• The DragonFly has received third prize from German magazine Outdoors' annual Gear of the Year list.Geir Pettersen/Digital Vision/Getty Images
  
  Mountain Safety Research (MSR) is a division of Cascade Designs, a company specializing in outdoors gear. MSR designs products for serious hikers. The DragonFly is a small liquid-fuel camp stove for mountain cooking. It will operate on white gas, kerosene, unleaded auto fuel, diesel and jet fuel, and is designed to hold pots up to nine inches in diameter. The unit includes a fuel pump, windscreen, heat reflector and a stuff stack. Fuel bottles are sold separately.
  
  

Assembly

• Assembling the MSR DragonFly is a three-step process. The owner's manual advises users to first prepare a full bottle of fuel. To do this, fill the fuel bottle until the liquid reaches the "Stop" line. The fuel will not work properly unless the bottle contains the appropriate mixture of fuel and air. Step two is setting up the burner, a four-step process: unfold the legs, rotate the burner and fuel line assembly into place, unfold the flame adjuster valve and place the stove on the center of the heat reflector. Lastly, attach the stove and the fuel pump.
  
  

Use

• Using the stove begins with preheating the unit. To preheat the DragonFly, open the pump control valve on the fuel bottle. Release half a spoonful of fuel, close the valve and light the primer fuel, the half-spoonful released, with the wick. Users who don't want their faces melted are advised to be cautious; to quote page two of the DragonFly manual, "a brief soccer ball-sized flame is normal." Once the stove is heated--this should take approximately two minutes--open the flame adjuster by turning the flame adjuster valve 180 degrees. A blue flame indicates the DragonFly is ready for cooking. Using the windscreen during cooking is advised.
  
  

Dissassembly

• Once finished with the DragonFly, it should be disassembled. Wait until the unit is cool to the touch in order to avoid a potential fire hazard. Ensure all valves are closed and there is no fuel left in the pumps or pipes. Disconnect the fuel bottle from the stove. Close the release valve tightly and store the bottle in a safe place. Disassemble the central cooking unit of the DragonFly by collapsing it. Collapsing the DragonFly is simply a matter of following the assembly instructions in reverse order.