I was in Gander Mountain today and they were running a special on camping gear. I bought an MSR Dragonfly stove for $56.00. I have been using a Whisperlite Internationale but I thought for the money it was a good buy. Anyone use this stove and how do you like it?
Stacey Needham
My experience has been the same. Lots of
maintenance free use. It is noisy, but if you actually cook while camping as opposed to just heating water, the ability to simmer is critical and almost no other backpacking type stoves do that. I’m thinking I might want a 2nd stove for my next trip and I’m going to get a 2nd Dragonfly. I also only have used white gas.
good price -YES
BUT , my 1st 2 stoves where the international an the wisperlite(before the shaker -1980’s) . Started workin for an outfitter that used coleman sinle burner stoves , white gas an a dual fuel . Just plain easy to use an maintain , simmers without a problem an cheaper all round . Even the repair /replacement kit is way better in simple an easy . A genorator tube an a pump cup , no 0 rings that are a bitch to find in the sand nothing to put together , no soot from priming pump cups and you can even talk to someone next to ya while the coleman is runnin without shouting . I’ll sell ya the 2 msr’s if yer interested as once I used the colemans I’ve not used the em . Pump light cook . Aluminum windscreen from campmor fer 11$ , much easier than all the windscreens fer the mrs . I also think the coleman has a better base , more stable. Naphtha IS white gas . BOTH work the rest is CHOICE !
M
I would buy another if I were
buying another stove, and at that price I would buy another one or two for spares.
I bought mine a year ago after using a Whisperlight for over a decade and I love it.
Was my favorite until…
I bought the much quieter Brunton Optimus. Which works as well but much quieter. Can’t be part of dinner conversation when you are cooking with the Dragonfly. BUT it cooks really well from a quick boil to the lowest flame and that’s a great price you got.
I have had to take it all apart and rebuild it. Bring mineral oil for the rings and you will be OK.
Suz
Loved it!
I can only compare it to the regular whisper lite, but the Dragon Fly is great. There probably are better stoves, but who cares? They are light, hot, easy to maintain/field strip, and they burn liquid fuel which doesn’t have those annoying canisters.
$56 is a bargain. I’ve taken to using fire lately, and bring a stove for emergencies or places the environment can’t handle fire or quick mug-ups.
Great Stove!!
I used a WhisperLite since, oh, the mid 80’s or so, and a year back I finally upgraded to the Dragonfly. VERY happy I did. When camping I like to cook. Nothing real fancy, but its certainly more than boiling water.
Two bits of advice for ALL stove packers … make sure you check the o-rings and test drive your stove BEFORE packing it, AND bring along key field repair gear.
Earlier this year I attended a demonstration on winter camping. The gentleman who was demonstrating the cooking portion swore by his Dragonfly stove. When I asked him more about his experience with the stove he admited that he’d packed it that morning and hadn’t used it for a few months. When he started it earlier that morning he found that an old o-ring had torn - creating a leak and making the stove unusable. A simple pre-trip inspection, and the habit of carrying a small repair kit would have prevented and, if necessary, dealt with the problem. Cheap insurance. Also, don’t forget to check that big o-ring that seals the top of the fuel bottle.
Great stove!
It is our stove of choice when kayak camping. Loud, but worth the noise. Many years of hard use and still roaring. 
That is a fabulous price! Congrats!
picked up an Optimus Nova
Found one on sale for $79 and couldn’t pass it up. It’s a heck of a solid piece of gear. I’ve only played with it so far but it sure seems to work well … and quiet compared to a Dragonfly.
the Dragonfly also doubles
as an approved signaling device in emergencies
boats, ships, search planes, helecopters–everyone can locate you when you’ve got that thing operating
Depends on how much…
noise bothers you. A few years back I camped on the Buffalo with some buds who had one and found the noise way too offensive, but then I have a particular aversion to noise on rivers. First day was one of those beautiful evenings at dusk and we had not seen another boat on the river so everything was very quiet. The Wood Ducks were flying to roost, owls were hooting, then the peace was shattered by a fighter jet at low altitude sound. Wow, what a racket! this continued at first light for breakfast, then every mealtime. I vowed to never have one, and since there exist alternatives, never will.
Gander Mtn. - No Gots!
Well I tried both Gander on-line and our local Gander store.
The local Gander Mtn. is not aware of any MSR sale and doesn’t have the Dragonfly in-stock away.
On the Gander website does not even list MSR products.
Wish I could get the same deal you did. Congrats, I’m jealous!
Love my dragonflys
I have two dragonflys and 1 simmerlite… My stove of choice is the dragonfly - yes, it’s loud, but, you can walk away from it and be able to tell if it goes out do to boilovers or extreme wind… From simmering to full out blast to boil water quickly it does it all… I don’t get out of my bag in the morning until I hear one going - that means coffee is on!!! (Unless I’m doing a solo trip, of course!) Pick up the maintenance kit for it and you should be able to just about fix anything that could go wrong while tripping. And, I like liquid fuel as I can easily refill fuel tanks and I can see exactly what is left in one. Personally I love this stove - noise and all - and highly recommend it.