Topic

Monatauk Gnat Stove Review


Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Home Forums Campfire Editor’s Roundtable Monatauk Gnat Stove Review

  • This topic is empty.
Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 49 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #1260430
    Addie Bedford
    BPL Member

    @addiebedford

    Locale: Montana

    Companion forum thread to:

    Monatauk Gnat Stove Review

    #1622474
    John Brown
    Spectator

    @johnbrown2005

    Locale: Portland, OR

    Ok, it looked nice, how did it work?

    #1622486
    Cayenne Redmonk
    BPL Member

    @redmonk

    Locale: Greater California Ecosystem

    it's pretty safe to say that there is precious little difference in these stoves

    #1622614
    Enno Kunze
    Member

    @heidelberger

    Locale: Germany

    I have the Gnat for some months and on my website you can see a short video of it… (It's in German, but I think that's okay for video)

    http://qbloggt.blogspot.com/2010/03/monatauk-gnat-das-video.html

    #1622615
    James holden
    BPL Member

    @bearbreeder-2

    numbers …

    #1622618
    Roger B
    BPL Member

    @rogerb

    Locale: Denmark

    Actual usage figures for the Monatauk Gnat and its twin brother the Go System Fly can be found at

    Gnat

    Gosystem Fly

    #1622629
    Alex H
    BPL Member

    @abhitt

    Locale: southern appalachians or desert SW

    How does it simmer?

    #1622655
    John Coyle
    Member

    @bigsac

    Locale: NorCal

    I normally use alcohol stoves, but I do have a 10 year old Gigapower in my closet which I use occasionally. My major complaint with the original Gigapower is the slippery pot supports. One time my tall pot slid off the Gigapower supports and scalded my hand with boiling water. Not fun in the backcountry.

    Recently I have been considering getting another canister stove, but ingrained in my memory is the sight of my beet red scalded hand, so pot supports are a major concern of mine. The Monatauk Gnat appears to have good pot supports, but judging from pictures on the company websites, I prefer the pot supports of the Gigapower LiteMax, at least for a tall tippy pot.

    According to the Monatauk website, the Gnat costs $60.00 American

    #1622717
    chris kersten
    Member

    @xanadu

    Locale: here

    Price?

    #1622788
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    The unit Ryan got was from Monatauk, but my information is that it was actually designed and made by Fire Maple in China (where else). It is available from several sources around the world under various numbers or names, but sometimes with '116T' in the part number.

    Specifications:
    Dimensions: 55 x 75 x 32 mm
    Weight: 48 g
    Rated Power: 12,000 BTU / 3,500 W
    The measured CO emission is around 10 to 20 ppm, which is pretty good.

    I can verify that it does punch out a lot of power, consistent with the claimed figure, and considerably more than any white gas stove (so there!). I can also confirm that it does simmer very nicely, and that the valve action is smooth.

    Pricing varies depending on the supplier. Someone else mentioned $60 from Monatauk, but I have not verified that myself. It is available for ~$35 +P/P from Shanghai, at
    http://www.de-maritime.com/titanium-camping-stove

    Disclosure: I received a review sample from DE-Maritime as well, but Ryan beat me to the punch in submitting the Spotlite.

    Cheers

    #1622846
    Ron Bell / MLD
    BPL Member

    @mountainlaureldesigns

    Locale: USA

    I like this review – it is concise.

    #1622907
    Eric Blumensaadt
    BPL Member

    @danepacker

    Locale: Mojave Desert

    The pot stand legs of the Gnat are similar to my Brunton FLEX stove in design. I fixed the wobbliness of the legs by drilling out the rivits and replacing them with tiny nuts, lock washers and bolts. The lock washers held the pot supports snug enough to prevent wobble but not to tight to make folding difficult.

    As is often the case many backpacking products can be improved upon with a little thought.

    #1622928
    carlos fernandez rivas
    BPL Member

    @pitagorin

    Locale: Galicia -Spain

    """I like this review – it is concise"""

    Agree with Ron

    May be too much concise……….:-/

    #1622973
    James Patsalides
    BPL Member

    @jamespatsalides-com

    Locale: New England

    +1 on the concise review.

    Could just use a set of those plastic jetboil legs with it… they clip really nicely onto the bottom of a small canister and are pretty solid. Just a thought!

    #1623090
    Ethan A.
    BPL Member

    @mountainwalker

    Locale: SF Bay Area & New England

    Roger, thanks for the verification and extra info. How is it in terms of CO emissions?

    #1623099
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    Hi EJ

    > How is it in terms of CO emissions?
    Fourth line in the specs I posted! 10 – 20 ppm. That's fairly low.

    Cheers

    #1623307
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    The review was concise because there just isn't a lot to say about a product that seems to work as well as anything else.

    The real appeal of this stove to me was its aesthetics, which are superb. In terms of "lightweight philosophy in design" this stove hits the nail on the head.

    "It works well enough" – and I do mean that.

    The differences in field performance between all these little canister stoves is so infinitesimally small that it's almost ludicrous trying to figure out how they compare to each other based on performance – boil times, fuel efficiency, etc.

    It keeps both big and little pots stable, it hasn't failed yet, and it makes hot water. "I guess it works, eh?" I know, I'm being a little tongue in cheek here, but seriously, there just isn't a lot of room left in this product market and I just wanted to point out something aesthetically unique in a pretty crowded field.

    What's remarkable to me is this:

    Bushbuddy Ultra – 5 oz
    Gnat Stove – 1.7 oz
    Cat Food Can Stove – 0.5 oz
    Esbit Ti Stove – 0.3 oz

    i.e., today, I can cook on wood, gas, alcohol, and solid fuel on the same trip (if I wanted to, but I wouldn't, except when on a teaching trip) for 7.5 oz! How cool is that?

    #1623326
    John S.
    BPL Member

    @jshann

    Good review. I would always wish for complete specs to include stove measurements folded and in use, stove weight, case weight, case size and maybe even burner diameter. We are still missing the case weight. A few more specs are

    stove weight: 1.6 oz (48 grams)
    stove size (folded): 2.25" x 2.25" x 2.5"
    stove size (in use): ?
    case weight: 1.4 oz (hard side)
    case size: 3" x 3" x 3.25"

    #1624000
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    John,

    Toss the case. Thus, case weight = 0.

    Seriously, though, I can't see any compelling reason to bring a "stove case" on a trek.

    I know it's there to protect the stove, but wrapping in a viscose towel does it for a lot less weight and rattling.

    Ryan

    #1624013
    Bob Gross
    BPL Member

    @b-g-2-2

    Locale: Silicon Valley

    The stove case is dual purpose.

    It protects the stove from breakage, and it protects the other gear in your pack from the sharp points on the stove.

    If I wrapped a viscose towel around my stove, it would be full of holes in a week's time. But then, I suppose that is why I carry duct tape.

    –B.G.–

    #1626280
    David Buto
    Member

    @booterman

    How does the Gnat stove performance compare to the Soto OD-1R Micro Regulator Stove in terms of maintaining consistent output in cold weather? Although many stoves may seem alike, the Soto appears to have an edge in performance as temp drops and as fuel runs out, i.e., the Soto output is the same across the spectrum.

    #1626369
    Andrew Wolff
    Spectator

    @andrew

    Locale: Chattanooga

    "the expedition-conscious ultralighter can turn down the fuel power and eke out thirty-six to forty boils (at 12 oz/boil) without much difficulty" What sort of altitude are we talking about here? I imagine there's quite a large variation in how long a canister lasts between say 10000 feet and sea level.

    #1626406
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    > I imagine there's quite a large variation in how long a canister lasts
    > between say 10000 feet and sea level.
    No, altitude will have very little direct effect on the life of a canister. The canister supplies energy, and how much energy is in the canister is unrelated to altitude.

    However, because the ambient temperature drops as you go up in altitude, you will find yourself using a little more fuel to get water up to 80 C. On the other hand, water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitudes, so you will need a little less fuel to go from 80 C to boiling. Ho hum … :-)

    Anyhow, most of that is irrelevant. What really influences practical fuel consumption is wind, use-of-windscreen, heating rate, lid-on-pot, and other things like that. They are far more significant, to the point of being totally dominant.

    Cheers

    #1626800
    Frank Deland
    Member

    @rambler

    Locale: On the AT in VA

    The Snow Peak Giga weighs 3 oz., but that includes the "ignitor". You have to weigh in whatever it is you use to light the Gnat stove.

    #1626860
    carlos fernandez rivas
    BPL Member

    @pitagorin

    Locale: Galicia -Spain

    not really, ignitors fail so frecuently that you MUST to carry one lighter anyway

Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 49 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Get the Newsletter

Get our free Handbook and Receive our weekly newsletter to see what's new at Backpacking Light!

Gear Research & Discovery Tools


Loading...