{"id":5425,"date":"2021-12-18T15:47:33","date_gmt":"2021-12-18T23:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/?p=5425"},"modified":"2021-12-18T15:47:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T23:47:33","slug":"msr-dragonfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/?p=5425","title":{"rendered":"MSR Dragonfly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why blow a chunk of change on a brand-new camping stove when I already have a perfectly fine old Coleman stove<\/a>? Two main reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. I may want to do some short-distance backpacking or medium-distance bicycle camping, and the old Coleman is way<\/em> too large and heavy to be practical for car camping.<\/li>
  2. CSA certification. The Province of British Columbia can be very<\/em> strict about its outdoor burn bans. Not any old camp stove is exempt; the strictest burn bans allow only stoves with modern safety certifications.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The second one is the real stickler. The chances are remote of there being any issues, but suppose the worst does<\/em> happen and my old Coleman stove malfunctions and erupts in a ball of flame that ignites a wildfire. Once the authorities find I am in breach of their regulations, I am suddenly on the hook for the full costs of that fire. Just way<\/em> too risky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Although those old Coleman suitcase stoves have a time-tested safety record, a fifty year old stove is just not going to have a modern safety certification. Even if it could pass a modern inspection (and I believe it could) the cost of certifying it would be way<\/em> beyond the means of an individual. Far cheaper and simpler to just buy a new stove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Because I dislike the waste and poor cool-temperature performance of disposable canisters, that means a liquid-fuel stove. The Dragonfly is one of the few currently-manufactured (by a well-known, reputable manufacturer, with full safety certification) liquid-fuel stoves that can do more than just a quick boil; its burner is designed to simmer well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Just did a test burn (if the stove doesn’t work, I want to find out in the garden outside, not in the backwoods). First impressions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. The thing is loud<\/em>. They are called roarer burners for a reason.<\/li>
    2. It is significantly fiddlier than the old Coleman. Both require set-up and tear-down but the Dragonfly requires more of it; it is not as much all in one convenient unit. Part of this is just the price to pay for it being more compact and light-weight.<\/li>
    3. Lighting process is different, but not appreciably more or less convenient than the Coleman one. No liquid-fuel stove lights as easily as a gas kitchen stove (and due to the more complex process of burning liquid fuel, none ever will).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Since it’s just a quick test burn, I don’t have as much to report on how well it simmers, but I’m not really worried about that, either. I did use a friend’s Dragonfly once about five years ago, and from what I remember it simmered just fine. Plus, it has a good reputation for being able to do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Why buy it now<\/em>? Supply chains. Was going to buy one as a birthday present to myself last year, but they were unobtainable, and remained so for months. I would not be shocked to see a similar disruption as the next camping season approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The short summary is that it’s not going to completely replace the old Coleman, but it will be nice to have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Why blow a chunk of change on a brand-new camping stove when I already have a perfectly fine old Coleman stove? Two main reasons: I may want to do some short-distance backpacking or medium-distance bicycle camping, and the old Coleman is way too large and heavy to be practical for car camping. CSA certification. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5426,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5425\/revisions\/5426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackcap.name\/blog\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}