NGT Profiler Stove

How well is it built?

The Profiler is a proper little cooker rather than a burner on a canister. A dark body with vented sides carries a large, square recessed hob tray with four serrated pan supports, and quick-fold locking legs swing down to raise it off the ground.

The legs lock in place, which is exactly what you want on a stove that stands this high, and the hard case it comes in should protect it far better than a soft bag when it's thrown in the car with the rest of your kit.

The downside is bulk, as a box-shaped cooker in a hard case takes more room in the car than the Sonik Sizzla Superstove or the Trakker Armolife CG4, which both fold into small bags, and that's part of why it scores 8.2 for build.

For a stand stove that has to stay rigid with a pan on top, though, I think the build is solid and the score is fair.

Heat & Performance

At 2.4kW, the Profiler has less output than the 3500W Trakker Armolife CG4 or the 3000W Go Systems Sirocco, so I wouldn't expect it to be the quickest to boil a big kettle.

It typically uses 175 grams of gas an hour, so one canister should still see you through a fair bit of cooking.

The large recessed hob is there to improve gas efficiency, and sitting the burner down inside a tray should also help keep a breeze off the flame. Is 2.4kW enough?

For brews, boil-in-the-bag meals and a pan of bacon, I think it is, as long as you're not in a hurry and don't mind waiting a little longer for the kettle.

It runs on butane, and butane struggles to vaporise in cold weather, so a butane-propane mix canister is the better choice on frosty winter nights. Overall, it's a capable cooker rather than a powerful one, and the 8.1 reflects that.

Ease of Use

Comfort is the Profiler's strongest card. Having the hob raised off the ground means no kneeling in the mud to cook, and a pan at that height is easier to watch and stir from a low chair.

Piezo ignition lights it automatically, the quick-fold locking legs make setting up and packing away quick, and the canister sits underneath the body, between the legs, so the whole thing stays in one tidy footprint. It all goes back into the hard case at the end of the session.

Being off the floor doesn't make it safe to use indoors, though. Never cook or run a gas stove inside a closed bivvy or tent, because of carbon monoxide and fire, and set the Profiler up in the open or under a well-ventilated porch, on a stable, flat base.

Used that way, I think it's a very comfortable stove to cook on, and the 8.4 shows it.

Is it good value for money?

Price is where the Profiler asks more of you. It's one of the dearer compact stoves, not far off the Trakker Armolife CG4, so you're paying for the stand design and the hard case more than raw heat, and that's worth being clear about before you buy.

If output is what matters most, the Go Systems Sirocco and the Prologic Blackfire C-Series both give more watts and cost less, and the Trakker Armolife CG-3 puts out 3,500W while packing far smaller.

The Profiler's draw is comfort, and for me that's worth paying a bit extra for on a long session when you'll be cooking two or three times a day. The hard case also means it should still look tidy after a few seasons of use.

I'd recommend the Profiler to carp anglers on long static sessions, and to anyone with stiff knees who'd rather not cook on the ground, as long as they mostly make brews, bacon sandwiches and simple meals.