Short answer: These two torches sit near the top of a bench but reach that place from opposite directions. The GTT Mirage is a US-built, 40-jet, two-stage production torch that GTT frames as running its patented Triple Mix, with a reference price around $1,975 for the standard bench configuration. The Herbert Arnold Zenit (the “Herbie” you hear German-trained and scientific workers ask for) is a hand-built, noiseless surface-mix bench burner from Weilburg, Germany, offered in 40mm, 50mm, and 65mm heads, with a reference price around $3,300 for the standard 40mm head. The gap of roughly $1,325 buys a different philosophy, not simply more power, and Herbert Arnold gear is imported, so plan for a longer wait.
Two torches, two philosophies
The Mirage is a production torch in the GTT idiom: a Lynx-style center fire wrapped in outer rings of discrete jets, tuned to push heat across a wide range of glass with a flame chemistry you dial by fuel and oxygen. GTT machines, builds, and tests its torches by hand in Tioga, Pennsylvania, and holds the patents behind its Triple Mix and 4-Way Mix designs. If you have worked on a GTT Lynx or a Bobcat, the Mirage will feel like the same family scaled up: a lot of jets, a lot of adjustability, and a familiar surface-mix face.
The Zenit answers a different question. Herbert Arnold GmbH & Co. KG dates itself to 1950 and builds the Zenit as a concentric-ring, silent surface-mix burner, assembled and adjusted by hand with what the company describes as more than sixty years of experience behind it. Its signature is a flame-stabilization system that lets the burner run on a surplus of air for a cooler flame, and a single twist grip that moves the flame from a sharp pinpoint to an intensive working flame. It sits on a solid cast-iron foot with a ball joint. The whole design targets quiet, steady, repeatable heat, the priorities of scientific and long-session production work, over raw jet count.
Neither approach is better in the abstract. One is a modular multi-jet American production burner; the other is a hand-finished German silent burner. The right pick depends on the flame character you want and what your budget and patience allow.
Specs head to head
The mix type below is rendered from our catalog, which records both torches as surface mix. GTT markets the Mirage as a Triple Mix torch; that is the company’s own framing for how its surface-mix design layers gas and oxygen, and we treat it as such rather than as a separate mix category. The Zenit has no discrete jet count because its heat comes from concentric rings, not countable jets, so we never assign it a jet number.
| Spec | GTT Mirage | Herbert Arnold Zenit |
|---|---|---|
| Mix type | Surface mix (GTT calls it Triple Mix) | Surface mix (concentric ring) |
| Jets | 40 | Concentric rings, no discrete count |
| Stages | 2 | 1 |
| Mount | Bench | Bench |
| Oxygen (estimate) | ~26 LPM | ~58 LPM |
| Fuel | Propane or natural gas, oxygen | Natural gas or propane, oxygen |
| Head sizes | Single bench head | 40mm, 50mm, 65mm |
| Reference price | $1,975 | $3,300 |
The Mirage comes standard with a four-stud manifold and mounts on a powder-coated base drilled for securing it to the bench; a variable-switch version and a separately priced compressed-air configuration exist alongside the standard bench torch. The Zenit ships in three head sizes on the same silent principle, and Herbert Arnold also builds a separate Zenit Hand Torch for reworking borosilicate, priced higher than the bench burner.
Flame character and control
The Mirage’s character comes from its jets and stages. With 40 jets across a center fire and two outer rings, and a two-stage layout, you can move from a tight detail flame to a broad, powerful one and shift the flame’s chemistry by adjusting the fuel and oxygen balance. That flexibility is the appeal of a GTT production torch: one burner covering detail work through large boro. For the mechanics of how GTT layers its gases, see our explainer on GTT’s Triple Mix technology.
The Zenit’s character is quiet and steady. Herbert Arnold builds it as a noiseless burner, and the flame-stabilization system lets it run on excess air to hold a cooler, calmer flame, which is a large part of why it is prized for long scientific and production sessions where a roaring flame becomes fatiguing. Control is a single twist grip with maintenance-free ball-valve action and a non-scaling stainless-steel burner head, taking the flame from a sharp concentrated pinpoint up to an intensive flame. Where the Mirage gives you many jets and stages to orchestrate, the Zenit gives you one smooth, silent adjustment. If quietness and a hand-adjusted feel matter more to you than a large jet array, that is the Zenit’s whole argument. Our overview of Herbert Arnold’s concentric ring burners covers the ring design in more depth.
Power, glass size, and oxygen appetite
Both torches handle soft glass and boro, and both are aimed at experienced hands rather than beginners. Sizing them differs by design language.
The Mirage’s reach is set by its jet array; GTT positions it for large boro and production work, with high power available across glass types when you feed it enough oxygen. The Zenit’s reach is set by which head you buy. Herbert Arnold’s own materials put the 40mm head at borosilicate tubing up to roughly 80mm, the 50mm head at up to about 100mm, and the 65mm head above 100mm. That is a useful, concrete way to match the torch to the work: pick the head for the largest tubing you expect to run, rather than over-buying.
On oxygen, treat both figures as rough estimates on different bases and read the gap directionally rather than to the liter. Our catalog records the Mirage near 26 LPM, derived from GTT’s own flow table at the largest usable flame, and the Zenit’s standard 40mm head near 58 LPM, derived from the Herbert Arnold 114-series data sheet at its propane maximum. The larger Zenit heads draw more still. The takeaway is that the Zenit, especially in its bigger heads, is the hungrier burner, and a serious oxygen supply is part of owning one. Neither number is a working-flame prescription; the manufacturer’s manual for your exact configuration always takes precedence over any figure here.
Editor’s note: the oxygen figures for these two torches come from different manufacturer documents measured on different bases (a GTT flow table at the largest usable flame for the Mirage, a Herbert Arnold data sheet at the 40mm head’s propane maximum for the Zenit), so compare them only as a rough direction of appetite, not as a precise head-to-head. Confirm current specs with the maker before you buy.
Price, availability, and lead time
The honest headline is the price and character gap. At roughly $1,975 standard, the Mirage is the more accessible of the two, and it is a US-built torch you order from a domestic maker. At roughly $3,300 for the 40mm head, the Zenit costs about $1,325 more, and the larger heads and the separate hand-torch version cost more again. You are not paying that premium for more jets or more raw output; you are paying for a hand-assembled German silent burner with its own control feel and its flame-stabilization design.
Availability is the other real difference. The Mirage ships from a domestic maker on domestic timing. The Zenit is made in Weilburg, Germany, and each unit is assembled and adjusted by hand at the factory, so a US buyer is looking at an imported, hand-built torch. We do not have a verified numeric lead time and will not invent one, but the practical expectation is that sourcing a Herbert Arnold torch can take longer than ordering a domestic burner, and that is worth planning for. For prices and current configurations of either torch, confirm with the maker directly before you buy: GTT for the Mirage, Herbert Arnold for the Zenit.
Which one fits you
Choose the GTT Mirage if you want a multi-jet, two-stage production torch with a wide, adjustable flame chemistry, a lower price, and domestic ordering. It is the natural step up for someone already comfortable in the GTT family who wants more power without leaving that idiom, and it leaves more of your budget for oxygen and the rest of the system. If you are weighing it against other GTT production torches, our Mirage vs Delta Elite comparison sits right next to this one.
Choose the Herbert Arnold Zenit if a quiet, hand-adjusted flame and the flame-stabilization design matter to you, if you want to size the head precisely to your tubing, and if the higher price and longer import wait are acceptable trade-offs for that character. It is the torch to look at when noise and steadiness over long scientific or production sessions outrank jet count on your list. For the full Herbert Arnold range, see our Herbert Arnold torch lineup, and for a cross-brand look at silent surface mix against a GTT flagship, see GTT Phantom vs Herbert Arnold Zenit.
If your decision really turns on surface-mix behavior in general rather than these two models specifically, our guide to surface mix vs premix torches covers the underlying trade-offs before you commit to either.
Related guides
- Herbert Arnold torch lineup
- GTT’s Triple Mix technology
- GTT Phantom vs Herbert Arnold Zenit
- GTT Mirage vs Delta Elite
- Surface mix vs premix torches
Sources
- GTT, Mirage product page: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/mirage
- GTT, Triple Mix torches: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/triple-mix-torches
- Herbert Arnold, burners overview: https://www.h-arnold.com/burners
- Herbert Arnold, ARNOLD Zenit data sheet (PDF): https://downloads.arnold-gruppe.de/ARNOLD%20Zenit.pdf
Editor’s note: model names, configurations, head sizes, and prices reflect public manufacturer information as of 2026; verify current lineups, specs, and pricing with the maker before purchase.