Reviews > Health & Safety > Emergency and Survival Gear > Coleman Exponent XtremeCat Heater > Jim Sabiston > Long Term Report

Long Term Report Coleman Exponent XtremeCat Catalytic Heater

Date: February 12, 2005

Reviewer Information:

Backpacking Background:

Product Information:

MSRP:          

Specifications as measured:

A Brief  Description of the Coleman Exponent  XtremeCat Catalytic Heater:

The heater consists of a heavy metal burner head, comprised of a heavy silver colored metal base and a heavy duty black metal screen, both of which serve to enclose and protect the platinum catalytic element. Directly below the silver base of the burner head is a black steel assembly, apparently a vent to allow air to the bottom of the burner head. Below this is the support tube that contains both the On-Off knob and the connector fitting for the fuel tank. This part is referred to as the Regulator Assembly in the enclosed instructions. The On-Off knob is quite large for such a small heater, and is rather pronounced as it protrudes from the side of the base. The Regulator Assembly is covered by black plastic and the On-Off knob is made of the same black plastic. There is a large, black plastic ring that is intended as a stabilizing base. Coleman also supplies a rather nice black nylon carrying case with the heater.

One of the primary departures from Coleman’s prior catalytic heater products with the XtremeCat is the use of a backpack style butane/propane fuel cartridge. This gives a significant weight savings over the more commonly used larger ‘household’ propane fuel tanks. The fuel cartridge is installed simply by screwing it onto the heater base, just as one would install the cartridge on a backpacking stove.

For more details on the construction and operation of the heater, please seem my Initial Report and my Field Report.
 
Additional Field Experience:

My primary focus during the latter part of the test was to see if the heater would be more effective in a traditional tent than it seemed to be in my Black Diamond single walled Lighthouse tent. Happily, this has proven to be the case. My alternate tent is a Eureka Mountain XT1. This is a four season solo tent with a large vestibule, but relatively small interior. The floor measures approximately 3 ft X 8 ft (.91 m X 2.4 m) with about 32 in (.81 m) of headroom, much smaller than the Lighthouse. The XT1 also uses more conventional construction, in that it has an inner tent covered by a waterproof  non-breathable fly.

I made a point of getting the tent/heater combination out in varying temperatures to see how effective the heater would be. I learned some very important details that determine how effective the heater works to heat the tent interior. First, I prefer to have the heater in the vestibule, as this frees up the tent interior and eliminates the likelihood of bumping into the heater and knocking it over in the confines of a typically small backpacking tent. However, it quickly became clear that the effectiveness of the heater is greatly reduced when kept in the vestibule. This may be one of the factors that contributed to the problems I experienced with heating the Lighthouse. Two issues come into play: air flow in the vestibule and airflow into the tent body from the vestibule.

Unlike the tent body, the vestibules of both tents do not seal at the bottom, having an open space that runs around the exterior perimeter of the vestibule. This is normally a good thing as it promotes free air circulation, reducing condensation inside the tent. This air circulation had a dramatic affect with the heater, however. especially if there was any wind blowing. I had an indoor/outdoor thermometer mounted inside the tent during all my tests (see photos). I could actually watch the tent interior temperature be pulled down as much as 15 F (-9 C) whenever a breeze circulated the air through the vestibule after it had warmed up. With the XT1, the heated air would circulate between the tent body and the fly, which I expected. I had hoped that the tent interior would still heat fairly quickly, but this did not happen. I expect the tent interior would heat up eventually, but the process is far too slow to be practical with the heater in the vestibule, and far less efficient.

Moving the heater inside the tent body quickly cured all these complications. The tent interior now heated reasonably quickly and the heater did a very nice job of making the interior toasty warm. On a 42 F (6 C) night, the heater quickly brought the interior up to 68 F (20 C). On another night, with the outside temperature at 36.8 F (2.7 C), I tried the heater in the vestibule for a couple of hours and the interior temperature seemed to peak at about 53.7 F (12 C). I then moved the heater to the interior and with the outside temperature dropping to 33.2 F (1 C), the interior temperature increased to 68.5 F (20.3 C)! I suspect the tent body, while breathable nylon, slows the airflow enough that it acts as a bit of an insulator, reducing the heat loss through the fly.

 

The only complication, of course, is the heater is inside the tent where I could easily come into contact with it and even knock it over if I was not attentive. The price for a warm tent is that I could never fully relax for fear of an accident. The catalytic heater is far safer than any heat source that uses an open flame, but it is still hot enough to burn or cause damage to materials the burner head comes into contact with. That outer metal ring gets HOT!  I never had a problem but the close quarters of the small interior of the solo tent kept me on my toes! When I am ready to turn in for the night, I turn the heater off and carefully move it back to the vestibule for storage.

There is nothing to mention on the wear-and-tear front.

Likes:

1 – Cooking stability when using the cartridge/stabilizing ring setup for cooking with my Gigapower stove.
2 – Very easy to operate.
3 – Small (relatively) size.
4 – Very affordable price.

Dislikes:

1) Is 800 BTU enough output for winter conditions? I would give a qualified yes. The low output gives good fuel cartridge life and can heat a small tent, but is clearly very sensitive to changes that affect the airflow of the heated air. For anything larger than a typical two person backpacking tent, I would be inclined to go to one of Coleman's larger  heater models, but they are awfully bulky for backpacking, although I have seen it done (with the associated grunting and groaning!). When winter base camping and using a gear sled, the small pack size and relatively low weight of the XtremeCat lose some advantage and the larger heaters become a more attractive option. My only real wish is that Coleman finds this part of the market strong enough to invest in lighter materials for the heater body. Is it possible to make this thing out of aluminum instead of steel? 

That said, Coleman is definitely on to something with this little catalytic heater. Being able to warm up my tent after a long days hiking of climbing in cold temperatures is a temptation that is hard to ignore. The XtremeCat is the first heater I've seen that actually makes this a practical consideration for the backpacker. I doubt I will use it for my typical overnight cold weather trips, but for those multi-day backpacks in cold weather, the Coleman XtremeCat will likely find its way into my pack on occasion. 

Reviews > Health & Safety > Emergency and Survival Gear > Coleman Exponent XtremeCat Heater > Jim Sabiston > Long Term Report