Companion forum thread to:

Monatauk Gnat Stove Review

Ok, it looked nice, how did it work?

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

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

Edited by heidelberger on 06/23/2010 02:16:05 MDT.

numbers ...

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

Gnat

Gosystem Fly

How does it simmer?

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

Price?

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

I like this review - it is concise.

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.

Edited by Danepacker on 06/23/2010 23:21:36 MDT.

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

Agree with Ron

May be too much concise..........:-/

+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!

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

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

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?

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"

Edited by jshann on 07/30/2010 08:12:13 MDT.

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

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.--