Short answer: The GTT Cheetah and the Nortel Red Max are both mid-priced surface-mix bench torches that put a lot of heat into a compact station, but they solve the problem differently. The Cheetah is a fixed, single-stage Triple Mix torch: thirteen ports total, a broad and hot flame in a small body, and a healthy oxygen appetite. The Red Max is a two-stage burner whose lower head Nortel labels a 45-port and whose real draw is modularity, since it accepts an interchangeable Minor, Mega Minor, or premix top. Buy the Cheetah if you want a lot of heat now, a color-friendly flame, and you have oxygen to feed it. Buy the Red Max if you value an upgrade path and the ability to reconfigure the torch for different work over time.
Both sit in the same mid tier and both run propane or natural gas with oxygen, so this is not a technology gap. It is a difference in philosophy: a finished, high-heat little torch versus a platform you grow into.
The two torches at a glance
Every figure below is drawn from our catalog, which tracks each maker’s own published specs. Oxygen is an estimate, not a hard spec, and prices are reference figures you should confirm with the maker before buying.
| Spec | GTT Cheetah | Nortel Red Max |
|---|---|---|
| Mix type | Surface mix (Triple Mix) | Surface mix |
| Stages | Single stage | Two stage |
| Ports | 13 total (3-port center fire inside a 10-port outer ring) | Nortel labels the lower head 45-port (see note below) |
| Mount | Bench | Bench |
| Fuel | Propane or natural gas | Propane or natural gas |
| Oxygen (estimate) | ~13 LPM | No published figure |
| Price (reference) | ~$645 | ~$712 |
Editor’s note: the Cheetah price comes from Glass Torch Technologies’ own store. The Red Max reference price is reseller-derived and not confirmed against a Nortel-published figure, so treat it as a ballpark and confirm the current price with Nortel before you commit.
How each torch mixes its flame
Both torches are surface mix, which means the fuel and oxygen stay separate until they leave the torch face and combine at the surface where they burn. Surface-mix flames are quieter, gentler, and more forgiving than older premix designs, which is why they dominate the modern bench-torch market.
GTT builds the Cheetah on its patented Triple Mix system. GTT’s own framing is that the design surrounds the fuel with oxygen and then injects oxygen directly down the fuel stream so the fuel burns more completely, for a hotter and cleaner flame. Two oxygen streams are independently controllable through separate valves, which GTT says widens the flame and chemistry range without swapping tips. For the deeper explanation, see our Triple Mix technology guide. The Cheetah’s face carries thirteen ports total: a three-port center fire seated inside a ten-port outer ring. It is worth being precise here, because the layout is easy to describe wrong. It is thirteen ports total, not sixteen.
The Red Max mixes at the surface too, but its geometry is a point of genuine ambiguity in Nortel’s own materials. Nortel labels the lower head a 45-port burner, while the same product page describes concentric rings of 16 and 27 ports, which add up to 43. We report the maker’s headline label and the discrepancy together rather than pick a winner or invent a center port to reconcile them. Either way, the practical takeaway is the same: this is a large, high-output head with a lot of surface area behind the flame.
Flame character and what you can make
The Cheetah’s reputation is heat in a small package. GTT describes a flame that ranges from pencil-size up to roughly three-quarters of an inch wide and about twenty inches long, hot enough for boro up to about two and a half inches solid, yet soft and clean enough for delicate soft-glass colors. Community discussion, which is shared knowledge rather than measured fact, consistently describes the Cheetah as running hotter and wider than the smaller GTT Lynx, on the order of about twice the flame. The trade-off community users note is small-flame control: because all of the Cheetah’s ports run all the time, dialing in a very small, tight flame is harder than on a torch with a tiny dedicated center fire. If your work is detail-first, the Cheetah versus Lynx comparison is the more relevant read.
The Red Max is described in community reviews as producing a large, radiant flame that handles both boro and soft glass with careful adjustment, with intense heat that some workers find demanding over a long session. Again, that is community knowledge, not a published measurement. What the modular top burner adds is the ability to change the flame’s personality: a premix top is favored for boro-only work, and a Mega Minor top suits mixed soft and hard glass. That flexibility is the Red Max’s real answer to the Cheetah’s fixed high-heat flame.
Oxygen and gas supply
Both torches run propane or natural gas with oxygen. Neither is a low-oxygen torch, but the Cheetah in particular is oxygen-hungry. Our catalog records a rough oxygen figure of about 13 LPM for the Cheetah at its largest usable flame, derived from GTT’s own flow table. Nortel does not publish an oxygen figure for the Red Max, so we do not assign one. Treat the Cheetah number as an estimate for planning your supply, not a guarantee.
Practically, the Cheetah’s appetite matters most if you were hoping to run it off an oxygen concentrator. Community experience is that the Cheetah does not perform well on a single concentrator and is happiest on bottled or high-output oxygen; the smaller Lynx is the more concentrator-friendly GTT option. If concentrator compatibility is central to your plan, budget for enough oxygen output before you choose either of these torches, and read how many LPM your torch needs for the mid-tier context.
On pressures, follow each maker’s manual and nothing else. We do not publish invented PSI figures, and the correct fuel and oxygen pressures for your specific torch come from GTT’s or Nortel’s own documentation. One maintenance point worth repeating from Nortel’s guidance: running a low-velocity, gas-rich flame with too little oxygen can leave a red glow at the burner face that prematurely oxidizes and burns away the nozzle tubes, and increasing oxygen flow reduces that wear. For flashback protection, use the arrangement your specific torch and gas supply call for rather than a blanket rule; our flashback arrestors guide walks through what actually applies where. Seal gas fittings only with the method the fitting type calls for, never a thread wrap that can shed into the gas stream.
Modularity: the Red Max advantage
This is the clearest reason to choose the Red Max over the Cheetah. The Red Max accepts an interchangeable top burner: a Nortel Minor, a Mega Minor, or a premix top that takes N11 and N3 tips. The Minor and Mega Minor are both surface-mix seven-port burners in their own right, so the Red Max effectively lets you stack a smaller, more detail-capable burner on top of a big radiant base and switch between them as the work demands. That upgrade path is something the Cheetah does not offer; the Cheetah is a finished, fixed configuration.
If you are weighing the Red Max against its own smaller siblings rather than against GTT, the Red Max versus Minor comparison covers that side of the decision.
Price and what you actually get
The Cheetah lists at about $645 from GTT and arrives ready to run: GTT ships it with a foot of small-diameter hose, adapters with filter screens for standard quarter-inch grade-T hose on each stud, instructions, and a cleaning kit. The Red Max reference price of about $712 is the base torch; because its value proposition is the interchangeable tops, the real cost depends on which tops you add, and the reseller-derived figure should be confirmed with Nortel directly. So the sticker gap is smaller than the capability gap in either direction: the Cheetah gives you more finished heat per dollar today, while the Red Max asks a little more up front and more again for the tops that unlock its flexibility.
How to choose
Choose by your oxygen supply, your glass, and whether you want to grow the torch:
- You have ample oxygen and want maximum heat now: the Cheetah is a lot of torch in a small body, and its Triple Mix flame stays kind to colors.
- You are on a limited oxygen budget or a single concentrator: neither is ideal, but the Cheetah’s appetite makes it the riskier pick; plan your supply first.
- You want one torch that can become several: the Red Max’s interchangeable top burners give you an upgrade path the Cheetah cannot match.
- Your work is fine detail: honestly, neither is a pinpoint-detail torch; look at a smaller center-fire option and read the Cheetah versus Lynx guide before deciding.
- You want boro-focused flexibility: the Red Max with a premix top is built for that; the Cheetah handles boro up to a couple of inches solid but in a fixed configuration.
Both are honest mid-tier choices. The Cheetah is the finished, high-heat answer; the Red Max is the platform you keep reconfiguring.
Related guides
- GTT Cheetah vs Lynx
- GTT Lynx vs Nortel Red Max
- Nortel Red Max vs Minor
- GTT Triple Mix technology
- Flashback arrestors explained