GTT Bobcat vs GTT Cheetah: Which Entry GTT Torch to Buy

Short answer: The GTT Bobcat is GTT’s roughly $275 standard surface-mix starter: 7 jets, friendly to a single oxygen concentrator, and enough torch to carry a beginner well into small and medium boro. The GTT Cheetah is a roughly $645 step up to GTT’s patented Triple Mix, with 13 ports, more heat, and two independently adjustable oxygen streams. Buy the Bobcat if you want the least expensive way onto GTT surface mix and your oxygen supply is modest. Step up to the Cheetah if you want more heat in a small torch and the flame control Triple Mix adds, and you can feed the extra oxygen it wants.

If you are still mapping the whole decision rather than these two specific torches, start with the complete glass torch buyer’s guide.

The two torches at a glance

The figures below come from GTT’s own product pages where we have them, and are labelled as estimates where they are ours. Oxygen is a rough estimate, not a hard spec; treat it as the juice each torch uses, not a headline number. Confirm the current spec with GTT before you buy.

The single most important difference to keep straight: the Bobcat is not a Triple Mix torch. It is standard surface mix. Triple Mix begins one rung up the line, at the Lynx, and the Cheetah is a Triple Mix torch. Everything else below follows from that split.

Bobcat: GTT’s standard surface-mix starter

The Bobcat is a single-stage, 7-jet standard surface-mix bench torch. GTT positions it as a versatile first burner, and it earns that reputation two ways.

First, it is kind to a home oxygen supply. GTT describes the Bobcat as running very well on a 5 LPM, 5 psi oxygen concentrator, optimal on an 8 LPM concentrator, and doing extremely well on 10 LPM or tanked oxygen. Its fuel pressure can run as low as 1/4 psi on natural gas or propane, which is why a GTT surface-mix torch works on unboosted household gas. If your studio runs a single concentrator, the Bobcat is built to get the most out of it.

Second, the flame range is broad for an entry torch. GTT lists it from a roughly 2-inch pinpoint for detail work up to a 9/16-inch by 13-inch flame that will handle 1.5-inch solid boro, and says it works boro pendants up to 3 inches. That covers soft-glass beads and a real amount of borosilicate, so a beginner is unlikely to outgrow it quickly.

The Bobcat ships with male “B” fittings and in-line filter screens for grade “T” hose, a stainless steel 4-hole base, instructions, and a cleaning kit, so it is ready to plumb into a standard oxygen and fuel setup.

Cheetah: where Triple Mix begins to matter

The Cheetah is a 13-port Triple Mix surface-mix torch. Count the ports carefully, because this one is easy to get wrong: it is 13 ports total, a 3-port center fire sitting inside a 10-port outer ring. It is not 13 outer plus 3 center, and not 16. The center fire and the outer ring are what give the Cheetah its combination of a tight, penetrating core and a broad working flame.

GTT lists the Cheetah’s flame from about the diameter of a pencil up to a 3/4-inch by 20-inch flame: hot and penetrating enough for boro up to 3 inches solid, yet soft and clean enough for delicate soft-glass colors. GTT’s own framing is that it packs a lot of heat into a small torch, and that is the reason most people move up to it.

Surface mix vs Triple Mix: what the extra control buys you

Both torches are surface mix, meaning the fuel and oxygen stay in separate inner chambers and only combine at the surface of the face rather than premixing internally. Surface mix is the quieter, calmer flame family, which is part of why GTT surface-mix torches are forgiving to learn on. (For the broader distinction, see surface mix vs premix torches.)

Triple Mix is GTT’s addition on top of surface mix, and the Cheetah has it while the Bobcat does not. GTT describes Triple Mix as surrounding the fuel with oxygen and then injecting oxygen directly down the fuel stream, so the fuel burns more completely for a hotter, cleaner flame. The two oxygen streams are independently controllable, by GTT’s green and blue valves, which lets you widen the flame range and adjust the flame chemistry without changing tips. In practice that means more heat available and finer control over how oxidizing or reducing the flame is, which matters most once you are chasing specific color results or working larger boro. Our GTT Triple Mix technology guide covers the mechanism in more depth.

The honest way to frame it: on the Bobcat you get one clean surface-mix flame you adjust with a single oxygen control. On the Cheetah you get a hotter flame and a second oxygen control that changes the flame’s character. The extra valve is the upgrade, not just the higher port count.

Oxygen and fuel: what each torch needs to run

Both torches run propane or natural gas and both are bench-mount, so your fuel plumbing and stand are similar either way. The difference that actually affects your setup budget is oxygen.

The Bobcat is a modest drinker: GTT’s guidance of a single 5 to 10 LPM concentrator, optimal around 8 LPM, is exactly the range a single home concentrator delivers. The Cheetah’s oxygen estimate is higher, around ~13 LPM at its largest usable flame, because it is a hotter torch with more ports. That does not make it a two-concentrator monster, but it does mean a single small 5 LPM concentrator that is comfortable behind a Bobcat may leave a Cheetah short at the top of its range. If you are buying the Cheetah for its heat, plan the oxygen to match it, whether that is a larger concentrator or tanked oxygen. For sizing oxygen to a torch, see the oxygen concentrator LPM guide.

Editor’s note: oxygen figures here are single rough estimates at the largest usable flame, derived from GTT’s own flow data, not a floor-to-ceiling range. They vary with fuel, tip, and how you run the torch. Match your oxygen to the flame you actually use and confirm current figures with GTT.

When the Bobcat is enough

The Bobcat is the right call more often than its price suggests. Choose it when:

• You want the least expensive way onto GTT surface mix.
• Your oxygen is a single concentrator in the 5 to 10 LPM range.
• Your work is soft-glass beads plus small-to-medium boro, roughly up to 1.5-inch solid and pendants to 3 inches.
• You are still building fundamentals and want one clean, forgiving flame rather than more controls to manage.

A Bobcat fed by oxygen it can actually use will outperform a Cheetah that is starved for oxygen. Do not buy more torch than your supply can feed.

When the Cheetah’s jump is worth it

Step up to the Cheetah when the extra heat and control earn their roughly $370 premium:

• You want noticeably more heat in a small torch, for larger or faster boro work.
• You want Triple Mix’s two independent oxygen streams to tune flame chemistry and range without swapping tips, which matters for color work and reduction effects.
• Your oxygen supply can feed the higher demand, so the extra heat is real and not theoretical.

If you already know you are heading toward heavier boro or serious color work, buying the Cheetah up front can save the cost of upgrading twice. If you are not sure yet, the Bobcat is the safer first purchase and loses little at resale.

One more boundary worth naming: the roughly $645 figure is the standard bench Cheetah. GTT also sells a hand-torch version of the Cheetah, priced separately, so confirm which configuration you are pricing before you compare.

Related guides

• GTT Triple Mix technology explained
• Surface mix vs premix torches
• GTT Lynx vs Bobcat
• Oxygen concentrator LPM guide
• How to choose a glass torch

Sources

• Glass Torch Technologies, Bobcat: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/bobcat
• Glass Torch Technologies, Cheetah: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/cheetah
• Glass Torch Technologies, Triple Mix Torches: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/triple-mix-torches
• Glass Torch Technologies, Lynx: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/lynx
• Lampwork Etc., surface mix discussion: http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-92795.html