I have been keeping a keen eye on the BCB FireDragon fuel saga for a while now. I havent managed to get hold of the solid blocks yet, but I got some of the gel fuel to play with. I also picked up a Crusader six-piece kit, since my current setup has been cobbled together from various sources over the years. This is a little back garden test of what I received...
It all comes in this pouch:
This is what the back looks like:
It has straps that double back and slide up through the horizontal loops:
Like this:
I am guessing that this is MOLLE, but I have never used it so I dont know. Does anyone have any experience with this type of attachment? There are D-rings on the side as well so you could attach a strap to it.
So what's in it? It is a very roomy pouch, with more than just the Crusader kit inside....
There is a velcro closed compartment inside the lid that has water purification tablets and matches.
And nestled down the side is the FireDragon fuel bottle (250ml)
There was still room to spare inside the pouch, you could easily get a KFS set or some tea/coffee/sugar in there as well.
Here is all the familiar Crusader stuff laid out:
I was intrigued by the W or arrowhead marking, which I thought meant 'Military Issued'. Does anyone know more about this?
I defeated the childproof cap and squeezed some gel into the stove. It is very easy and mess-free to do this, much better than dealing with Greenheat sachets or stinky hexi blocks.
It lit first time from the ferro rod. It burns with a near-invisible flame. You can hear it more than you can see it.
I put on 0.5 litres of cold water in the cup with the lid on. The amount of fuel I had initially put in was not enough for a boil. After realizing it had gone out, I tested it with a bit of dry twig to make sure there was no remaining flames and then refuelled the stove. Another one-strike ignition got things back on track. This rather stuffed up my boil time measurement, but the total time including the refueling was 10 minutes. This is very respectable performance for the conditions: t-shirt temperatures but cool rather than warm with a light breeze.
Here is a video of the boil and the fuel burning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOVEC3v0Ams
I brewed up in the plastic cup and carried on with a can of chilli con carne. This was soon cooking away nicely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-JTjSaNJYA
This is what it looked like afterwards:
There was some light sooting on the base of the cup, this washed off easily with Fairy liquid and a scrubber/sponge. The fuel residue in the stove is another matter. It has set rock hard and even some serious scraping with a stout chip of wood made no impression on it. It is much tougher than Greenheat snot residue.
A total of approx 1/4 bottle of the fuel was used to produce a cup of tea and a hot meal. Thus, the 250ml bottle is perfect for day trips and maybe an overnighter, but for a weekender I would probably be taking something more substantial kit-wise anyway.
Overall I am pleased with the performance of FireDragon gel fuel. It is very easy to handle, ignites easily, burns hot and doesnt stink or make a lot of mess. It isnt especially cheap in the 250ml bottles, you get better value from the 1 litre size. Meths is still much more cost-effective, at about the same level of performance. I still want to get hold of the FireDragon solid blocks because I reckon this is where their product will really shine.
It all comes in this pouch:
This is what the back looks like:
It has straps that double back and slide up through the horizontal loops:
Like this:
I am guessing that this is MOLLE, but I have never used it so I dont know. Does anyone have any experience with this type of attachment? There are D-rings on the side as well so you could attach a strap to it.
So what's in it? It is a very roomy pouch, with more than just the Crusader kit inside....
There is a velcro closed compartment inside the lid that has water purification tablets and matches.
And nestled down the side is the FireDragon fuel bottle (250ml)
There was still room to spare inside the pouch, you could easily get a KFS set or some tea/coffee/sugar in there as well.
Here is all the familiar Crusader stuff laid out:
I was intrigued by the W or arrowhead marking, which I thought meant 'Military Issued'. Does anyone know more about this?
I defeated the childproof cap and squeezed some gel into the stove. It is very easy and mess-free to do this, much better than dealing with Greenheat sachets or stinky hexi blocks.
It lit first time from the ferro rod. It burns with a near-invisible flame. You can hear it more than you can see it.
I put on 0.5 litres of cold water in the cup with the lid on. The amount of fuel I had initially put in was not enough for a boil. After realizing it had gone out, I tested it with a bit of dry twig to make sure there was no remaining flames and then refuelled the stove. Another one-strike ignition got things back on track. This rather stuffed up my boil time measurement, but the total time including the refueling was 10 minutes. This is very respectable performance for the conditions: t-shirt temperatures but cool rather than warm with a light breeze.
Here is a video of the boil and the fuel burning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOVEC3v0Ams
I brewed up in the plastic cup and carried on with a can of chilli con carne. This was soon cooking away nicely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-JTjSaNJYA
This is what it looked like afterwards:
There was some light sooting on the base of the cup, this washed off easily with Fairy liquid and a scrubber/sponge. The fuel residue in the stove is another matter. It has set rock hard and even some serious scraping with a stout chip of wood made no impression on it. It is much tougher than Greenheat snot residue.
A total of approx 1/4 bottle of the fuel was used to produce a cup of tea and a hot meal. Thus, the 250ml bottle is perfect for day trips and maybe an overnighter, but for a weekender I would probably be taking something more substantial kit-wise anyway.
Overall I am pleased with the performance of FireDragon gel fuel. It is very easy to handle, ignites easily, burns hot and doesnt stink or make a lot of mess. It isnt especially cheap in the 250ml bottles, you get better value from the 1 litre size. Meths is still much more cost-effective, at about the same level of performance. I still want to get hold of the FireDragon solid blocks because I reckon this is where their product will really shine.
