Wow, you guys are amazing at coming up with data and info besides all the personal experience!  The teflon info was informative..good to about 600* is good.  DD, the oven I have is the Svante Freden which is on the small side of the reflector oven spectrum.  I too have a couple of the GSI square fry pans but in my oven there's not enough depth to rotate well.  I put one of my wife's round 9" pie dish in and seemed to hang out in front a bit too far to suit me, I'd hate to see a fancy desert tumble into the fire  .  An 8" to 8 1/2" overall diameter looks like it would be a good fit.  So now the hard anodized fry pan at WalMart is looking better.  I'll just drill out the rivets.

terp

My somewhat small oven has a handle centered on the top/back that along with gloves, a hook, or pair of pliers could be used to move it while hot.  Perhaps to pull it back or spin it slightly for viewing. Also because it is shallow you can peer over the top and see part of the "goods" cooking.  Keep in mind that I have only cooked with this thing in front of a floor level fireplace (no hearth).  I also suspect that you could step around many fires and from a distance, see the contents of most reflector ovens.  Probably not as efficient as a rear hatch. 

Maybe someone with REAL EXPERIENCE can comment on features that they wouldn't want to be without.

terp

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Since I made my own reflector oven, I re crafted the rear panel to add an access hatch after my first trip.  I was fortunate, in this respect, since the design I used is more rectangular, so it does have a rear panel.  Many of the commercially available ovens are more triangular shaped, so this would not be possible.

If I use a smaller pan, I can insert/remove the entire contents.  With a larger pan, I can at least inspect and turn the item as it is baking without being "over" the fire. 

Like ST, I added a small lightweight aluminum thermometer to one of the rack rails to be able to better judge the temperature.  On my first field attempt, I got the fire too hot.  The top of the brownies were cooked to perfection before the bottom was done.  So, I backed down on the heat from then on and all the items turned out nearly perfect.

dd

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 I'm not sure how high a candy thermometer registers?
Since most bake goods call for 400 degrees or so, I went with a small high temp gage, similar to a meat thermometer. Round head with spike tip.  I found mine at of all places, a heating and cooling supply place! Around $10. It registers from 50-550 degrees, so you could bake meat if you desired. You could easily drill hole at top of Freden model or similar oven and insert thermometer. That's what I do on my flashing oven.  Once you see at what temp your getting the desired results, then you'd have your "feel" for where to set the oven.
 You still have the problem of rotating pan for even baking, but I'm thinking once you get your oven, with little ingenuity, you can fix that
  There are numerous plans on the web and on previous posts for making your own oven. I made a conventional one before I made my flashing one and it only took a few hours, with a pair of tin snips, electric drill, pop riveter and some thin wire for hinges. I used aluminum roof flashing I had on hand and just bent the edges over a 1/2" to stiffen the sections. You could also buy aluminum sheets like for storm door repair at the hardware. I used stainless kabob spears for the pan supports.  My oven's whole top swings back to rotate baking pan. My flashing oven solves the rotation problem, because the heat rises up like a chimney and bakes evenly. For the price of the Freden, you can experiment with a few prototypes, save a bundle and get what you really want

Where have you been for the last week, Bannock?  The discussion has been raging on (sort of).  In two sentences you've answered all my questions about this little oven.

Thanks!

terp