I'm looking for feedback on the Sierra Stove, made by ZZ Manufacturing. A friend says that a friend of his uses it and likes it, but I wanted some other opinions. The website address is zzstove.com. Thanks for the info.

You could do a search on this site and you will find some info.
Also check out http://site283.webhost4life.com/afmservices/trailgear/compactstove/falk-compact-stove.htm
Stoves by Jim Faulk, fhese are great. From what I hear about the Sierra Stoves there is a problem with motor failure and the cost is about 15.00 to have one shipped. It adds up. There is also a video of one on youtube - by Jason Klass.
Did you search zen stoves. There are much better stove options out there if you are just looking for a stove. I use a Trangia mini 28 that I got at REI for 30.00 and I absolutely love it. I carry the Trangia with enough fuel to use as a backup and I use a home made compact wood stove as my primary cooker on trips longer than a week.

Do a search here. I believe there are other discussions of this stove. I would never buy a stove that needs batteries and has a motor. I've never understood why anyone would want one, when there are so many other designs available.

It's also heavy. I just received the J Falk Bushwhacker stove today. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet. I'm busy packing to go out of town. But it's nicely built and looks like a winner for me. Details to follow.

I have the ti version. let me say this. I am amazed, blown away and totally impressed. I was really skeptical about having to carry a battery. I wish I didn't have to. However, let me tell you what this does that no hobo stove, wood gas or otherwise will do. BTW, I have a regular compact trail stove (two piece can based wood stove from J Faulk), which I like too. But it does not compare.
Getting a fire goes like this. four fingers of any ANY tinder. four fingers of small sticks, but chunks work too. Unlike long and thin like other wood burners. Light, set to low fan...10 sceonds...raging RAGING aluminum can melting heat. Wet wood? Doesnt really matter. Wet tinder? No, but once that initail tinder is going, I think it will light wet socks.
That is what is amazing and undeniable. Anyone who has used one will have to agree to this.
Limitations. Obviously the size, weight and need to depend upon a mechanical device. This is huge and should not be underestimated. Because of the design it basically does not work without the fan, period. Fan breaks, stove stops!
So, for me this stove walks a fine line in terms of needing some form of backup. It has never broken, works so well...but.
Building a little fire is a fine backup usually. This just depends upon where you are going. I would think a stove like this would really really shine in a small group. Bring this plus a couple of cat/esbit stoves. Hide those away and almost certainly don't use them.
My compact wood stove. I like it. It works, can't break. Not clean burning, Tons of soot. Starting it is like starting any other fire. Not hard, just not like the Zip. Over time (cooking real food) ashes build up and need to be removed to maintain draft.
I like it.
The zip is what I would call amazing kit, not without limitations, but amazing.

Anybody knows this other wood stove ?
I did a search, found nothing on the forum...

If you are interested in wood burning stoves you may wish to also check out a Bush Buddy. No direct experience but people talk highly of them. http://www.bushbuddy.ca/

I've never used a Sierra zip stove but I have made and used several wood gas stoves. Since there is no fan they are lighter but it takes a little practice to use them. If you are interested in a wood burning stove for backpacking then I would recommend you try one. Either the penny wood stove
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/pennywood.html
or the Garlington woodgas stove
http://www.garlington.biz/Ray/WoodGasStove/
work well for me and they ridiculously easy to make.

I have used the penny wood stove, and it worked well as advertised. (I'm a big fan of the penny alcohol stove at the same site). However, I've never bothered taking it for the simple reason that:

1) anywhere I can legally burn twigs in a can, I can legally burn twigs on the ground.

2) if I find 3 rocks to set my pot on, and burn a few more twigs on the ground, my carrying of nothing on my back to do this a lot lighter than the penny wood stove.

If the environment is sensitive enough to not be able to do that, I just take an alcohol or
other kind of stove anyway - so I really don't have a lot of use for a sierra or other type of woodburning stove while backpacking. Dont' get me wrong - they're cool and fun to play with, but I just can't justify carrying one <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You know phat, I might have responded to your similar comments on this line, I keep coming to the same conclusion. I started out trying to make a downdraft gasifier. Of course, I wanted to make it small and light (why carry a heavy one). The more I tweaked, the more I realized that smaller isn't always better. The bush buddy is a certain size for a reason. But, like you said, if I can use a wood burning stove, then I can also use a small fire with some rocks (or even like Earthling suggested, ss rods from my old bike tire spokes) to support the pot. If I can't have the "open" fire, then most likely, I can't have the wood stove. Plus, pretty much everywhere I go allows fires. Two bike spokes weigh a whole lot less than any wood stove, or any other stove with fuel or without. Yes, a wood stove is generally more efficient. But, considering I am not carrying the fuel, and there is lots of it (although I don't need much), efficiency doesn't matter. Bottom line, I like any type of stove, but when I start reasoning on why I need something, a wood stove never makes it to the list. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

You are probably right that places where fires are prohibited (because of the danger of forest fire) would almost certainly not allow a wood stove of any kind. But fire hazard isn't the only reason not to build a fire.

I'm no expert here so perhaps someone can debunk this myth for me. I have heard that the ground on which you build a fire is more hurt by the fire than most people realize. If you come back to that spot a year later it will still be barren of vegetation and my understanding is that the reason is that the soil has been sterilized by the heat (not a biologist so not sure what that means). So I figure it doesn't satisfy "Leave No Trace" principles. Since a woodgas stove (at least the way I use them) is suspended above the ground (to allow primary air flow in from the bottom) the ground is not much affected by the heat.

The other consideration is efficiency. Now I'll grant you that it doesn't matter for how much weight you carry to have a more efficient wood stove (since you don't carry the wood). But the dead wood in the forest does serve a purpose in the forest ecosystem. If one person makes a fire it's no big deal. But if every hiker did then you can see that this would begin to be a problem. So I figured that if I only burn a few twigs in my woodgas stove I'm having less impact than a fire (although more than when I use alcohol or Esbit).

Of course whether this second concern is really a concern depends on how heavily used the area is. The more hikers come through the more careful each one has to be to maintain the natural state of the forest.

You are completely right that is is not LNT - A fire on the ground will leave a trace (although it's not as bad as people suggest if you keep it *small*. In many places it doesn't matter - particularly if there are suitable places to make a fire that don't have this problem. A lot of places, particularly in the alpine, it's a big concern. Also, and important - hikers walking through collecting fuel will have a big impact once there is enough of them. (strippng all the dead twigs frmo the bottoms of the conifers for a long way around the campground, etc. )As will dumping out ash from a bush buddy stove.

So, like I said, if the environment is too sensitive to do the three rock fire thing - I just take a stove, which I do most of the time anyway. By the time I talk about LNT, burning wood collected in the forest and leaving the ashes there isn't in my vocabulary - whether I'm burning it in a can or not.