Halo Versa 16 Portable Outdoor Pizza Oven


 
Ed P

Ed P

TVWBB Platinum Member
We recently bought this oven and are extremely happy with our purchase! It is relatively new on the market and makes baking a pizza quick ( 5 minutes or less ) and easy. I've not had consistent success with baking pizzas and this is a game changer for me. Note the mirror finish on the back of the lid...Hey! There's an alien in my pizza oven!

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The lid is hinged and held down by two straps on either side of the oven for ease of cleaning and maintenance. An obligatory temperature gauge is mounted at the front of the lid and measures the heated air exiting the front. The temperature gauge is mostly for looks and not very helpful, IMO. The lid is double-insulated and gets very hot, as you might imagine...200F or better.

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The 16" pizza stone is carried on an AC/battery-operated turntable motor mounted below the oven ( AC adapter included ). The motor looks to be an ordinary rotisserie motor and is very quiet in operation.

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The controls are front mounted for ease of operation. There is an ON-OFF switch for the rotating stone, a burner control valve, and an electronic igniter for the burners.

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The turntable support has a thrust bearing and drops into position. It has the standard 5/16" square drive of a rotisserie motor. The motor power and switch connections have jacks in the motor and plugs on the cabling. The heat deflector beneath the support drops into place, keeps the lower end free of debris and is easily removable.

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Once the deflector is removed the lower end is easily accessible. There is an IR burner that heats the pizza stone and a curved burner at the rear that deflects the flames over the pizza. The stone can reach temps close to 800F in 30 minutes, 700F (plus or minus) in 15.

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Did I say portable? Yes, in addition to the battery-powered rotisserie, the unit comes with two regulators, one for the small 1lb. bottles and a hose for the larger LPG tanks. They are connected to the oven via gas couplings that look similar to the old Weber couplers. Combined output of both burners on HI is 21,100BTU/h, so a 20lb tank of LPG (430,000BTU/h) should last about 20.5 hours of continuous operation.

EDIT: Added photo of ID Tag 05/06/2022

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The entire oven weighs about 42lbs and is easily moved around. We've only cooked a couple of pizzas so far and we are in love with the intelligent ( award-winning ) design of this unit. It is priced at the lower end of the market at $499 and a cover and cart are soon to become available. I am certain this is an introductory price and as such is an excellent value. For further reading, there is a consolidated thread at https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=73552.0

EDIT: 05/10/2022 Added award-winning photo and product features video below. The stand is expected to become available this summer.

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Versa 16 Pizza Oven with Rotating Stone | Halo Products Group

With a rotating stone & dual burner, our 16-inch gas pizza oven makes achieving the ultimate pizza easy. Shop the Halo Versa 16 Outdoor Pizza Oven!
halo-pg.com halo-pg.com
 
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Not bad. A little "spendy" but if you don't have a suitable grill....................
We use our Wolf grill. Thanks to it's tremendous heat output from it's 6 burners plus the infrared at the back it mimics a wood fired oven very nicely. Giving you a nicely cooked pizza(s) in just a few minutes
 
What I find interesting is that, apparently, some of the people over on the pizza forum are using these ovens to produce street food. These are obviously a consumer-oriented item and I'll be interested to see how well they hold up in a semi-commercial environment. And while I'm on that subject, these ovens come with a 1 year warranty on electrical components and paint, and 5-year warranty on everything else ( firebox, burners, pizza stone and tray, control knob, etc. )
 
DanHoo said:
@Ed P thanks for posting.

Where's the pizza pictures ???
Click to expand...
I'm reading a book now, "The Pizza Bible" by Tony Gemignani, and he takes the position that pizza-making is a craft, and I cannot agree with him more. I don't have that craft nailed down yet. My first attempt was a failure to launch, having never had to slide a pizza into position through a narrow opening...I ended up dragging the built pizza onto a pizza screen and sliding it in that way, which impacted the bottom of the crust. The top came out a beautiful golden brown, though, no burnt areas, and we both enjoyed it. So I figured out what to do about the launch and got the launch part of it dialed in, and my second attempt came out much better, beautiful leopard-spotted crispy bottom but I like a little thicker crust on the bottom ( not as thick as a pan pizza, but thicker than what I would call a cracker crust). I'm thinking I might try par-baking the crust, but I have to do some more studying. And then Cinco de Mayo / Tequila Sunrises and now we're on a carne asada kick!
 
Ed P said:
We recently bought this oven and are extremely happy with our purchase! It is relatively new on the market and makes baking a pizza quick ( 5 minutes or less ) and easy. I've not had consistent success with baking pizzas and this is a game changer for me. Note the mirror finish on the back of the lid...Hey! There's an alien in my pizza oven!

View attachment 50290

The lid is hinged and held down by two straps on either side of the oven for ease of cleaning and maintenance. An obligatory temperature gauge is mounted at the front of the lid and measures the heated air exiting the front. The temperature gauge is mostly for looks and not very helpful, IMO. The lid is double-insulated and gets very hot, as you might imagine...200F or better.

View attachment 50291

The 16" pizza stone is carried on an AC/battery-operated turntable motor mounted below the oven ( AC adapter included ). The motor looks to be an ordinary rotisserie motor and is very quiet in operation.

View attachment 50294

The controls are front mounted for ease of operation. There is an ON-OFF switch for the rotating stone, a burner control valve, and an electronic igniter for the burners.

View attachment 50295

The turntable support has a thrust bearing and drops into position. It has the standard 5/16" square drive of a rotisserie motor. The motor power and switch connections have jacks in the motor and plugs on the cabling. The heat deflector beneath the support drops into place, keeps the lower end free of debris and is easily removable.

View attachment 50296

Once the deflector is removed the lower end is easily accessible. There is an IR burner that heats the pizza stone and a curved burner at the rear that deflects the flames over the pizza. The stone can reach temps close to 800F in 30 minutes, 700F (plus or minus) in 15.

View attachment 50297

Did I say portable? Yes, in addition to the battery-powered rotisserie, the unit comes with two regulators, one for the small 1lb. bottles and a hose for the larger LPG tanks. They are connected to the oven via gas couplings that look similar to the old Weber couplers. Combined output of both burners on HI is 21,000BTU/h, so a 20lb tank of LPG (430,000BTU/h) should last about 20.5 hours of continuous operation.

View attachment 50298

View attachment 50299

The entire oven weighs about 42lbs and is easily moved around. We've only cooked a couple of pizzas so far and we are in love with the intelligent ( award-winning ) design of this unit. It is priced at the lower end of the market at $499 and a cover and cart are soon to become available. I am certain this is an introductory price and as such is an excellent value. For further reading, there is a consolidated thread at https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=73552.0

Versa 16 Pizza Oven with Rotating Stone | Halo Products Group

With a rotating stone & dual burner, our 16-inch gas pizza oven makes achieving the ultimate pizza easy. Shop the Halo Versa 16 Outdoor Pizza Oven!
halo-pg.com halo-pg.com
Click to expand...
Nice write up and review.
 
I tend to see things as straight lines and round circles. One thing I think is pretty cool is this silicone pastry mat. When I'm done with the dough I just shake it outside or into the sink and then go over it with a damp sponge. It folds up without leaving a crease and stores flat in a drawer. I think it helps keep the countertop cleaner, too.

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Am I the only one that sings "That's Amore" by Dean Martin while I'm making pizza? My wife hates it when I put a song in her head that plays for the rest of the day...usually I start her day off with "Baby Shark" by the Kiboomers.
 
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DanHoo said:
I look forward to your pizza pics Ed.
Click to expand...
I checked the phone and I did take some pics of our first attempt, a before and after. The first thing that happened was the wife dropped our old and tired wooden peel and it split in two, so we built the pizza on the metal peel, which, by the time we got done, it had stuck to the metal. We dragged it off onto the pizza screen and went from there. It didn't turn out too bad and we both enjoyed eating it.

A little blurry, sorry, old Samsung S5 phone...

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Thanks, Dan! Lots of room for improvement...we overloaded the toppings and we need a stronger dough, but it's all about having fun and doing things together and looking forward to the next attempt. Any time you can find something that makes you want to break out into song while you're doing it, that's a good thing...my wife makes up her own words and you never know where it's going to go.
 
Rich G's dough worked pretty well for me. I only used it once, but I am going to try that again next time we make pizza. I want to try Brett's too but I haven't gotten semolina.

The Versa looks really cool. I was going round and round looking at a bunch of pizza ovens. I don't know how many times I put one in my cart and thought about it and didn't pull the trigger. I bought a cheap pellet fueled 12 inch oven and returned it after a couple of days. I should write a short review of it.

I finally decided to buy the E6 and not get a pizza oven. The closeout price on the E6 was never going to be better and I'll have fun cooking other things on it too, yet I wonder if some day I'll be buying something like the Versa or if I'll be able to get the pizza results I want from the E6.
 
Ed P said:
I checked the phone and I did take some pics of our first attempt, a before and after. The first thing that happened was the wife dropped our old and tired wooden peel and it split in two, so we built the pizza on the metal peel, which, by the time we got done, it had stuck to the metal. We dragged it off onto the pizza screen and went from there. It didn't turn out too bad and we both enjoyed eating it.

A little blurry, sorry, old Samsung S5 phone...
Click to expand...
Ha! That's a great looking pie even without knowing that it stuck to the peel and was "dragged" onto the screen! :) My failed launches look way more like train wrecks!

Ed P said:
Thanks, Dan! Lots of room for improvement...we overloaded the toppings and we need a stronger dough, but it's all about having fun and doing things together and looking forward to the next attempt. Any time you can find something that makes you want to break out into song while you're doing it, that's a good thing...my wife makes up her own words and you never know where it's going to go.
Click to expand...
Gotta figure out the sweet spot in terms of how much toppings a particular dough can take. My "Nearly-politan" dough needs a lighter hand, whereas something more in the NY style could take more (and an "American" style even more.) It's all part of the fun of playing with pizza! I think everyone has their favorites, but there are so many good styles of pies!

Have fun with that oven, looks like it'll be a winner!

R
 
Thanks so much, Rich!

Our second attempt with this oven was comical. I glued the old broken peel back together for the second attempt...it ended up being bowed, but it still worked very well...too well, in fact! I was testing it in the house and just about launched the pizza into the sink!

The peel that we bought as a replacement has a longer front to back measurement, for a couple of reasons. That oven has a lot of hot air coming out of the front and I singed the hair on my arms and the top of my head without knowing it! I thought maybe I got some dough in my hair but apparently I got a little too close which watching the pizza bake! I don't have that much hair on my head to begin with and every little bit helps! Anyway, I wanted a longer handle but this style will give me some launch-testing area. The downside is that it is heavy so we'll have to see how it goes...I've got a band saw if the situation calls for it.

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EDIT 05/07/2022: This sucker is made from bamboo and it is heavy! It doesn't have a way of getting both hands on the handle and it's too heavy to manipulate with one hand. I'm afraid that if I put my offhand underneath the peel once it's loaded that there is a pretty good chance I'll lose track of where my hand is and end up getting burned. I'm returning it.
 
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Ed P said:
I checked the phone and I did take some pics of our first attempt, a before and after. The first thing that happened was the wife dropped our old and tired wooden peel and it split in two, so we built the pizza on the metal peel, which, by the time we got done, it had stuck to the metal. We dragged it off onto the pizza screen and went from there. It didn't turn out too bad and we both enjoyed eating it.

A little blurry, sorry, old Samsung S5 phone...
Click to expand...
This happened to me and we wound up rolling it up into a Stromboli. I now almost always use parchment paper and no problems.
 
Ed P said:
I tend to see things as straight lines and round circles. One thing I think is pretty cool is this silicone pastry mat. When I'm done with the dough I just shake it outside or into the sink and then go over it with a damp sponge. It folds up without leaving a crease and stores flat in a drawer. I think it helps keep the countertop cleaner, too.

View attachment 50335


Am I the only one that sings "That's Amore" by Dean Martin while I'm making pizza? My wife hates it when I put a song in her head that plays for the rest of the day...usually I start her day off with "Baby Shark" by the Kiboomers.
Click to expand...
You can really fold these with no creases? Not just roll them up?
 
Joe Anshien said:
You can really fold these with no creases? Not just roll them up?
Click to expand...
Yep! It comes in a flat pack box and I thought, uh oh, but it lays out flat. It comes with a band like a ponytail band if you prefer to roll it up. I'd imagine you could crease it if you really tried, like folding it and then stepping on it maybe. Sticky dough will lift it up and it will slide around on the counter if it gets a little flour under it, too, so I thought about taping it down with packing tape but I don't think the tape will stick to it. It's not perfect but I like having the circles for reference and it does seem to be less work cleaning up ( debatable ). We have a grouted tile countertop so a Corian or marble countertop may be a better bench top, I dunno.
 
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