Short answer: The GTT Sidewinder and the Carlisle Hellcat are both two-stage, fully surface-mix bench torches priced close together, near $1,100 to $1,200, and both are built to run a small inner fire for detail and a wide outer fire for volume. They diverge on flexibility versus a fixed layout. The Sidewinder lets you pick its center-fire character (a standard-mix Bobcat or a Triple Mix Lynx) and buy it as a hand torch or as a 2- or 4-stud bench torch, and GTT designed it around low pressure and concentrators. The Hellcat is a fixed 21-tube surface-mix burner, bench only, with a higher oxygen figure at its full both-fires flame. If you want configurability and a low-consumption design, the Sidewinder leans your way; if you want a settled, wide-flame bench setup and have the oxygen to feed it, the Hellcat does.
Both sit in the high price band, and both are aimed at intermediate to advanced work rather than a first torch. If you are still deciding between a torch you hold and a torch on a stand, read bench vs hand torch first, since the Sidewinder can be either and the Hellcat cannot.
The two torches at a glance
The figures below come from each maker’s own pages where we have them, and are labelled as estimates where they are ours. Oxygen especially is a rough sizing input, not a hard spec (more on that below). Confirm the current configuration and price with the maker before you buy.
| Spec | GTT Sidewinder | Carlisle Hellcat |
|---|---|---|
| Name | GTT Sidewinder | Carlisle Hellcat |
| Jets | 22 total | 21 total |
| Stages | 2 | 2 |
| Mix | Surface mix | Surface mix |
| Mount | Bench or hand | Bench |
| Oxygen (estimate) | ~15 LPM | ~21 LPM |
| Reference price | $1,125 | $1,201 |
Editor’s note: the Sidewinder price ties to the Lynx-center bench configuration; the hand-torch version and the center-fire choice can shift it. The Hellcat figure is a Carlisle web-store starting (“from”) price we have not re-confirmed from source. Treat both as reference prices that vary by configuration.
How they mix the flame
Both torches are 100% surface mix, meaning the fuel and oxygen stay separate until they meet at or just past the face rather than being blended upstream. That shared design point is worth stating plainly, because the two makers reach it with different hardware. For the underlying distinction and why it matters for flame behavior, see surface mix vs premix torches.
The Sidewinder is a two-stage torch with an on/off switch built into the handle that flips between the inner and outer fire. Its 22-jet total is a 7-jet center fire inside a 15-jet outer fire, and the character of that center fire is a choice you make at purchase. You can order it with a GTT Bobcat center fire, which is standard surface mix, or with a GTT Lynx center fire, which is GTT’s patented Triple Mix. Both center options are 7-jet; what changes is the inner fire’s mixing character, not the jet count. The outer fire and the surface-mix outer body are the same either way. It is important to be precise here: the Sidewinder as a whole is surface mix, and only the Lynx center-fire option brings a Triple Mix element, so the torch is not a “Triple Mix torch” in the way the pure Lynx is. If the Bobcat-versus-Lynx choice is the crux for you, we compare those two center torches directly in GTT Lynx vs Bobcat.
The Hellcat takes a fixed approach. Carlisle describes it as a totally surface-mixed 4-inlet burner with a tube matrix of 7 tubes in the center plus 14 tubes on the outer fire, 21 tubes total, all stainless, in a brass body with a stainless nose cone. The center fire measures roughly 1.5 inches. There is no selectable center module: the layout you buy is the layout you run. That is not a shortcoming so much as a different philosophy, a settled, known flame instead of a configurable one.
Oxygen and pressure
This is where the spec sheet is easiest to misread, so read it carefully. The two oxygen numbers in the table are estimates on different bases and are not directly comparable.
GTT designed the Sidewinder for concentrators, low pressure, and low consumption. GTT states it runs on two 8 LPM concentrators, or three 8 LPM concentrators for maximum performance. Our catalog records ~15 LPM as a max-usable-flame estimate derived from GTT’s flow table, not a fixed requirement. The design intent is that you can feed a serious two-stage torch from concentrator oxygen rather than committing to bulk tanks.
Carlisle publishes working figures for the Hellcat directly: about 1.5 LPM propane and 7 LPM oxygen on the center fire only, and about 4.5 LPM propane and ~21 LPM oxygen with both fires running. Carlisle’s recommended pressures are 2 to 3 psi propane and 5 psi oxygen. So the Hellcat’s ~21 LPM is its both-fires number at full flame, while the Sidewinder’s ~15 LPM is a largest-usable-flame estimate. Reading the Hellcat as “more powerful” from those two numbers alone would be a mistake: they describe different flame states measured different ways. What you can fairly say is that the Hellcat, at its widest both-fires flame, has a documented appetite that rewards a robust oxygen supply, and that the Sidewinder was engineered to stay modest on oxygen.
Neither maker publishes a full per-flame pressure map for every configuration, so do not infer pressures beyond what they state, and always let the torch manual set the numbers for your specific unit. Beyond the figures above, GTT’s Sidewinder pressures are not published in the detail Carlisle gives for the Hellcat.
Flexibility: hand or bench, swappable or fixed
The clearest practical split is mounting. The Sidewinder’s mount is Bench or hand: GTT sells it as a hand torch and as 2- and 4-stud bench versions, so the same model can be a torch you pick up for off-hand work or a torch bolted to a stand. That matters if your work mixes bench beadwork with hand-held sculptural moves, or if you are not yet sure which way you work best. Combined with the Bobcat-or-Lynx center choice, the Sidewinder is really a small family of configurations under one name.
The Hellcat is bench only. You get one mounting story and one tube layout. For a lot of makers that is exactly what they want: fewer decisions, a stable platform, and a flame they learn once and keep. There is no wrong answer here, only a fit question. If configurability and the option to hold the torch are worth something to you, the Sidewinder has them; if you want a fixed bench station and never plan to hand-hold it, the Hellcat’s simplicity is a feature, not a limitation.
Wide beads and solid boro
Both torches are built to open into a wide flame for volume work while still throttling down to a small fire for detail, which is the whole point of a two-stage design. On documented reach, GTT states the Sidewinder (Lynx center fire) produces flames from a tiny pinpoint up to about 2.5 inches wide and 30 inches long, and handles solid borosilicate up to about 3 inches in diameter. That is a genuinely large working envelope for a torch designed to run on concentrators.
Carlisle frames the Hellcat’s wide flame range as suiting both beginners and experts, with the fixed 7-plus-14 tube matrix giving a broad soft outer flame over a tighter center. Our catalog lists it for soft glass and boro at an intermediate-to-advanced level. Carlisle does not publish a single solid-boro diameter the way GTT does for the Sidewinder, so we will not invent one; judge it by the both-fires flame and your own oxygen supply. For the broader question of matching a torch to thick boro, see best torch for borosilicate.
For wide beads through solid boro specifically, the deciding factors are the width and stability of the outer flame and the oxygen behind it. The Sidewinder gives you a published boro diameter and a low-consumption path to that flame; the Hellcat gives you a fixed, broad both-fires flame with a higher documented oxygen draw at full width. Neither is the universal answer.
Which to choose
There is no single winner here, so match the torch to how you work and what you run.
- Choose the Sidewinder if you value configurability: the Bobcat-or-Lynx center-fire choice, hand or bench mounting, and a design built around concentrators and low pressure. It suits a maker who wants one platform that can flex, and who would rather feed the torch from concentrator oxygen than commit to bulk tanks. GTT’s published 3-inch solid-boro figure is a concrete data point in its favor for heavy work.
- Choose the Hellcat if you want a settled bench station: a fixed 21-tube surface-mix layout, a broad both-fires flame, and Carlisle’s clearly published working flows and pressures. It suits a maker who wants fewer decisions and a known flame, and who has, or is willing to build, an oxygen supply that feeds the both-fires figure comfortably.
Both are honest two-stage surface-mix torches from established makers, priced within roughly $75 of each other. The trade-off is not quality; it is flexibility and low-consumption design (Sidewinder) versus a fixed, wide-flame bench layout with higher rated oxygen at full flame (Hellcat). If you are still weighing the whole system rather than just these two, the complete glass torch buyer’s guide walks through oxygen, fuel, and budgeting around the torch.
Related guides
- Bench vs hand torch
- Surface mix vs premix torches
- GTT Lynx vs Bobcat
- Best torch for borosilicate
- How to choose a glass torch
Sources
- Glass Torch Technologies, “Sidewinder Lynx Center Fire” (jet layout, flame width and length, solid-boro diameter, concentrator design): https://www.glasstorchtech.com/product-page/sidewinder-lynx-center-fire-1
- Glass Torch Technologies, “Sidewinder 2 and 4 Stud” (bench configurations): https://www.glasstorchtech.com/sidewinder-2-and-4-stud
- Glass Torch Technologies, “Sidewinder with Bobcat Center Fire” (standard-mix center option): https://www.glasstorchtech.com/sidewinder-w-bob-cf
- Carlisle Machine Works, “Hellcat” (tube matrix, 4-inlet surface mix, consumption and pressures, fuels): http://carlislemachine.com/as_benchburners/hellcat.php
Editor’s note: model configurations, flows, and prices reflect public manufacturer information as of 2026 and vary by configuration and over time. Oxygen figures are estimates on each maker’s own basis, not directly equivalent measured numbers. Confirm current specs, pressures, and pricing with the maker, and follow your torch manual before you buy or run either torch.