The reader may view a complete description of the Raptor in my Initial Report.
Using the Raptor
Like most canister stoves, operation of the Raptor is simple and quick. Screw the stove onto the appropriate canister, unfold the three pot supports, turn on the gas, press the piezo igniter, and start cooking.
Canisters
The Raptor uses the EN417 Lindal valve canisters widely available in the U.S.A. Brunton makes their own line of canisters, but those from MSR, Primus, Snow Peak, and others will fit and function on this stove. Each manufacturer uses a different mix of butane, iso-butane, and propane in their canisters, and performance varies depending on temperature and elevation.
Canister stoves tend to perform poorly in cold weather at lower elevations. On the March hike, I kept the canister (an MSR Iso-Pro) in my sleeping bag at night, and the stove performed reasonably well even around freezing. I have found that canisters with a high proportion of iso-butane work better in low temperatures, and I have pretty much settled on the MSR canisters for my regular use. I have not seen the Brunton canisters available locally.
Pot Supports
There are three fold-out pot supports on the Raptor. Once unfolded, they are large enough to handle a 2-liter (2 qt) pot, yet they can easily support my titanium mug (see photo, above). Getting the pot supports unfolded can be tricky, since they interfere with each other in the process. If I fully unfold one leg, I am unable to unfold the leg next to it because the first leg is blocking it. The same thing happens when I am folding the stove after use. The best method that I have found is to unfold or fold all the legs halfway, then unfold or fold them the rest of the way. This is a minor annoyance at best, and it's something I quickly mastered (but it can be fun to watch someone else try to set up the stove for the first time).
Like any top-mounted canister stove, working with a large pot requires some care. My mug and my 1.25-liter (1.25 qt) pot work well, but the 2-liter (2 qt) pot gets a little tippy. With any pot, I make sure I use the pot grabber or the handle to steady it while I am stirring.
Piezo Igniter
The piezo igniter has worked flawlessly every time I have used the stove. I have found that it works best if I turn the gas on very low, then click the igniter, then turn up the gas.
Cooking with gas
Using the Raptor is fairly straightforward, and works much like the gas stove in my kitchen. The Raptor quickly brings to a boil water for coffee or for a boil-in-bag meal, and then I can turn down the gas to simmer a noodle dish in my pot. The large wire bail control knob is easy to grab, doesn't get hot, and it sticks out far enough to use under a 2-liter (2 qt) pot. Unfortunately, when the stove is folded, this control knob sticks out perpendicular to the stove, and resists all efforts to keep it folded against the stove body. If I were to carry the stove in its nifty little case, this wouldn't be a problem -- the case is designed to hold the knob against the stove. However, the case is heavy, and doesn't fit well inside my mug, so I have been using a rubber band instead.
When cooking, most of the heat is concentrated in a small area under the center of the pot (see photo, above). This is fine for boiling water or using a small pot or mug, but we had a problem with it when we cooked a gloppy Mac and Cheese dish on our car camping trip. No matter how low I turned the flame, the Raptor still scorched the meal inside the pot. I ended up switching to another stove with a much wider flame pattern to finish that meal.
Under windy conditions, the Raptor still works, but it takes longer to bring water to a boil, and it appears to use more fuel in doing so. During the Field Test, I have been able to bring the stove inside a shelter when the wind picked up, which improves performance and efficiency. The stove doesn't have any sort of wind screen or wind protection built-in, and I am hesitant to use a real wind screen due to the minor but real chance of blowing up the stove if the canister overheats.
