Short answer: Yes, for most beginners the GTT Bobcat is a sound first bench torch, and it fits one kind of beginner better than the others. It is a single-stage, 7-jet standard surface-mix torch (not GTT’s Triple Mix) that works soft glass and borosilicate, runs on very low fuel pressure, and makes a usable flame on a single 5 LPM oxygen concentrator, at about $275 from GTT’s own store. If you already know you want to try small boro, it is a strong fit, because its flame reaches further into boro than the entry torches around it. If you only plan to make soft glass beads, it works well, but a cheaper torch that asks for less oxygen may suit you just as well. If you are undecided, it is a reasonable hedge, with one condition about oxygen covered below.
Buying a torch is not like buying a hand tool. You buy one, you work it for years, and you cannot really tell how it behaves until you have sat at it, which makes the first one a bigger decision than its price suggests. So this guide answers for three beginner profiles rather than with one verdict.
What the Bobcat actually is
Start with the catalog facts, because the Bobcat gets misdescribed often. GTT sells it as a Surface mix bench burner with 7 jets and one stage, meaning one pair of fuel and oxygen valves. It runs on propane or natural gas. It is not a Triple Mix torch: GTT’s patented Triple Mix design starts one model up, at the Lynx, and runs up the line from there. A listing that calls the Bobcat Triple Mix is wrong, and standard surface mix is a design choice, not a defect.
GTT describes the Bobcat’s flame as running from a 2 inch pinpoint for detail up to a 9/16 inch by 13 inch flame that will work 1.5 inch solid boro, and it handles boro pendants up to 3 inches. On oxygen, GTT says it runs well on a 5 LPM, 5 psi concentrator, is optimal on an 8 LPM concentrator, and does extremely well on 10 LPM or tanked oxygen. Our catalog’s figure for its largest usable flame is ~8.5 LPM, converted from GTT’s flow chart. That is a ceiling for the biggest flame, not what you burn making a bead.
On fuel, GTT’s flow rate chart lists the Bobcat, like its other smallest models (Cricket, Scorpion, Sidewinder), down to 1/4 psi of fuel; larger GTT models list more. That is why a Bobcat can run on unboosted household natural gas, which matters to a beginner with a gas line already in the garage. Plumbing any torch to house gas is still a job to do to code and to the manufacturer’s instructions.
What it gives a beginner
Three things make the Bobcat beginner-friendly, all from GTT’s own specifications.
A modest oxygen appetite. Oxygen is the part of a first setup that most often goes wrong, and the usual mistake is buying more torch than the oxygen supply can feed. The Bobcat lights and works on a single 5 LPM concentrator, which is the common entry point for a home studio.
Low fuel pressure. The 1/4 psi floor means propane from a standard regulator or household natural gas both work without a booster.
Room to grow into medium boro. This is the Bobcat’s real distinction among entry torches. The flame range GTT publishes, up to 1.5 inch solid boro and 3 inch pendants, takes a beginner well past beads before the torch becomes the limit.
It is also a single-stage torch, which keeps lighting and tuning simple while your hands are still learning the flame. For how long those hands usually take, see how long lampworking takes to learn.
What it does not give a beginner
It is not the Triple Mix line. If what drew you to GTT is Triple Mix, the Bobcat does not have it. The Lynx versus Bobcat comparison covers what that step up actually changes.
It is not GTT’s cheapest or thriftiest torch. The GTT Cricket, at about $255, is GTT’s own “most economical bench burner.” It has 5 jets to the Bobcat’s 7, and GTT says it was designed to get the best performance out of a 5 LPM, 5 psi concentrator. Its largest-flame oxygen estimate is ~5.5 LPM against the Bobcat’s ~8.5 LPM. For pure soft glass, the Cricket asks for less oxygen and costs less.
It is not the torch most classes put in front of you. The Nortel Minor, at about $325, is the torch Nortel itself describes as the classic starter used by most studios. If you learn in a class first, there is a fair chance your hands learn on a Minor, and buying the torch you trained on removes one variable from your first months at home.
It is not a large-boro or production torch. It is single stage. Big tubing and sustained production heat belong to multi-stage torches further up GTT’s line.
The three torches side by side
| Torch | Price | Oxygen (estimate, largest flame) | Glass | Catalog use cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GTT Bobcat | $275 | ~8.5 LPM | Soft and boro | Beads, small-to-medium boro, versatile starter |
| GTT Cricket | $255 | ~5.5 LPM | Soft and boro | Beads, soft glass, intro classes |
| Nortel Minor | $325 | ~9 LPM | Soft and boro | Beads, small boro, starter |
All three are single-stage surface-mix bench torches that run propane or natural gas. Read the oxygen column as a sense of appetite, not a buying spec.
Editor’s note: the Bobcat and Cricket oxygen figures are converted from GTT’s flow chart at the largest usable flame. The Minor’s figure is our own comparative estimate placed against the Bobcat, not a Nortel number. Prices change and each torch runs on far less oxygen than its ceiling in everyday work. Figures come from the manufacturers’ own pages where we have them and are labelled as estimates where they are ours; confirm the current spec with the maker before you buy.
Beginner profile 1: soft glass beads
If your plan is soft glass beads and small soft glass work, the Bobcat is a good torch that you will not use all of. Its extra reach is boro reach, and soft glass does not need it. What you pay for that reach is a little more money and a torch that shows its best flame with more oxygen than the entry concentrator provides.
The Cricket was built for exactly this buyer: soft glass, a single small concentrator, a tight budget. GTT says it also works 1 inch solid boro and up to a 2 inch boro pendant, so choosing it does not close the door on boro entirely. The Minor is the other natural choice here, especially if that is what you learned on. The Bobcat versus Cricket comparison goes through this decision in detail, and our guide to torches for glass beads covers the wider field.
Choose the Bobcat here if you already suspect boro is coming, or if you plan to grow your oxygen past a single 5 LPM unit anyway.
Beginner profile 2: small boro from the start
This is where the Bobcat makes its strongest case. A beginner who wants to make boro pendants and small sculpture from the start needs more flame than a soft glass torch is built around, and the Bobcat’s published range covers that work without stepping up to a multi-stage torch or its oxygen demand.
Two things to plan for. First, oxygen: the Bobcat runs on a 5 LPM concentrator, but GTT calls 8 LPM optimal, and boro is where you will want the bigger end of the flame. Budget for more oxygen than the minimum, and use the oxygen concentrator LPM guide to size it. Second, eyewear: boro needs lenses whose maker rates them for borosilicate work. Phillips Safety, for example, calls for UV, infrared and sodium-flare protection for boro, and a lens-family name on a soft glass pair does not tell you it meets that, so check the exact lens specification before carrying your soft glass glasses over. Our didymium vs ACE comparison explains the lens families.
Beginner profile 3: undecided
If you do not yet know whether you are a soft glass or boro person, the Bobcat is a reasonable hedge: it works both without asking much of the setup, so it keeps both paths open.
The condition is oxygen. If boro turns out to be your direction, expect to add oxygen capacity later. The better move, if you can, is to take a class or book open studio time before buying. Since there is no way to judge a torch properly until you have worked on one, a few sessions at a bench tell you more about your glass and your hands than any spec sheet, including this one.
If you are also weighing a different maker’s approach at the same level, our Bobcat versus Bethlehem Alpha comparison sets it against the Bethlehem Alpha, a single-stage surface-mix bench burner at about $350 that also runs hydrogen and butane.
Before you light it
The torch is only part of a first setup. Oxygen, fuel, regulators, the flashback protection your torch and gas supply call for, eyewear rated for your glass, and ventilation all come before the first bead. Our beginner setup cost guide lays out what those lines add up to, and the glass torch safety setup guide covers plumbing and ventilation. The manufacturer’s manual for your torch always takes precedence over any general guide, this one included.
So, is the Bobcat right for you?
The useful question is not which torch is best in general but which one fits the work you plan to do and the budget you have for the whole setup. For a beginner heading toward small boro, or unsure and willing to grow the oxygen supply, the Bobcat fits that description well. For a beginner committed to soft glass beads on a single small concentrator, the Cricket fits it at least as well for less money and less oxygen, and the Minor for less money at a similar oxygen estimate. If you want the full first-torch picture beyond GTT, start with the best beginner glass torch guide, and if the Minor is the torch you are weighing against, the Bobcat versus Nortel Minor comparison covers the rest.
Related guides
- Best beginner glass torch
- GTT Bobcat vs Nortel Minor
- GTT Bobcat vs GTT Cricket
- Beginner lampworking setup cost
Sources
- Glass Torch Technologies, Bobcat product page: https://www.glasstorchtech.com/bobcat
- Glass Torch Technologies, Bobcat store listing (price): https://www.glasstorchtech.com/product-page/bobcat-1
- Glass Torch Technologies, Flow Rate Chart (fuel pressure floor and largest-flame oxygen; PDF): https://www.glasstorchtech.com/_files/ugd/0f433e_940fa1536d544665a118116eb9542e62.pdf
- Glass Torch Technologies, Cricket (most economical bench burner, 5 LPM concentrator, boro capacity): https://www.glasstorchtech.com/cricket
- Nortel Manufacturing, Minor bench burner: https://www.nortelglass.com/minor-bench-burner/
- Phillips Safety, what glasses to wear for borosilicate lampworking: https://support.phillips-safety.com/hc/en-us/articles/17277920843923-What-glasses-do-I-need-to-wear-for-lampworking-with-borosilicate-glass