Big Buddy Heater Junk!!

[jltimm]

I recently used my Big Buddy heater on 2 seperate outings,and today the pilot light would go out ,then the unit would shut off!It did this about 10 times and it was REALLY ANNOYING!I have a 5ft hose from a 20lb tank and had it on high the whole time.Maybe I'll have to go back to the heater cooker,something I can trust!!Also I noticed the heat from this unit didn't have as much as the sunflower type heater?I used it in my Eskimo QF 3,and it wasn't as warm as when I've used the suflower heater!I had the house banked good to with no drafts coming in.

[iffwalleyes]

I'm sorry. No I didn't have my receipt. I asked them about the recall and I said you don't have any on the shelf so whats the deal. She called sporting goods and they told her that Mr Heater had just told them to take them off the shelf. So she told me that and I said well what am I suppose to do with this then. More or less her response was to take the 90 or forget it. I told her I would just take it up with Mr. Heater since she didn't what to do anything about it. I asked about the 90 as well and for one week sometime in Dec the had them on sale for that. I think it was a load of you what to. I have to feel bad for the person on shift doing customer service at Mr Heater when I call.

[Stradic]

FYI, same problems with the Little Buddies this year also. I saw earlier in this post that they were recalled also. Mine leaks gas whenever I try to put a new tank on.

[Chev_trucks501]

Hey IFF,

The bad experience you had at that store is not unusual. However what you should do reguardless of whether you take it up with Mr. Heater is to pick up a customer service evaluation and fill it out. Direct it to Gary Ruege, he is the District Manager of the Minnesota Stores. He will take care of it and usually you get a gift card out of it. Make sure you express you dis-satisfaction with the service you received.

Good Luck

Chev

[Surface Tension]

Stradic, I hadn't heard of a recall on the Little Buddies.

When you screw the tank down they always leak a little propane till you get it screwed in and seated.

[Guest]

There is NO recall on the small Buddy Heaters. They are fine and have had very few problems with them this year. I hope they get the issue fixed with the Big Buddy's, they are a nice heater when they work.

[Hibbing]

I brought my Mr. Buddy back to L and M Supply this weekend. Only paid $96.00 for it and they gave me my money back - no problem! (I had my receipt).

[GrouseHunt'R]

Does anyone have an extenstion hose for the quick fitting to a 5-20# tank with the Hand wheel for ease of connecting without a wrench?

I am trying to find a hose to use with mine and I don't see what I am looking for. Seems Mr. Heater only offers the disposable connector to the hand wheel.

If any one found one of these let me know where I might find one, other wise I may see if a local propane shop can make me one.

[Surface Tension]

Northern Tool had the 271803 part. Its a 12' hose, regulator and quick connect.

[Dano2]

finally decided to bring mine back after yesterday out fishing -10 degrees and it kept going out, lucky I had the sunflower with. got my money back at scheels and the manager claims he has talked to them 4 times and has never heard of a recall or problems mentioned, then said that theres nothing but rumors on these kinds of sites. I guess he'll find out soon enough, but atleast I got my money back. Should have told him that he should be happy about this site, because when someone mentions something good, thats usually who gets my business, or fleet, but now I'm thinking I will start driving a little further to fleet to get my goodies, after his snob attitude. I would purchase the heater again though, if they fix the bugs, but figured after all this is taken care of, the season will probably be over, so I'll wait til next year.

[iffwalleyes]

Well Dano I know what you mean about the place you mention not much has changed on that front I have been treated the same by them maybe even the same guy. I have found that I really like the Sportsmans Warehouse that has opened in Fargo so since you are from Moorhead I would take a spin over there and see what they have. I not sure how these stores can keep claiming they don't know. But I did receive a email from Mr. Heater today that said they would be getting recall forms out on their web page with in the next week. They said that we can send the heater in and they will fix the problem with them. I sure hope that they get fixed because they are a nice heater if working proper.

[Dano2]

oh ya, sportsman warehouse, I always forget about that one, still haven't even been there. I thought about printing something out for the guy, butdecided its not worth my time.

I will get another one once the bugs are worked out, if they are, but will buy it somewhere else.

thanks

[Stradic]

Frank,

Yes I know they always leak a little when you first put them on. But mine leaks really bad, and continually. I'm lucky I had my glove on or my hand would have been seriously frozen! I couldn't get it to stop leaking, so I grabbed another new tank and the same thing happened. My other buddy from two years ago was just fine, but not this new red one.

[Ed Carlson]

I stopped visiting that chain too after a fishing department manager explained to me that "Backwater Eddy" recomended using only Dip Baits (just like this crap here) on the Red and to use quick strike treble rigs (just like these here) for cats.

I said...Oh...Really...Gee...thats Kewl?

I never use trebles for cats and dip baits are on the bottom of my list for cats...if ya were wondering.

Can you say...BoooooooGus service Eh!!!!

[iffwalleyes]

But "Backwater Eddy said" I can just hear them saying something like that. Ed did you ever let them know who you where or did you just leave? The kicker for me was when I was an employee in their hardware store I went to get a new shotgun. Part of the perk of working there was a discount I ask one of the guys in the gun depart what I could get on of the guns for, he said "I have to go in back and look it up." He must have had to go way in the back because he STILL HAS NEVER come back and told what it would cost. I saw him a little later (about 15 mins of waiting later) I asked how much it would be and he I would have to wait till he was done helping the "Paying Customer". So I guess I wasn't a paying customer could have fooled me. It was really too bad for their store especially now that there are other options in town because I spend just a little bit of money on sporting goods. I think I have been there 1 time since last fall and that was for something less than 10 bucks.

[The Chemist]

Ed: I can't believe you didn't say something like: Oh really? That's what he (you) recommends. I don't recall ever stating that those were in my list of recommended lures. By the way I am Backwater Eddy.

It is funny how some people use tidbits like those to sell certain types of baits to someone that doesn't know much except the names af a few of the "popular" anglers.

I try to stay away from salespeople 'cause I have found that they try to push stuff on me that I don't need/want. If I do talk to them it is only to find the location of specific items.

If I'm looking for knowledge/advice I get it here.

[Ed Carlson]

Don't get me wrong, there are lots of great sales folks in the sporting retail biz. I feel them out and see if they are just trying to sell me something or trying to help me find what I need.

Those folks who say well, we do not have that but so & so down the street does gets my vote too. If they have other options that may work better along the same lines I am always interested in seeing them and I appreciate the effort.

I do some sales so I know the feeling you are trying to help where you can. Yet if a customer comes up to me and asks for info on a "THX-1418 2005 model WPL Whoola Hoop" and I do not have a clue what it is or what it does I'll say so, and try to find a sales person that may be of help....and not try to bluff my way through it.

Some stores hire people who have specialized experience in the departments, and others hire them to fill the opening. You can easily see who is who when you visit a few sporting stores. The guys and galls that live the outdoors lifestyle really make the customers shopping experience a better one.

iffwalleyes- You asked if I ever told him. I was trying to order Gamakatsu 8 O/T circle hooks and after a long time of trying to convince him that was indeed what I wanted he said he would "try". Then offered him my info so he could call me when they came in. I gave him my "Backwater Guiding" biz card, and left. Still waiting for that call Eh. It has been 16 months now. I wonder if he lost my card?

[iffwalleyes]

Nice I like that...

[dsje15]

I'm glad I checked in to see these reports. I've been shopping for a different heater and was up on Red Lake this past weekend with a friend who owns a Big Buddy. It was my first exposure to a Big Buddy. We were in his Otter Resort. Temps were in the 20's...and so were the winds! His heater worked great on all temp. settings and would cook us out when set on high. No problems lighting it or keeping it lit. I don't know what the causes some of the problems that I'm reading about but my friend used a 20# tank, a threaded hose connection(verses the quick couple option), and kept his tank outside the house, inside a five gal. bucket. I'm not a gas expert but my past experiences with other gas heaters has taught me to start out with full tanks, open the tank valve wide open and control the gas flow with the heater's controller. Again, I'm not a gas expert but I believe pressure is key so I would stay away from the one lbs. tanks and use either the 20 or 25 lbers.

God bless America and our troops!

[marine_man]

reddog...

The root of many of these problems were directly related to the recall that Mr Heater issued early last year (2005)...

I haven't heard of too many people, if any, that are having problems with their big buddy this year...

marine_man

[iffwalleyes]

Reddog they appear to have to problem fixed. I had problems last year but after the recall the one they sent to me has been working flawlessley. So I wouldn't hesitate to pick one up now. As always one should wait to buy till the second year of production. It always seems like it takes the first year to get the bugs out. As you can look back at my post last year I was less then happy with the big buddy. But this year they have really impressed me I can't say anything bad about them. I think they way they handled the recall was great so there customer service gets a A+++++++++++++++++++++++ from me.

[Surface Tension]

Correct, that was last years problem. I haven't heard any complaints with this years models.

[dsje15]

Thanks guys for the update. I'll be shopping for one today.