ParkerBill
12-03-2007, 03:51 PM
I didn't see a review for the MSR Dragonfly stove here so I thought since I've owned and used one just about since the year they first arrived on the scene (1998) I would put a review in place. This is a liquid multi-fuel type of stove and when I say multi-fuel, I mean it will burn white gas (i.e., Coleman fuel), unleaded gasoline, diesel, kerosene, naptha and jet fuel.
As I said, I have used this stove for about 9 years now and it is still going strong. I will say right up front that I have not used it heavily on a day-to-day basis except for two high-altitude mountain climbing trips (Aconcaqua in Argentina and Denali in Alaska), where it performed flawlessly during both ~30 day trips at moderate to extremely low temperatures (-25 dg F) and was used not only for cooking, but also on Denali almost continuously during the day to melt snow for water.
Pros and Cons for the MSR DragonFly:
Pros:
1. Burns from a very low controlled, consistent simmer heat to EXTREMELY hot for rapidly heating water to a boil in under 4 minutes.
2. Burns nearly any kind of fuel, even unleaded out of your bike's fuel tank if necessary, although as with virtually all multi-fuel stoves it is recommended to use white gas/Coleman fuel as much as you can to keep the jets cleaner (meaning you have to clean the jets less).
3. It has the MSR "shaker jet" which cleans the jet if you shake the stove up and down (while OFF, of course).
4. Reasonably light and compact.
5. Easy to set up and get lit.
6. Burns liquid fuel which is the normally the best for very cold temperatures--the heat output remains consistent as temperatures drop.
Cons:
1. Very loud when turned up to high heat.
2. Have to prime it initially, although it's very easy to do once you are experienced with it.
3. Very expensive to purchase. I believe the DragonFly now lists for around $120 to $130. When I bought mine several years ago it was something like $75-$80, if I remember correctly.
4. Overall I would say it is not as maintenance free as one of the cartridge-type stoves. There are simply so many different parts to wear out, leak and/or break. The plastic pump that goes into the fuel tank, for example is plastic and has always struck me as being somewhat fragile. While I have never had a problem with mine, I just discovered today that MSR now has a different (supposedly better) pump for it.
Please note that I do not include the fact that the fuel tank is separate from the stove as a pro or con, but please don't say it's a con for the only reason that it is separate because if you're going to be using any stove for more than a couple of days or so, you're going to have to carry spare fuel in either a tank or cartridge form anyway, unless of course, you do truly plan to siphon unleaded fuel out of your bike's tank.
Overall summary:
If you don't mind paying the bucks and/or you need a dependable liquid fuel type stove because of ease of finding fuel and/or going to use it at high altitude and/or very cold temperatures, the DragonFly is a good stove to have.
Would I buy one specifically for motorcycle camping--maybe, but probably not. There are cheaper alternatives for liquid fuel type stoves such as the Coleman 442 Feather dual-fuel, the Coleman Multi-Fuel, etc.
My personal favorite butane/propane stype stove for most 3-season uses is the GAZ Turbo 270, already reviewed in this forum, except for one very important detail. The GAZ fuel cartridges can be very difficult to obtain--try getting them in Florida, for example, where the closest REI store is 7 hours away from me in Atlanta! Buy them on line you say? You can't because (REI told me this) federal law prevents them from shipping any fuel cartridges holding more than 115 grams of fuel and the smallest GAZ cartridge is the CV270.
One thing I've noticed, at least here in Florida where no REI stores exist (as stated above), the two most prevalent fuels I see just about everywhere (same in Colorado if you're out in the boonies, too), and I'm talking about every store from Wal-Mart to Outdoor stores of all types, most mom & pop type general stores that service people using the outdoors and even a lot of gas stations are, (besides unleaded gasoline) white gas/Coleman Fuel and those seemingly find anywhere green Coleman 16.4 oz (465 gram) propane cannisters.
As I said, I have used this stove for about 9 years now and it is still going strong. I will say right up front that I have not used it heavily on a day-to-day basis except for two high-altitude mountain climbing trips (Aconcaqua in Argentina and Denali in Alaska), where it performed flawlessly during both ~30 day trips at moderate to extremely low temperatures (-25 dg F) and was used not only for cooking, but also on Denali almost continuously during the day to melt snow for water.
Pros and Cons for the MSR DragonFly:
Pros:
1. Burns from a very low controlled, consistent simmer heat to EXTREMELY hot for rapidly heating water to a boil in under 4 minutes.
2. Burns nearly any kind of fuel, even unleaded out of your bike's fuel tank if necessary, although as with virtually all multi-fuel stoves it is recommended to use white gas/Coleman fuel as much as you can to keep the jets cleaner (meaning you have to clean the jets less).
3. It has the MSR "shaker jet" which cleans the jet if you shake the stove up and down (while OFF, of course).
4. Reasonably light and compact.
5. Easy to set up and get lit.
6. Burns liquid fuel which is the normally the best for very cold temperatures--the heat output remains consistent as temperatures drop.
Cons:
1. Very loud when turned up to high heat.
2. Have to prime it initially, although it's very easy to do once you are experienced with it.
3. Very expensive to purchase. I believe the DragonFly now lists for around $120 to $130. When I bought mine several years ago it was something like $75-$80, if I remember correctly.
4. Overall I would say it is not as maintenance free as one of the cartridge-type stoves. There are simply so many different parts to wear out, leak and/or break. The plastic pump that goes into the fuel tank, for example is plastic and has always struck me as being somewhat fragile. While I have never had a problem with mine, I just discovered today that MSR now has a different (supposedly better) pump for it.
Please note that I do not include the fact that the fuel tank is separate from the stove as a pro or con, but please don't say it's a con for the only reason that it is separate because if you're going to be using any stove for more than a couple of days or so, you're going to have to carry spare fuel in either a tank or cartridge form anyway, unless of course, you do truly plan to siphon unleaded fuel out of your bike's tank.
Overall summary:
If you don't mind paying the bucks and/or you need a dependable liquid fuel type stove because of ease of finding fuel and/or going to use it at high altitude and/or very cold temperatures, the DragonFly is a good stove to have.
Would I buy one specifically for motorcycle camping--maybe, but probably not. There are cheaper alternatives for liquid fuel type stoves such as the Coleman 442 Feather dual-fuel, the Coleman Multi-Fuel, etc.
My personal favorite butane/propane stype stove for most 3-season uses is the GAZ Turbo 270, already reviewed in this forum, except for one very important detail. The GAZ fuel cartridges can be very difficult to obtain--try getting them in Florida, for example, where the closest REI store is 7 hours away from me in Atlanta! Buy them on line you say? You can't because (REI told me this) federal law prevents them from shipping any fuel cartridges holding more than 115 grams of fuel and the smallest GAZ cartridge is the CV270.
One thing I've noticed, at least here in Florida where no REI stores exist (as stated above), the two most prevalent fuels I see just about everywhere (same in Colorado if you're out in the boonies, too), and I'm talking about every store from Wal-Mart to Outdoor stores of all types, most mom & pop type general stores that service people using the outdoors and even a lot of gas stations are, (besides unleaded gasoline) white gas/Coleman Fuel and those seemingly find anywhere green Coleman 16.4 oz (465 gram) propane cannisters.