Hi all, I purchased this stove from China on eBay, mostly out of curiosity. It is very similar to the Bulin TK-800, although shaped differently. Following my tradition, I will start with a flame shot: The general shape of the stove tries to mimic the MSR XGK-EX. It comes in a rather compact triangular plastic case. There is a small DVD inside with a 10 minutes demo / instructions, except that the narration is in Chinese only. The video was shot on the sidewalk of some city, with plenty of car horn sounds in the background. The legs / pot rests swivel 180 degrees to open. The pump is plastic, and is PERMANENTLY ATTACHED to the metal braided fuel hose (which I do not like too much). This precludes use of gas cartridges. The pump can be flipped around the hose for a "tank-flip shut off". (I wish MSR had this feature in their pumps.) The pump can be mounted in an MSR fuel bottle - it has the same thread. There is a shallow priming pan at the bottom of the stove, but without a priming pad. (I think of adding one.) The generator tube has a steel cable inside, to ease cleaning. The stove is easy to light, and burns with a very loud roar, suggesting more power than there really is. The flame power is OK - roughly equal to that of a Primus 1S classic. There is absolutely no simmer capability. I can use it with my makeshift simmer plate - made from a $1 sink strainer. It will reduce a fierce boil to just tiny bubbles on the pot bottom. The stove comes with a pack of spares, including a wrench, pump oil, some O-rings, pump filter, pricker, and 3 spare jets. Allegedly the stove can burn unleaded gas and kerosene - I did not try it yet. The instruction page is a masterpiece of pidgin English. It uses English words, but they do not add up to coherent sentences. Here are some examples: "The fuel will be gassify under high temperature and pressure after the fuel being inflating thru the pre-heat tube." "Please keep sight on the stove when burning or just burn out." Spare parts: "Stem Apron", "Peening Shot", "stainless steel jump ring". Yonadav
Nice post, very nice pictures. "The pump can be flipped around the hose for a "tank-flip shut off". (I wish MSR had this feature in their pumps.) " Unless I misunderstand you ... MSR pumps do that. It has been in their instructions since at least the G/GK, that I know of. "There is absolutely no simmer capability" Have you tried it with just 2-3 pumps on the tanks? Ken in NC
Hi Yonadav, I think the "spare parts" should really be read as a warning; "When the stainless steel ring jumps out of the apron's stem, you'll likely get a peening shot up your #rse!" Nice looking stove, makes one wonder how many "western" stoves are in reality made in China! (I think most 8-[ ). Thanks for sharing! Best regards, Wim
Hi Ken, No, MSR tanks cannot be flipped over when the stove is attached to the pump. On non-shaker MSRs I flip the entire stove and tank combo upside down. This does not work on the shaker models, as the needle shuts the stove instantly. I guess the Fire-Maple will simmer with very low tank pressure, but you cannot do that for simmer after boil - you will have to shut the stove off and release pressure from the tank. (And the stove is permanently attached to the pump, making this even more difficult.) Yonadav
Great post, interesting that the pump is always attached. I always flip my msr dragonfly and whisperlite, it is easy, the fuel line rotates at the block. MSR don't advertise it but they have made it possible.
Thanks for a nice presentation and summary. I too have picked up a few cheap Chinese stoves for grins. I find the translated-to-English directions sort of fun as well.
Having the stove permanently attached to the pump is a very strange arrangement. At least it has a decent generator loop, it should have a chance of working on kerosene.
Yonaday, I don't have any shaker models, hadn't thought of that. Not an advertisement, it was in the instructions. Ken
I have flipped my dragonfly at the bottle and it does work. The hose has just enough flex to allow it but only just. You do have to hold the legs of the stove so Im not sure I would want to do this once the stove has been going a while
I do flip the Dragonfly when I burn kero, by unclipping the hose and pulling it a bit out, so I can turn it in the pump. I think it is too risky to do with gasoline. Yonadav
Here is a video of a guy flipping a Dragonfly. Is this done purely from the flex in the hose or is there a rotating joint somewhere? [media=youtube]EVUZfJYHnck[/media]
hi yonadav This stove has produced about a year ago i think it's ugly and pump is there is new stove that Maple prduced Maple FMS-F5 about 315rmb in China
"Stem Apron", "Peening Shot", "stainless steel jump ring". hahhahah my English aslo bad but I think this is not a stover translated this
Geeves: sorry, I missed your post about the pipe flex. Li Ding: unfortunately the vaporizer tube of that stove is extremely difficult to preheat for kerosene. A friend has one and it is a real struggle to light it.
Thanks for the pointer. The F5 has the same permanently attached pump. The base is smaller and lighter, but offers less wind protection. It is probably less stable, but not dramatically. The eBay price of both stoves is the same. Yonadav
Hi yonadav great post and write up on your new Chinese stove, other than the plastic pump even on msr models to me look cheap,the rest of the stove the quality looks good. Al so looking at the pictures of the stove in flame, it looks a powerful stove and very effective but as the simmer control,shows how it is not as good as the originol
Update: I took a closer look at the jets that came with the stove. There were 3 spare jets in the pack. Two of them turned out to be 0.36 mm (tested with guitar string), and one was 0.31 mm. Of course, they are not marked in any way to distinguish them. Chinese. I then pulled out the jet that was installed in the stove, and it is also 0.31 mm. Conclusion: 0.31 is for kero and 0.36 is for white gas. Thus my initial testing with white gas (and all the nice flame shots above) were run with a K jet. I happily attached a bottle of kerosene to the pump, and fired up the stove again. It seems to me that the flame was a tiny bit less hot then the white gas flame, but I might be mistaken here. I would expect it to be the other way. Anyway, this is a BIG improvement over the TK-800, which cannot burn kero with either jet. The bottom line is that I am happier with this stove now. I will give it some more serious testing, and hopefully do some boil timings with both fuels. (The instructions say I can use unleaded, but I have no intention of doing it. Yonadav
Hi Does it have an internal cleaning needle, a micron filter in the jet, or a standard nipple and pricker? Dan
