MSR Dragonfly Stove
MSR's flame thrower with simmer über stove tested
Posted: 16 June 2000
by Richard Gear
MSR Dragonfly
£100.00
Burns: Everything except the sprouts, alcohol and gas
Time to boil 1 litre: 4 mins 50 sec
Weight: 490g
The Dragonfly's been touted as an XGK for people who want more
controllability, well sorry guys, it's an impressive piece of kit,
but it's not quite the expedition stove that the XGK is; here's
why...
With dirty fuel and vehicle fuel in particular, there are
additives which don't burn off at the sort of temperatures stoves run
at and eventually cause clogging. The XGK is basically simple with
big bore, easily cleaned tubes and passages, the Dragonfly, on the
other hand, uses a tapered needle mechanism to provide
controllability. The upside of this is that the stove has a subtlety
completely foreign to XGK owners - it can even simmer for heaven's
sake - the down side is that the fine needle grooves clog easily with
the result that the stove clogs and has to be stripped for
cleaning.
One OUTDOORSmagic tester using the stove in the Bolivian Andes
found that, eventually, the frequent stripping caused the O-ring
seals in the control mechanism to fail. In all other respects, the
Dragonfly is a superb stove and gives unimpeachable performance with
white gas, but don't mistake it for an all out expedition model. Heat
output, controllability and ease of use are all splendid, though the
macho roar of the burner is up in the XGK league. If you want to be
discreet get a Whisperlite.
Verdict: Not quite the 'XGK which simmers' it promises to
be, but still an excellent, brilliantly put together bit of kit.
I'd just love to visit the MSR
web site
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Discuss this story
On the subject of stoves how easy is it to fly wiht fuel as I thought that airlines wouldn't let you even take a sotve or fuel bottle on the plane as hand luggage or in your luggage am i right on this one?
Please help someone its all dark and scary,and I can't find my porn mags sorry wrong day, wrong website and the mags are only for art use honestly!!!! i'm just and art student etc officer!!!
Posted: 30/03/2001 at 15:46
Fly with fuel? Haa... No chance. No gas canisters, no liquid fuel and, in some cases, no empty fuel bottles either. Official, responsible advice is to check first if you want to carry fuel bottles and clean them over and over again till there's no smell of fuel, ditto the stove. Yes, it's mad, but quite a few airlines will simply confiscate bottles. As for gas canisters, no, you can't do it. If you're an expedition and want to use gas, you need to have it shipped out in special containers by prior arrangement, but for a punter it's pretty well impossible. Which is why you need to know what fuel's available at your destination and plan accordingly.
Your porn mags are under the mattress on the left hand side. Your mum e-mailed us to complain about them.
Posted: 30/03/2001 at 15:51
Ta I'd been looking for those for ages I couldn't complete my "still life" study without them!!
Damm U mean my mother knows oh dear!!
Posted: 30/03/2001 at 15:56
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