User Review: MSR DragonFly

I absolutely love this stove.  I had been looking for a good backpacking stove for quite a while, but I didn't want to spend a fortune to get one. I had been using an old, reliable Coleman stove that uses a small propane tank, but it was large and heavy for backpacking. 

Then, I came across this stove being sold in a box of other miscellaneous camping gear at a police auction.  I bought it on name alone, knowing MSR to be a great brand for backpacking equipment, especially stoves.

When I won the whole lot of equipment for only about $25, I was stoked, and just hoping that this stove worked.  (It turned out that some of the other equipment in the box of gear was also pretty good, but I was bidding solely based on this stove). 

I got it home, opened it up, and was dissappointed to realize I need to get a canister and fuel, so I drove immediately to the store and purchased it, and got it all ready.  I spent a few minutes looking online to find this model and looking for instructions to make sure I used it properly.  I set it up, lit it, and was amazed at the quality of this product.  It blew my old Coleman stove out of the water. 

Like others have said, it is a bit loud, but I love that.  It means I know it is working.  Plus, the sound really is like a jet engine, which is a pretty sweet sound.  It is very easy to adjust the flame height to get that perfect simmer, although I mostly just turn it up full blast to boil water, which is amazingly fast.

With the amount of heat and sound coming from this small unit, I always expect the canister to be emptied quickly, but I am always amazed at how much extra fuel I am lugging home from the backcountry.

This unit is not the smallest or lightest on the market, but it is very sturdy, and small enough for me.  Plus, it is powerful and reliable enough to be the only stove taken on a four day trip for four men.  We still ended up only using about 1/2 a tank of fuel.

Fantastic stove!