Go Sun oven Worth it?

I'm spending this coming summer off grid but I love sour dough bread (and Sweets). I"m seriously considering  a go sun stove. This one specifically https://gosun.co/products/sport-pro-pack. Does any one have long term experiences with there stoves? I understand that they are not every thing they are made out to be. Any serious flaws  I should know about? I plan to supplement this oven with a Kelly Kettle water boiler and a Thai style charcoal/wood cooker.

I have most types of solar cookers but not used an evacuated tube solar cooker yet. I've actually started building one this weekend. I'd put off buying one based mostly on cost and personaly the materials to make a basic and functional solar cooker for survival are inexpensive and readily available. That being said I bought a box of evacuated tubes to make a few of this type of cooker. I'm nearing obsession level of a personal collection of solar cookers and the list of to build is long.

My suggestion for the bread you'd like to bake is a box cooker like the Sun Oven https://www.sunoven.com/  

Go Sun Oven would be great to make individual sweet sized portions of deliousness no doubt or a long pull-apart but won't make a nice big loaf of bread. It will boil water and make noodles & rice, enough for 1 or 2 people. This type of oven will make chicken wings & shish kebabs!

One con, you'll want extra trays to make more food. With a conventional Box Oven you use the cookware you already have. Also if it breaks they either explode (drop) or implode (internal cooking failure) and your food wil be no good. I've broken glass on box cookers and they mostly crack and you can continue cooking. Third con if you've using this to boil water is the possibility of vertical vapour flash, putting cold water into a hot tube. I've had steam burns from a mason jar in a panel cooker so really just being aware you're cooking things will get hot!

I don't think you'd be unhappy you just may want a larger volume of cooking space.

I love solar cooking, so I'm interested in this. Just looking at the pictures, the Go Sun appears to be highly portable, but somewhat limited in size. I have to agree with James about the Sun Oven. It's what I have, it's highly versatile, and I love it.





I believe it's pricier than the Go Sun Sport Pro, but if you're planning to buy the water boiler and charcoal cooker too, I think you'd do well to just buy one Sun Oven.

Of Course you could build a small J tube rocket stove for those cloudy days!

I have both the GoSun Sport Pro pack and the All-American Sun Oven and would be happy to answer any questions you might have. The "not everything they're made out to be" might be due to the limitations of solar cooking in general and not specific to the GoSun. If you're super picky and expect it to do what your electric/gas oven does, you will be disappointed. If you just want hot food and are willing to take the time to learn how to use it effectively, the GoSun is a great little tool.

I don't have much experience with baking bread or other sweets (I mostly cook meat/vegetables). Steam may be an issue, but you can control that somewhat by leaving a small gap between the seal at the end of the tray and the edge of the tube opening for the steam to escape. You can still brown (or burn) things in it. Its harder to control the temperature than a traditional oven due to the vagaries of the weather, clouds and the changing angle of the sun (the GoSun doesn't have a temperature gauge, while the SunOven does). For sustained high temperatures, you often have to realign the device with the sun every 15-20 minutes.

I would rate them both a 4/5. They each have their quirks, but they get the job done. I like to think of the GoSun as my toaster-oven/microwave (for small meals and boiling water for tea), while the Sun Oven is my "regular" oven (try fitting a whole chicken into that tube!). The Sun Oven gets about 70% of my usage because it has a larger capacity and is less awkward to work with than the GoSun. However, the GoSun heats up a lot quicker and cooks food faster (especially important on overcast days or shorter winter days, where my Sun Oven might not work at all). It's also easier to move around and doesn't take up too much space.

The GoSun is a little awkward to use at first (cleaning the tube and fitting food into it, especially foods that release lots of juices as they cook which overflow the tray and make a mess) but it's not that big of a deal once you get the hang of it. Make sure the GoSun is level so juices are less likely to pour out unexpectedly.

As for the Pro Package: I don't use the little silicon cup things that much. They're too tiny in size to be useful (for me at least) and the fluted edges are annoying to clean. The carry bag is nice to have for protection, storage and for keeping dust off the tube/collectors. The kettle I use very frequently. The second tray is still in its bubble wrap.

My tube exploded when I decided to put a kettle full of room temperature water into an already hot tube after cooking something in it. Don't do that. In fact, is says not to do that in large writing over all the literature that comes with the product. They still sent me a replacement for free ( I ordered my GoSun from https://glenergy.ca/ )

For a single person in a cabin with access to decent sun exposure, I'd say go for it. They're often on sale so if you're patient you can pick one up for a decent price.

If you have a special bread/sweets recipe you like, let me know and I could test it out for you.

I recently got the GoSun Sport pro package myself.  I will admit I have not yet spent much time playing with it to really say how well it works or doesn't in regular use.  I can agree with what Kirk said about the little silicon cup things.  They seem like a good idea to reduce mess with some foods, but so far I've found in practice they are much harder to clean than the trays.

On a sunny day it does seems to heat up pretty quickly.  Shortly after I got mine the weather here moved into the seasonal period of heavy clouds and I just kinda set it aside, even though it is said to work in cloudy conditions.  It would just take longer.  That said a couple days ago I thought I'd give it a try just heating up some leftovers on a very cold cloudy day.  I left them out for a couple hours, not really expecting anything.  The food was slightly warm, though it wouldn't impress anyone with the heat level.  Still I was impressed it did anything given the conditions.  I need to experiment with this more.

If you are seriously considering buying this package it might be worth watching their sales.  I got mine on sale and was looking to get one for my girlfriend.  The regular price was so much higher I thought I'd wait.  Then on a Black Friday sale they had it for even less than what I paid!  (On the other hand it was put on back order and still hasn't been shipped as Christmas is here.)

So I pulled the trigger on one. I managed to get a good deal. I think I got the sport pro pack for 250 instead of the normal 400. My dad and I had a good laugh because a gas cooking range could have been cheaper. We both stopped laughing when it cooked potatoes and onions in negative outside temps . Water was freezing instantly but the spuds where to hot to touch. The comments on steam are very accurate. It’s so small that the steam is a lot but can be managed if left cracked open. But I can’t leave it open on my place without defending it from the friggen cats. I think we might need to start a thread specifically centered on the experience and recipes. Anyone interested?  

That was the best deal I've seen on that package Hank.  As I recall that's what I paid for the one I got for my girlfriend.

It is kinda amazing how it cooks even in cold outdoor temps.  I just used mine to reheat some leftovers.  It's basically at the freezing point outside right now but with lots of sun.  It all heated up fine.

I like the idea of a thread dedicated to sharing our experiences and/or recipes.  I'm not sure how many others here on Permies have a Go Sun oven, but we can give it a try.  I'll go start one.

I researched them at length and they seemed wonderful. I ended up with a homemade solar oven before I splurged. I did cook a small roast in, bread , cake etc. It cooked them great. I used a tiny black roasting pan, as that fit perfect.  I haven't used in quite awhile. I have it just stored in front porch area, need to use again. The homemade one cooked everything perfect and I did use in the winter as well. I have a thermometer inside it to make sure it gets to temperature needed for meat, bread etc. Hope that helps for any that are willing to make their own. I have been wanting to make a solar dehydrator, of a model I saw for tomatoes etc in summer. Have an Excalibur the Queen of dehydrators and a small one, they are great , but want a large one for big batches outside.

James Sullivan wrote:I have most types of solar cookers but not used an evacuated tube solar cooker yet. I've actually started building one this weekend. I'd put off buying one based mostly on cost and personaly the materials to make a basic and functional solar cooker for survival are inexpensive and readily available. That being said I bought a box of evacuated tubes to make a few of this type of cooker. I'm nearing obsession level of a personal collection of solar cookers and the list of to build is long.

Where did you get the evacuated tubes, James?

I only made a solar oven once and i couldn't get it hot enough, I think because our place is so windy and it wasn't well insulated.

Jan White wrote:

James Sullivan wrote:I have most types of solar cookers but not used an evacuated tube solar cooker yet. I've actually started building one this weekend. I'd put off buying one based mostly on cost and personaly the materials to make a basic and functional solar cooker for survival are inexpensive and readily available. That being said I bought a box of evacuated tubes to make a few of this type of cooker. I'm nearing obsession level of a personal collection of solar cookers and the list of to build is long.

Where did you get the evacuated tubes, James?

I only made a solar oven once and i couldn't get it hot enough, I think because our place is so windy and it wasn't well insulated.

I had found some on eBay but bought via https://solar-water-panel.com/ they sell one tube for 40 USD.

To cook a meal for two they are too small to be honest. 20 inches long under 2 inches internal diameter.

I have an idea to use them for one person snacks for demonstrations. Will make shish kabobs using a long skewer mounted to the handle. Also looking at a single portion noodle bar and my brother thinks they are perfect for an espresso machine.