UKC

I cannot for the life of me find my MSR Dragonfly stove and have reluctantly decided to replace it. I still have the fuel bottle and pump, so I guess I may as well buy another, however, can any other brands use the MSR bottle (& pump?!) and do any other stoves offer the same ease of simmering. I normally use unleaded and my Dragonfly had to go back for repair after ten years 'due to using unleaded petrol all the time' - do other stoves have similar issues?
I do not want gas as I use my stove in winter. Multifuel ability is useful, but not essential. Thanks in advance

In reply to Toerag:

I have an MSR whisperlite and love it, beautifully simple bit of engineering! I believe it's lighter and quieter than the dragonfly, though not too sure about the ability to simmer, which is adequate but a bit fiddley.... I run mine on standard unleaded without issue but admittedly I haven't had mine that long. I prime it with meths however, so as to avoid the black soot that petrol leaves.

I would definitely recommend it, and your dragonfly pump/bottles will fit. You'll also save a bit of money as well, it's one of the cheapest liquid fuel stoves out there!

Until recently the design hadn't changed much in 40 years or there about, so they must have got something right! The new ones are very similar but I think they have a fitting to take gas cylinders as well....

In reply to Toerag:

A pocket rocket.

I love the multifuel concept, but they are just too bulky and heavy for the effect they achive unless you're camping for weeks at a time.

My Dragonfly pump also broke quite quickly, I've only used it about a dozen times too.

Would consider selling if you make a good offer.

In reply to Merlin:

I had that problem with my dragonfly. Pump handle snapped off the first time I took it somewhere I really needed it to work.

When I want a liquid fuel stove I take my old school Optimus Svea 123R these days. It doesn't burn as hot as the MSR, but it's fairly light & ultra reliable.

In reply to Toerag: Just buy another Dragonfly and be done with it, I have one and I’d replace it tomorrow if I lost mine, they are just to good at what they do, and the build quality is better than anything else i've used before, Field & Trek have them reasonably priced, I don't think there are any multi-fuel stoves that will better it for it's simmering ability, it'll last you for years to come, as long as you don't miss-place it that is

The only thing with the dragonfly was the pump 'was' different in terms of the fuel line, the brass end bit of the fuel line was slightly wider than the Wisperlite and XGK, so if you buy a new stove make sure it comes with its own pump, any other stove is not likely to be compatable, the old pump you have is redundant really otherwise. I think the bottle will be industry standard unless some maker decides to do they're own thing and make bottles uniquely fit they're pumps.

All the best

Jason

In reply to Toerag
Get a dragonly. I can lend you an XGK if you want to try it. I also have a Dragonfly. Pump on Dragonfly is different to whisperlite and XGK.

XGK is much better at melting snow/ winter use, but poor for general camp cooking duties

The original dragon fly pump was poor but the new design is much better.

I used the primus version for a few days over the winter. No real diffeence to the Dragonfly.

still sat with leg up!!

In reply to Toerag: The simple answer is don't use unleaded petrol - it is horrible, toxic stuff, high in benzene compounds and various additives in addition to making stoves clog up.

Quite frankly, only someone with little concern for their health would choose to burn it in a stove that they are then going to be in close proximity to, unless they have absolutely no alternative.

Thankfully for UK use, you can reasonably easily buy Aspen 4T which is clean burning ultra-pure petrol specifically designed for garden machinery or other petrol engines with no catalytic converters where people are at high risk of breathing in combustion products. It is only marginally more expensive than unleaded and still far, far cheaper than ridiculous over-priced Coleman fuel. See http://www.aaoil.co.uk/environment-Aspen-Stockists

I've never had a problem getting paraffin or white gas in Europe, North or South America although we did have had to use unleaded in Kyrgyzstan in the late 1990s in the XGKs we had.

Anyway, I've currently got a Dragonfly advertised for sale on here - http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=507748. It's in perfect working order but I now have an Omni-fuel stove so I can switch to gas when I want to keep things lighter and simpler.

In reply to Toerag: Primus omnifuel would be my bet as it can use gas as well. Sell the bottle and pump on UKC for a couple of quid as it is included with the omnifuel. The Primus pump also feels a lot sturdier being made out of less plastic