I Tried It: Ninja’s Fireside360 Outdoor Heater Warms You From All Angles

Winter is finally behind us. That means more time outside, but as the temperature drops on spring evenings, many of us are forced to abandon ship and head inside for warmth. Not so with a consistent heat source for the patio or deck. Ninja’s Fireside360, a patio heater-fire pit mashup, is a reimagining of a crowded outdoor appliance category filled with a lot of the same.

The Fireside360 is a low-set patio heater topped off with a fire pit. Powered by propane, the warmer creates a circular heat zone around the sides via gas burners and dancing flames on top with a twist of some dials. In my attempt to turn April into an outdoor month, I tested the unique Ninja heater to see how much the Fireside could warm my bones on chilly spring evenings. 

Here’s what I thought after a week with the Fireside360.

Getting started

The unit itself weighs about 40 pounds, so it was easy for me to move around the yard without help. Set up was as easy as it gets. All that’s needed is to remove the porcelain lava rocks, drop them into the fire pit center, attach a standard propane tank as you would for a grill, and you’re ready to fire up this patio warmer. 

The igniter worked as promised after holding it down for a few seconds, and the flame was adjustable, although I didn’t feel I could control it with the precision the advertising suggests.

You can use it as a patio heater, fire pit (or both)

The Fireside360 allows you to choose from three operating modes: a powerful outdoor heater (heat only), a smokeless fire pit (flame only) or both at once — all controlled by two dials.

It was a chilly evening, with temperatures dropping to about 40 degrees at one point, when some friends and I tested the Fireside360. We ended up using both heating modes and were able to sit around it comfortably for hours. When either just the side heater or the fire pit was at full blast, there was a noticeable drop in heat output. On a milder evening, using only one of the two heat sources might suffice.

The side heater wraps all the way around the unit, providing 360-degree warmth. While perhaps not as rustic or charming as a fire pit, the burners provided more targeted warmth than a traditional low-set fire that shoots its heat mostly up. 

The smokeless firepit was indeed smokeless, allowing us to get as close to it as we needed without any air-quality worries or the risk of smoky clothes. On the occasions when the wind kicked up, we noticed a slight reduction in heat output.

How the Fireside360 differs from a standard patio heater

The key difference between a standard tower patio heater and the 360 comes down to vibes. Both types provide good warmth, but the Ninja version has an open-flame fire pit center, which is nice to look at, crowd around and warm your hands over on a chilly evening. The ceramic stones give the flame a natural look, even though it’s powered by a propane tank below

It’s lower to the ground and thus, less imposing than a tower heater. It also sends heat output from a lower place. Because heat famously rises, it stands to reason that more of the fire’s heat is delivered to target zones, so less of it wastefully drifts up above the humans gathered around it and into the atmosphere.

How much does the Fireside 360 cost? Is it worth it?

The combo patio heater and fire pit is listed for $499.99 at most online retailers, including Ninja’s own site.

What I liked most about the Fireside360 was the directed warmth. Fire pits send a lot of their heat up, so it’s necessary to crowd around, almost over the fire, to feel its full effects. The Fireside provides more of the target warmth of a patio heater with controlled burners, but at least some of the charm you get from a fire pit with a bowl of flames dancing on top. 

With 80,000 BTUs, it packed plenty of punch to warm me and some friends well into the evening on a chilly March night. All the power means it’ll burn a healthy amount of propane, too. We went through about half a tank in just a few hours with the heaters on full blast. 

At $500, it’s on par with other high-performance patio heaters and fire pits. If you want the best of both in one unit, the Fireside360 is one of the few options on the market that delivers.