Are you kidding? A 500,000 BTU heat source to kill weeds? The Red Dragon is not really intended for garden weeding. Because we have a no-pesticide agreement, I use the torch to control weeds on our 600 ft long gravel driveway in the North Georgia mountains. In addition, it would be useful if you just wanted to light something on fire: burning off fields, starting piles of damp wood, etc.

There are cheaper smaller ones (only 100,00 BTUs) also made by Flame Engineering, but I sure like the one I have. Do you really need those extra 400,000 BTUs? A friend of mine has a smaller one that takes *forever* to show an effect. With mine, you can just wave it across a weed and it discolors almost instantly (usually enough to kill it). However, that's not much fun. A few more seconds of flame will incinerate the weed completely. Yeah, the extra heat makes a huge difference. When lit, the torch produces a 2 foot long, 5 inch wide column of blue flame that sounds like a (quiet) jet engine. That said, the flame doesn't spread much, so it's fairly easy to control. Every pyro needs one.

-- Greg Baumann

Red Dragon Torch Kit
$47
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by
Flame Enginerring