BBQ Dragon Fans The Flames To Perfection

It’s “flame on” with the BBQ Dragon!

The BBQ Dragon fan, made by the BBQ Dragon company, is a battery-powered, flexible gooseneck, clamp-on fan designed to be both fire-starting and fire-feeding. It speeds up lighting your charcoal without lighter fluid, getting those coals red hot and ready to cook on in about 10 minutes; and supercharges your established charcoal and wood fires with an aim-able, concentrated stream of fresh, cool air. With a nearly infinitely-adjustable speed control knob, you’re sure to get any level of flamage you need, from ‘just enough’ to all out inferno!

Weighing in at only 3 pounds, and with maximum dimensions of about 18” x 9”, it’s by no means a large, cumbersome gadget, and with its flexible gooseneck the BBQ Dragon can contort to easily fit inside a camping tote, backpack, or even a 5-gallon bucket. Powered by 4-AA batteries, and with a powerful clamp to attach nearly anywhere, the BBQ Dragon really is prepared to go with you wherever you may roam to boost your fires; whether that’s the beach, your campsite, the BBQ cookoff, or your backyard.

Pros

The BBQ Dragon fan excels at its purpose; it helps light your pile of charcoal much faster than a standard unassisted light-up, and it definitely supercharges an existing fire! Being able to aim the fan’s head and direct the airstream and intensity any way you please, combined with the tough clamp for optimal mounting to multiple surfaces, allows you to use it on nearly anything that you want to give extra air to: your kettle grill, your stick-burning smoker firebox, even your wood stove, indoor fireplace, or backyard bonfire.

As mentioned, the outer shell of the fan’s head is metal, and the flex-neck is wrapped in a metal conduit-type material, but the inner fan motor, blade, wiring, along with the handle and clamp, are, of course, not metal. So while it has some inherent heat-resistant abilities, it is certainly not heat-proof. Care must be taken by the user to not neglect it or leave it too close to a raging fire, lest it fall victim to its own power.

The 4-AA batteries allow you to use whichever batteries are most convenient for you, disposable batteries or rechargeables. For those using the ‘Dragon’ for only 10 minutes or so at a time, such as when starting charcoal, you will find a set of batteries lasts many, many uses. I found that the unit can eat-up batteries when I’m using it on an all-day smoke, blowing into my smoker’s firebox, so for me rechargeable batteries are the way to go. When I need to swap, it’s less than a 1-minute process and I’m back off to the races.

Cons

While the 4-AA batteries are useful in allowing the unit to be powerful enough and portable, the design of the battery system leaves me disappointed on occasion. The batteries fit into the unit’s handle, as you might expect. The battery door, the plastic piece on the end of the handle which holds the batteries inside, doubles as the end battery terminal as well, so the unit will not run without the battery door in place. Why this matters is because this battery door is detachable, it is not hinged. It snaps into place with two plastic “nubs”. The batteries are compressed down when the door slides into place, since they sit inside on spring metal, and this friction over time wears on the plastic door. Over the years I have had one or both of the locking nubs break off several times. When even one breaks, the door cannot be held in place, therefore the batteries do not make contact and the entire unit is dead.

When I’ve had this happen and notified them, BBQ Dragon sent me a couple battery doors at no charge, a very nice gesture. But I can’t help but see this as an obvious weak link, a.k.a. flaw, that would benefit from a redesign, as it surely is not a failure limited to only my experience.

This singular flaw aside, I love my BBQ Dragon and give it our AmazingRibs.com Best Value Gold Medal.