10 Best Propane Torches in 2024 – Top Picks & Reviews

Last Updated on Jan 03 2024

Propane is one of the safest and least expensive gases to use in the workshop, and burns hot enough to effectively weld, solder, braze, and preheat most metals. It’s an excellent choice for the workshop or home use.

While it’s sometimes used with oxygen to produce a powerful flame, it can work effectively without any oxygen tank, making it a portable option and a prime choice for people on a low budget or who want a quick, easy solution to produce a flame.

There are many different torches available, and they all have different purposes, so we have chosen the ten best from a variety of types and reviewed them below. Take a quick look at the overview in our comparison section, or else read each review to find the pros and cons of the different varieties.

SEE ALSO: our comparison of the most popular butane torches of the year.

A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites in 2024

	Image	Product	Details
Best Gas Welder		Bernzomatic Propane Torch	Instant on and off trigger Large flame adjustment range Can adjust flame heat at trigger	CHECK PRICE
Best Heating Torch		Hot Max 500G Big Max	Long handle Rubber handle Heavy-duty torch	CHECK PRICE
		TurboTorch Propane	Fine to medium flame 360-degree swivel tip Large flame adjustment range	CHECK PRICE
		Red Dragon VT 3-30 C Propane	Broad flame Heavy-duty torch Includes flint striker	CHECK PRICE
		Worthington WT2301 Propane	Fine to medium flame Quick ignition trigger Large flame adjustment range	CHECK PRICE

The 10 Best Propane Torches

1. Bernzomatic Propane Torch – Best Gas Welder

The Bernzomatic Trigger-Start Hose Torch is the best propane torch online for gas welding, soldering, or brazing. It’s a small, well-built tool with a long, angled nozzle that keeps the flame away from your hand and is shaped well for comfortably positioning the flame at the right working angle.

This is one of the few small torches with a long hose, making it simple to maneuver around easily without hurting your hand or struggling with the awkward position. It has a trigger you press to turn the flame on and off instantly, and you can lock it into a constant flame without holding the trigger.

If you want to adjust the flame manually during use, you can press or release the trigger various amounts to increase or decrease the flame. This is a unique feature that few other torches have. Some people find the nozzle difficult to clean as it cannot be disassembled easily, but this is quickly solved with a nozzle cleaning brush.

While the trigger has a locking feature for freedom of use, a few people have found it difficult to release, so be mindful of this if you have a light grip. Overall, there is no other gas welding torch that compares to this, and it’s surprisingly affordable, making it even more desirable. All in all, this is one of the best propane torches on the market.

2. Hot Max 500G Big Max Propane Torch – Best Heating Torch

The Hot Max 500G torch is like a mini flamethrower designed for sending out a long broad flame. It’s not useful for gas welding, brazing, or soldering, but it’s one of the most effective ways to preheat steel or cast iron before you weld.

The flame barrel is three inches in diameter. This puts out a hefty flame but is still a safe option for everyday house use. The long ten-inch hose gives you plenty of room to move around your projects without having to drag the propane canister with you.

The handle has a molded rubber grip to ensure it remains securely in your hand when you need it to, and the torch is almost three feet long to keep the flame at a safe distance during use. This is an excellent tool for many different purposes, and we highly recommend it if you need to do significant preheating before you weld.

3. TurboTorch Propane Torch

The TurboTorch 0386-0403is our second favorite torch for gas welding and soldering. It’s very different from the Bernzomatic Trigger-Start Hose Torch in that it has no hose or built-in ignition. It’s simply a torch to direct the flame from a small propane tank into where you need it.

The nozzle swivels 365 degrees easily, making it much more user-friendly than other torches that attach directly to the propane tank without a hose. It’s a heavy-duty tool that’s not easily broken, and while it looks small, it’s effective and does exactly what you need this kind of torch to do.

It’s not designed for preheating large projects as it produces a fine to medium gauge flame, but it has a large flame adjustment range under a medium size. It’s also easier to clean than the Bernzomatic Trigger-Start Hose Torch. It’s not our top choice, but it’s the best propane torch without a hose.

4. Red Dragon VT 3-30 C Propane-Torch

Red Dragon is well known for the VT 3-30 C torch. It’s a flamethrower-like torch that heats up large areas of steel with simplicity and ease. It’s like our top spot Hot Max Propane Torch, but with fewer features.

The hose is long enough to provide extensive reach without needing to move the propane tank, and it’s durable enough to withstand rough workshop use. The handle, however, doesn’t have any grip on it for ease of holding. This isn’t much of a problem; it’s just less comfortable.

There’s also no built-in ignition system, and it’s a little difficult to get started without knowing the right technique, but once it gets going, it’s amazing to use. We don’t recommend it if you need to weld or braze anything, as the flame is too large. However, it heats up steel uniformly with its extensive flame, and for this, it’s a good option to consider.

5. Worthington WT2301 Propane Torches

The Worthington 336737 is another portable gas welding tool that attaches directly to small propane tanks. It’s a low-priced option, and although it’s not a high-quality torch, it is effective nonetheless.

To ignite the flame, all you need to do is pull the trigger with the gas valve on, and the flame begins immediately. It’s similar to the Bernzomatic Trigger-Start Hose Torch, only there is no manual flame control with the trigger. To quench the flame, you have to turn the gas valve off rather than pull the trigger.

The flame adjustment is all through the gas valve, and it produces a good variety of fine to medium-sized flames suitable for most soldering, brazing, and welding needs. The angle of the torch nozzle is handy for getting into awkward welding spots comfortably, but it’s not a long nozzle. The trigger placement is close to the end of the torch, so you need to be careful using it.

This isn’t our favorite gas welding torch, but for a low-priced option, it does an effective job and is small enough to tuck away in your toolbox or welding drawer without taking up too much space.

6. Lincoln Electric Inferno Propane Torch

The Lincoln Electric Inferno Torch is similar to the Hot Max Propane Torch, with only a few disadvantages. It looks almost identical, being a similar black color, and has a handle that makes holding it much more comfortable than a plain steel rod without the molded handle.

It doesn’t have a built-in ignition system, so you have to use the flint striker that comes with it. Once it’s lit, if you keep the gas throttle on it runs well and fires an impressive flame, but there’s no idling feature if you need to let off the throttle between flames.

This torch has a long ten-foot hose, which we like, and the user-friendly throttle and gas dial are well-designed and heavy-duty. It’s not suitable for gas welding due to the flame size, but for what it’s designed for in preheating and blowing a large flame, it does an excellent job as long as you don’t require a pilot light to idle the flame.

7. CRL Complete Propane-Torch Kit

CRL’s Propane Torch Kit is the only torch in our list of reviews that includes a full propane canister. It’s a great low-priced kit that doesn’t require a separate order of propane bottles, and it’s easily refillable, so you never have to buy another bottle again after the first purchase.

You have to light the torch manually with a flint striker, which isn’t ideal, but the flame has a good adjustment range of fine to medium once it’s lit. The end of the torch is short, but it’s bent at a nice angle for a good user experience.

The torch is not the highest quality, but it does work well and usually lasts long enough for the low price it costs. It’s not the torch you want for preheating work unless it only requires a small surface area of heating; this is mainly a gas welding, brazing, or soldering torch.

8. JJGeorge Grill Propane-Torch Charcoal Starter

The JJGeorge Grill Torch is primarily designed for lighting charcoal, but it can be useful for workshop use too. It’s a high-quality product with a comfortable handle on the end to hold the torch, but it isn’t designed to use with a hose, so it must be directly attached to a propane bottle.

The built-in ignition makes it easy to light. It’s not the best ignition switch, but it’s much better than manually lighting a torch. There’s a good range of flame adjustment, and it’s easy to set to your desired size. However, the size is in between a fine gas welding flame and a large preheating flame. It’s slightly too big for gas welding and brazing, although if you’re careful, you may be able to do light brazing.

It’s primarily designed for heating, which it does well, but the surface area it covers is much less than the Hot Max Propane Torch and other similar ones. However, it’s handy when you want a smaller tank for light work. The torch angle is designed for pointing downwards, which makes it more difficult for typical preheating work, but it can be used well nonetheless.

9. Mag-Torch MT200C

The Mag-Torch MT200C is one of the lowest-priced torches available, and it’s very popular because of this. However, it’s low-quality to keep the price down, and not the most user-friendly. It attaches directly to the propane bottle like many other gas welding torches. Although this torch can work well, Mag-Torch is inconsistent with its manufacturing process, and many of the torches are defective.

You need to light this torch manually, and the gas dial works well sometimes, but it depends on the actual item Mag-Torch sends whether it works well or not. Many people have issues with it turning on or off.

If you want the lowest-priced torch available and don’t mind taking a gamble, this is worth considering. Otherwise, for a fraction of the price, you can get a better-quality torch that you can trust to work well.

10. BernzOmatic Heat Shrink Propane Torch

We have the BernzOmatic Heat Shrink Torch as our last review. It’s a very nice product for many purposes. Although it can weld, braze, solder, and heat metal, it has an awkward-sized flame for most uses. It’s slightly too big for fine work, and slightly too small for effective heating.

Nonetheless, it’s a good torch with a handy on and off ignition trigger and a lock feature to avoid accidentally igniting it. It has a variety of flame adjustment, just not the perfect size for many workshop purposes.

It attaches directly to the bottle and has more of a bend in the nozzle than most torches, but it’s at a useful angle for effective use. The torch is made of high-quality materials, which is why it’s slightly more expensive than many others. If you need a medium flame torch that’s user-friendly and simple to use with good safety features, we recommend this one. However, it isn’t the ideal flame for some welding and heating work, as it’s designed mainly for shrink fitting and light heating work.

Conclusion

It’s useful to have so many options for different torches to suit the various needs people have. These ten reviews have displayed the best of the core group of them. Some torches are similar in design, but each has its own unique features.

Our favorite gas welding torch is the Bernzomatic BZ8250HT Trigger-Start Hose Torch. It has a long heavy-duty hose and the handiest trigger of all these torches. The trigger starts, stops, and adjusts the flame, with an option to lock the flame on at a constant size if you wish. It’s an excellent torch for any welding, brazing, and soldering use.

If you’re looking for a torch primarily for heating, our favorite is the Hot Max 500G Big Max 500,000 BTU Propane Torch. It has a comfortable grip, an excellent potential for producing a huge powerful flame, and many high-quality, user-friendly features.

Thank you for stopping by to read our reviews. We hope they have been helpful to you in finding the best propane torch for your needs. Feel free to leave us your thoughts below in our comment section.