heater).
I would not run either a propane or a kerosene heater at night while I'm sleeping.
Anyway, taking into consideration the above points about propane, the Big Buddy heater does what it's supposed to do, and does it very well. With two 1lb bottles of propane attached, we could use it to heat up the kitchen in the AM to take the chill off, have breakfast, and get the kids dressed. Then I would turn off the heater, store it outside (just in case it started leaking), and bring it back inside in the evenings to use for a few hours when the house started getting cold after the sun went down, to eat dinner and get the kids ready for bed. I would run it mostly on high or medium, and that's enough to heat a large room in our drafty old house. Using the heater in this manner, I would burn two 1 lb bottles per day.
As a short term fuel, the 1lb bottles are great. But as a longer-term fuel source, it would be expensive. I do have the connector hose to connect it to the 20lb tank, which works great and I have done that a few times (leaving the 20 lb tank outside on the porch and leaving the door open a crack to allow the hose into the house to connect to the heater). But the more I learned about propane, the more hesitant I became about using it like this, even with the tank outside. My concern is a leak somewhere along the rubber hose, or again, maybe somewhere within the heater, and connected to a 20lb tank that could dump a lot of propane inside the house that could ignite if it lingers and finds a source of ignition. I wouldn't hesitate to use this heater outdoors or in any of those garage/barn type of situations, where it would be great and you wouldn't have the same concerns about leaking propane.
I'm giving this 5 stars because I do think this heater performs great for its intended purpose. It's far superior to a kerosene heater in terms of its portability and transport for things like outdoor sporting activities, etc. It's clean (as clean as it can be anyway), reliable heat. But I wrote all of the concerns I had about the fuel source generally, so that one could make an informed purchase decision.
For an emergency home heater, I also picked up a kerosene heater. It's good to have two options, as fuel can be difficult to find (as I found out during our 2 week outage!) and those of us without a lot of outdoor storage space would have difficulty safely storing enough propane (I don't have a garage or shed, where I would preferably store the propane, so I keep it in one of those weatherproof plastic outdoor boxes you can buy for gardens supplies etc.).
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KJ