Monument Contractor Gas Torch 1in. CGA600

Fantastic Torch, the best I have found, lights instantly, has a very hot flame when used with Map Gas, is even hot enough to heat 10mm mild steel bar to a cherry red to make it easy to bend. The flame is very controllable and precise, the torch itself is made from cast metal and is very tough and rugged. Great value for money for a very professional torch.

Good quality, but started leaking gas. Expensive compared to other makes.

I bought this to replace my Rothenberger Superfire torch which simply became far too unreliable for dependable use. The monument takes all my existing butane and MAPP gas bottles so there was no extra expense involved in restocking my gas. It's well made and very nicely balanced and a pleasure to use and at a price of around half that of the Rothenberger it more than measures up. Very pleased with it as I mostly use it for reflowing and repairing die-case metal boxes and it performs perfectly.

Well built, ignites first time every time, easy to regulate the flame and perfect for what I wanted. It might be a plumbers tool but I use it in the kitchen for searing off meat etc. I might seem a bit overkill but if you are serious about using a blowtorch to brown and caramelise you need serious blowtorch, don't wast you money and time with the tiny kitchen torches or the the mid sized DIY ones, get one of these. If you want brown off a sous vide leg of lamb, rib of beef, you need something that can get to a high temperature and not take forever to brown the meet so you end up cooking it and undoing all that time in the sous vide. This torch get to a really hight temperature, especially with the MAPP gas. I get perfectly browned meet and it's never cooked in more that 1mm at the most so always just howI want it throughout.

I bought this torch together with a valve adapter to use with screw-on EN417 canisters (those used for camping), reason being that 1) they are cheaper than propane canisters and 2) I have a garage full of them. Unfortunately the torch won't burn properly with EN417 canisters and splatters a lot of flames instead of producing a nice high-intensity flame. I had bought the torch for culinary use but didn't want to acquire extra canisters, so it will be returned and exchanged for a different type. Anyway, the torch itself looks and feels well made, I am sure it works perfectly with the intended propane or mapp canisters.

I had high hopes for this torch, with Monument being the tool brand they are you would expect some degree of reliability, unfortunately this was not the case. In purchased this initially as my Rothenberger had died, so I wanted to try something new. I arrived on the job and fired up the gun, all was well for the first time using it, from there it just became a nuisance. The piezo ignition is sporadic, you may get ignition after 100x attempts at lighting up but you will almost certainly never be able to ignite one time after another. This seems to be a running issue with this gun, Monument need to sit down and redesign the existing piezo ignition system because it clearly isn’t working for them. By default, on some new guns the piezo ignition rod will be centre of the channel which can happen in transit, resulting in the spark not being able to efficiently bridge up the nozzle - mine however was how it was meant to be and yet it still didn’t work. This gun unfortunately isn’t worth £40 - given it’s current issues, £15 is more suited if you have the patience for the thing to light after 100x attempts.

This is an exceptional product which I'd recommend to anyone looking at buying a gas torch. It features an excellent vortex feature, which funnels the flame into a smaller and more controllable area. The build quality is excellent and I can see it lasting me for years to come. A WORD OF WARNING - Do be careful when screwing onto a gas bottle; it can be easy to cross thread and you'll end up needing to buy a new one.

Monument have been making plumbing tools for years so this brand is a good choice. I have owned a rothenberger torch of a similar design until the nozzle tube kept coming loose then finally snapping off. The monument torch is as good or even better in some aspects , the nozzle tube feels like a better design than the rothenberger and costs a lot less ! I'm sure this will last me quite a while as it feels like it is very well made.