We now own the Big Buddy and the Little Buddy heaters. We like the Little Buddy but it took more effort to warm up an area of our porch we closed in for the winter with temporary materials. The Little Buddy sends its heat straight up and the ceilings were a bit tall, and it was competing with 30 degree weather leaking in. I imagine it would be perfect for a tent or smaller living space. So, we bought the Big Buddy and it has done a great deal better. With two ceramic heating elements and the fan, this thing throws off a lot of heat - sometimes more than necessary. It heats at a higher BTU, and "covers" twice the space than the Little Buddy. We have never used the canisters, but instead run it off propane tanks (20#), as we did with the smaller unit. A 20# tank lasts about two weeks using the medium & high settings consistently. The filter-less hose that hooked up the Little Buddy works on the Big Buddy too, so we didn't have to purchase another hose to hook up to the tank. What we liked about the Big Buddy (besides it being, well, bigger, is that this has a fan that runs off batteries which moves the heat around instead of just sending it straight up. This has helped heat the room more efficiently before it has time to get too cool again. Had the Little Buddy had the fan, it would have probably served us a little better, but we love both of them and have no regrets purchasing one of each. If we decide to use it inside the house, we'll have to buy canisters and not the direction I'd like to go. All we need for this unit, and it's not totally necessary, is the power adapter for the blower fan. Instead, we'll use rechargeables as long as they can perform.
We now own the Big Buddy and the Little Buddy heaters. We like the Little Buddy but it took more effort to warm up an area of our porch we closed in for the winter with temporary materials. The Little Buddy sends its heat straight up and the ceilings were a bit tall, and it was competing with 30 degree weather leaking in. I imagine it would be perfect for a tent or smaller living space. So, we bought the Big Buddy and it has done a great deal better. With two ceramic heating elements and the fan, this thing throws off a lot of heat - sometimes more than necessary. It heats at a higher BTU, and "covers" twice the space than the Little Buddy. We have never used the canisters, but instead run it off propane tanks (20#), as we did with the smaller unit. A 20# tank lasts about two weeks using the medium & high settings consistently. The filter-less hose that hooked up the Little Buddy works on the Big Buddy too, so we didn't have to purchase another hose to hook up to the tank. What we liked about the Big Buddy (besides it being, well, bigger, is that this has a fan that runs off batteries which moves the heat around instead of just sending it straight up. This has helped heat the room more efficiently before it has time to get too cool again. Had the Little Buddy had the fan, it would have probably served us a little better, but we love both of them and have no regrets purchasing one of each. If we decide to use it inside the house, we'll have to buy canisters and not the direction I'd like to go. All we need for this unit, and it's not totally necessary, is the power adapter for the blower fan. Instead, we'll use rechargeables as long as they can perform.