Krakatoa Kombo: Krakatoa FireBreather & OUXL Grill

I want to give 10 stars for the Krakatoa being a simple yet insanely awesome fire pit. It is everything anyone could want as a fire pit. I came across this while searching for a compact fire pit I could camp with and cook over and for that I had to give 4 stars. The inside grate the hades stones sit on and the hades stones themselves give off a lot of black smoke and soot so I don't want to cook food over them. The over under grill thing is well made and a great accessory except I wanted the Krakatoa on a stand while cooking so I'd need to buy 2 to pull that off. Also it is a little unsteady as the stand doesn't have any rails or way to keep the pit centered on the rack, it slides around some.

With all of this said I'm extremely happy with the Krakatoa and the portability of the unit. I do wish there was more information on the hades stones what they are made of and how they are safe to cook over. I'd also ask that the inside grate not be painted black and hopefully be out of high quality metal for cooking food over it. I replaced the hades stones with the same number of lynx brand ceramic briquettes and the inside grate with a stainless steel grill and a larger grill to place over half the top of the Krakatoa for cooking. It ended up being a lot more pricey than I wanted but I do love this fire pit and plan to use it for camping and cooking a lot.

I'm a HUGE fan of LavaBoxes! I own the Heckla and take that bad boy everywhere... Literally, it stays with me in the bed of the truck and goes on every adventure. But then I saw FireAnytime release the Krakatoa and I had to start a LavaBox collection. The Krakatoa is MASSIVE and perfect for a campfire for a large group of people. It's also the perfect hight to add a griddle or pan and cook on top of it! I also recommend picking up the XLOU to go with your Krakatoa. Definitely a nice accessory to have with the LavaBox!

I haven't actually used this in the field but have only played around with it at home so this is more nitpicking about certain design features than any long term use evaluation. Overall, this unit seems to be very sturdy and well built. I didn't see anything that I would consider a quality control lapse. I would really prefer a handle on top of the lid, rather than two on the sides, i think that would be handier plus you could pick it up sooner after use as that handle would not be hot. The latches were also exceptionally tight. I suspect some folks would have an issue operating them. My biggest issue is probably the grate that supports the rocks. You just ram it in there until it stops scraping the sides and rests on the burner. I guess I would prefer something a little more elegant considering the cost of the unit. For lighting the burner I wonder if it would be better to have a hole in the side to stick the lighter through? I had a bit of a learning curve adjusting the regulator to get good ignition, and you have to reach way down in there from the top to do so. Probably get easier as I use this more. It definitely puts out some heat, seems like a wide range of adjustability on the flame, but maybe not as precise regulation as I would like. Again, I need to use it more. Overall, seems very well made and serves the advertised function.