1:46 p.m. on February 15, 2003 (EST)
Quote:
Bill, I called Next Adventure (503-233-0706) and learned the following: They "might" have matching cannisters made by a Greek company. They said that Camping Gaz has switched cannister types four times in the last twenty years.
Interesting how the story changes, depending on who is telling you, isn't it? I got my information as I currently understand it from Coleman, who own Gaz (appears in the public record and on the Coleman website). That is, the information about Gaz. When I talked to them at the OR Show last August, I neglected to ask about the 100-series cartridges, but I will try to remember to ask when I next visit with them in person. One specific discussion was about the general topic of rationalizing the plethora of cartridge types that Coleman presently produces. They plan over the next few years to standardize more as far as the stoves are concerned, although they will continue to produce cartridges for stoves already out there for some years beyond that. Eventually, they will discontinue the types they are dropping from the stove side of production.
Next Adventure may have misunderstood or slightly misstated about the cartridge types. Gaz has been imported into North America by a number of different companies over the past 40 or so years that I have had the Bleuet stoves - Garcia, Impecco, Suunto USA, and currently Coleman (the present owner). Coleman is retaining the Camping Gaz name, although they changed the name of most other European companies they acquired. It has never been clear what has or will happen with Coleman under Sunbeam ownership (the spinoff idea seems to have faded for now).
Anyway, the cannister configurations since about 1960 have been only 4 - the 200 series (S-200, S-206, with 190 g of fuel), the 100 series (S-100 and S-106 with 90 g of fuel, basically the same as the 200 series, but shorter in height), the 270 (250 g of fuel) and the 470 (450 g). The 100 and 200 series both have the dimple on top where the puncture hole is made. Since the cartridge must be held in place pressed against the connecting cap, these can only fit the same series of appliance (stove or lantern). The big disadvantage is that you can't remove the cartridge safely until it is empty (made that mistake once!). The 270 and 470 are larger and use a fitting that can be removed with the cartridge partially full. The fitting has hooks that latch into the collar and are pressed outward to latch firmly as the needle is pushed into the fitting through the rubber valve. The setup is similar to the "industry standard" fitting, except that the standard screw fitting has threads on the nipple instead of the latching setup of the Gaz cannister. The sizes are enough similar that MSR was able to make a "universal" fitting to fit both the Gaz and "industry standard" cartridges from Primus, MSR, Snowpeak, Markill, and others (including Coleman's own line of industry standard cartridges).
The thing is, Gaz did not change the configurations. They introduced additional ones. The 100 and 200 require stoves designed to take them specifically, while the x70 cartridges will all fit a wide range of appliances, including the MSR Superfly. Except possibly for the 100-series, the Gaz cartridges are still made and available from Coleman, with the 200 at least being available from some other manufacturers.
I suspect the 100 is dead in NA, as I said before. But I shall research it a bit.
Follow us on Twitter
Become a fan on Facebook