We know Brunton rebadged stoves produced in Europe and Asia. The Brunton Optimus Nova is a no-brainer. We know it was made by Optimus in Sweden. There was little effort to mask it, and it was likely a selling feature. But the later stoves aren't as obvious. Some were made in Korea by Kovea and easy to spot and others in Japan. I was hoping someone knew definitively who made the Vapor AF. I suspect it was Snow Peak, despite one thread here suggesting it was Shinfuji (Soto) and little other evidence or insight. The Vapor AF just doesn't have any hallmarks of Soto stoves but does share some qualities I've found in Snow Peak's, specifically, the plastic pump. The Snow Peak pump: Snow Peak Giga Power BF GS-300A The Vapor AF: Also, the fittings on the hose and the hose itself seem like a dead giveaway. The valve handles also feel "Snow Peak like", which is, again, just a feeling comparing it to the Giga from that era I have. SOTO's pumps are such a dramatically different concept and their hoses and other fittings are are so thin and dainty that I can't understand why they'd go this route for Brunton and never produce something similar, whereas there's a lot of overlap with what Snow Peak released and this effort for Brunton. The pump threads, the ring above it, and the cloned MSR hose bits make me think they're the source of the stove and was hoping someone knows definitively to satisfy my curiosity!
@paultee The pump would be closer to the WG version than the BF. I do have a couple Vapor's new in the box and could look through the enclosed information to see if anything shows a direction. i will let you know
Shinfuji was correct as they seemed to have introduced and recalled it in a matter of months due to the pump design. Hilarious was it went to the international market with no qualms though. Was called the sod-370 マルチフューエルストーブSOD-370、ご使用の中止ならびに回収のお願い | 新富士バーナー | 炎の総合メーカー
@Reppie Oh wow, look at that! I think you nailed it. I’ve never seen that image, but it seems obvious. Shinfuji really went in a totally different direction after this, but that definitely looks like the “parent” stove. It’s always amazing what people on here know. If I can trust the translation (マルチフューエルストーブSOD-370発売中止のお知らせ | 新富士バーナー | 炎の総合メーカー), Soto just killed the stove in pre-release. I’d love to know how Brunton justified releasing it, as people complained about those pumps (clearly legitimately). I guess the fact they’re not in the stove-selling market anymore says enough about their choices.
That makes sense. Manufacturers are legally obligated to make all products bilingual here, which is less of a stumbling block than the CSA (Canadian Standards Assoc.) which has strict regulations around stoves so some manufacturers don’t bother with our market, or so I was told by Soto US.
