Ooni has designed so many great pizza ovens but this post is a comparison of the Ooni Fyra and the Ooni Karu. These two ovens are very recent releases by Ooni making it an interesting comparison post.
Ooni Fyra is the newest addition to the wood-fired pizza ovens of Ooni making it the fourth installment under the original Ooni pizza oven line.
Ooni Karu, on the other hand, is the amazing multi-fueled oven from Ooni that was greatly anticipated by Ooni fans and released 2-3 months before the Fyra.
Most pizza ovens that can produce great Neapolitan-style Pizza are large and expensive but Ooni has made their pizza ovens portable and cheap to satisfy everyone’s dream of having your own pizza oven.
They have promised to bring everyone the pizza that you get from legit pizzaiolos with a belief that everyone deserves a great pizza, Ooni has made it possible for home cooks to make amazing pizzas with their ovens.
Both the Ooni Fyra and the Ooni Karu have similarities, especially at first glance, however, you will still find other features that will differentiate them from each other.
As of the writing of this review, the Ooni Fyra is yet to be available in the public due to the situation that we are all in but you can order the Ooni Karu from their website for more benefits.
Not to worry, the Ooni Fyra will be available soon but for now, you can check our review to get the closest-to-life experience about the oven itself.
In this post, we will explain how the two ovens are the same and what features are different from each other. So read on for you to see which one is better for you.
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What is in the Box?
Ooni Fyra
1. The Ooni Fyra itself consists of the oven itself, a chimney, and a pellet hopper which are both detachable.
2. A 13.7-inch wide baking stone made out of cordierite.
3. The Ooni Fyra’s Manual and Essential Guide contains tips on how to properly use it as well as recipes that you can cook in the oven.
Ooni Karu
1. The Ooni Karu Wood and Charcoal-fired Portable Pizza Oven also with a chimney, a door, and the fuel attachment.
2. A 15-millimeter baking stone made out of cordierite.
3. The Ooni Karu Manual and Essential Guide contain tips and recipes for you to follow.
The Design
Ooni has kept its portable design in these two ovens. They both have a familiar shape that you will immediately associate with almost any Ooni product.
The Ooni Fyra has a chimney that measures over one foot. It has two parts so you can detach it and put it inside the oven for more portability.
It helps in the circulation of air inside the oven. It also has some sort of a second chimney at the back which really is a pellet hopper.
The pellet hopper has a cover that stops air from coming inside it. You might be wondering where the air that circulates inside comes from.
Well, there is a vent placed at the back of the oven. With more space underneath the oven, the air easily comes from the back and enters the oven to heat it up quickly.
The foldable legs that are common to Ooni products are still with the Ooni Fyra. Although they designed it to be taller hence the larger space between the oven and the tabletop.
The Ooni Fyra has a door that can be hung at the bottom of the opening of the oven. This makes it more convenient when you need to take a look inside the oven.
The handle on the door is glass-reinforced so you do not get burned when you touch it even if the fire is going real hot inside the oven.
The door also has a small one-inch hole which serves as a peephole so you can have a clear view of what is going on inside the oven without opening the door.
The Ooni Karu also has a chimney that can be detached although it is only made out of one part. It can still fit inside the oven so you would not have any problems with its portability.
The door in the Ooni Karu is also installed with a glass-reinforced nylon handle that is cool-to-touch. The handle for the fuel compartment has the same building material.
The airflow comes directly from the fuel compartment. The Ooni Karu has a perforated fuel grate which makes for optimal airflow.
The air basically comes in from the back and then drives the flame upwards to the chimney using the radiated heat to heat up the entire interior of the oven. This also works with the Ooni Fyra.
It has the foldable legs from Ooni which makes it great for transportation and storage. If you want to move the pizza oven from one place to another, it also has a bag that you can use which fits the oven even if the chimney is installed.
It also has an ash-catcher so you do not make a mess when you are using wood or charcoal as a fuel source. It also has a gas fuel attachment which is sold separately.
The Features
The weight of the Ooni Fyra makes it very great for traveling. It only weighs 22 pounds or around 10 kilograms.
The main material used for building the Ooni Fyra is 430-grade stainless steel which means it has 0% nickel which makes it very great in heat and rain resistance.
It boasts a powder-coated finish shell that not only adds to the elegance, but also makes it even more resistant to both sunlight, rain, and wind.
It has a 0.4-inch thick cordierite baking stone which heats up pretty fast and retains the heat for a long time to cook an amazing pizza.
It measures a total of 13.7 inches which obviously can handle a 12-inch pizza and leaves you enough room to maneuver the pizza inside it.
The chimney also adds to the power and control of heat inside the oven. It has some sort of a valve where you can adjust the air that is coming out of it which makes the oven better for cooking other recipes.
When all the legs are folded, and the chimney and the pellet hopper are stored inside the oven, it will look like a turtle shell which is very great for storing in small spaces.
The Ooni Karu is also made out of the same excellent high-quality material. The difference is that the shell does not have a powder-coated finish.
Karu weighs a little bit heavier than the Ooni Fyra and weighs around 26 pounds or 12 kilograms. However, the weight is still very manageable when you decide to move it around.
The Ooni Karu also has a slightly thicker baking stone which measures 0.6 inches in thickness. It does take a little bit longer to heat up but it retains heat longer.
Both of the chimneys of the ovens can be detached with a simple twist and turn action. They can both fit inside the ovens which makes them very portable.
The Performance
Using the wood pellet fuel for the Ooni Fyra and the wood or charcoal fuel for the Ooni Karu, they can both reach 932 degrees Fahrenheit or 500 degrees Celsius in just under 15 minutes.
This temperature gives the ovens the right amount of heat to cook an amazing Neapolitan-style Pizza in just 60 seconds or less.
They have great air circulation inside. If you need more power, you can fan the back of the ovens and the fire will be powered.
The flames go directly to the roof and into the chimney. With that being said, the heat radiates downward which means that they do need some time for the ovens to heat up to maximum temperature.
But the radiated heat makes them great for one thing: the interior of the ovens is heated evenly for even cooking.
The chimneys also help in keeping the smoke out of the oven. If you open the doors of the ovens, the smoke will go out of the door, so the chimney helps in thereby keeping the smoke upwards.
The baking stones of the ovens perform greatly. They can retain heat for a long time and can both cook 10-inch pizzas with a lot of room to spare.
One thing that differentiates the two is the Ooni Karu’s patented Flamekeeper Technology. This allows the oven to retain heat even if the door is not closed.
The heat stays inside because of the design and the technology so you can watch the pizza inside the oven when the door is open without losing so much heat.
As for the Ooni Fyra, the peephole does this job so you can see the inside of the oven without opening the door, therefore, keeping all the heat inside.
Ooni has made the Ooni Fyra very efficient in burning. You can go up to 20 minutes of full-on blasting fire without refilling the pellet hopper.
As for the Ooni Karu, it still needs constant refill especially if you are using large wood or charcoal because the compartment is relatively small.
Cooking in the ovens
Both of these ovens are really great. From the start, the ovens preheat for 15 minutes which gives you just enough time to prepare a couple of pizzas.
The Ooni Karu has proved to cook pizzas in just 60 seconds while the Ooni Fyra boasts so much power from wood pellets that it can possibly cook a pizza in 45 seconds.
With the right amount of airflow and fuel, the Ooni Karu can do less than 60 seconds as well so either way, the ovens can make amazing Neapolitan-style Pizzas in no time.
The Ooni Fyra has this amazing and convenient feature. One it heats up, you can hook the door on the opening and then slide your pizza in.
You do not have to look for space to put the door on. It has a hook which is really great since you need to move it out of the way often.
The peephole is also useful. The fire inside the oven burns so hot that if you leave your pizza unattended, the side will get burned in just a few seconds.
You will need to turn the pizza around every 10 seconds to prevent the fire at the back from burning one side of your pizza.
With that, you need to take a close look at the pizza while it is inside the oven. Thus, the peephole for you to take a peek inside the oven without opening the door.
Cooking in the Ooni Karu is similar. You need to keep an eye at your pizza since it is very powerful and might burn the pizza.
The baking stones of both ovens are really great. It heats up the surface evenly which prevents burned marks on the dough.
Along with the power that the ovens produce, the cordierite baking stone cooks the crust quickly making it crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
You can check out the other recipes in each oven’s essential guide. Yep, that means that you can cook other recipes in these amazing pizza ovens.
Conclusion
Ooni has been producing amazing pizza ovens in the past and they keep on blowing our minds off. They are the best in making portable pizza ovens that are better than home ovens and way cheaper than brick ovens.
The Ooni Fyra is the newest addition to these amazing pizza ovens while the Ooni Karu is one of the most elegant and portable ovens made by the company.
If you want a wood pellet pizza oven then you can go with the Ooni Fyra but if you want a multi-fueled pizza oven like the Karu then you can go with the Ooni Karu Pizza Oven.
==> Check out the Ooni Karu Pizza Oven
Another great thing about Ooni is that you can buy the products that they guarantee are the best and return them if you are not satisfied with the performance.
In the first 60 days after your purchase, you can try and see if the ovens fit your standard if not, you can return it and you get your money back.
==> Get the Ooni Fyra Now!
Plus, if you buy from their website, you will earn a 3-year warranty on the product which means that you can replace the parts that are damaged or the whole oven itself.
They have amazing customer support as well so you can be assured that you will get assistance whenever needed!
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I stopped reading the article when I was annoyed the stone width was not correctly compared. Comparing the width to the thickness doesn’t make much sense. Almost like its was purposely done.
I’m sorry you feel that way but you can always check the specifications on Ooni’s official website if you think that you need more information on the specifications of these ovens.
Hope this helps!