I can't see any advantage at all over any other gas cartridge stove using the same fuel mix cartridge with regard to usable temperature range.
The advantage of a regulator valve is that it will operate with lower canister pressure. The ability to operate with a lower canister pressure allows one to operate a stove like the Soto OD-1R at a
slightly lower temperature (temperature being the chief determiner of gas pressure), about 5F/2.5C lower. Is this a material advantage? That's up to the individual to decide.
The only difference is that the area of the orifice which the fuel gases are seeing is larger for the Soto...
Well, not exactly. The size of the orifice is not material. The ability of a regulator valve to operate at a lower pressure than a conventional needle valve is what allows the Soto to maintain a larger flame.
...which simply means that more of the fuel such as the propane and isobutane with their lower boiling points is being used. The rate of these gas vapours (propane and isobutane) are being consumed is much much greater as very little butane is being consumed due to the very small temperate difference of around 1C. i.e. very little butane is being vapourised. This can be seen in the video with the Soto's greater initial heat output.
Let's talk for a moment about the physics of gas, in particular a blend of propane, isobutane, and butane, the gases typically used for backpacking type stoves. The myth is that "very little butane" will be vaporized and that basically only those gases with vaporization points well below the actual temperature of the fuel will vaporize. Not true, or at least not quite. When you blend fuels, they behave
as a blend, not as individual fuels (remember, that's a
liquid in your gas canister). In the case of a fuel canister containing propane, isobutane, and butane, you don't have three vaporization points, you have
one. That
one vaporization point is determined by the relative percentages of each of the fuel components as measured in numbers of molecules (i.e. the molar fraction). Now yes, the components with lower vaporization points do tend to vaporize faster, so your mix absolutely will change over the "life" of the canister. Indeed, towards the end of the canister, you will have just butane left. However, you will have burned off far
more butane than you would if you had been trying to burn a canister of 100% butane all along. The reality of blended fuels is that poor cold weather fuels like butane burn better when combined with better cold weather fuels like isobutane and propane.
What the video needs to do is run the burn to the end, when both cartridges stop producing a flame, then weigh the cartridges to see which stove burned the most fuel. It probably wouldn't be the Soto.
Actually, all else being equal, the Soto will absolutely burn more fuel. Remember that a regulator valved burner can operate at a lower pressure than a conventional needle valved burner. As the fuel canister empties, the pressure drops. Toward the end of a canister, there will be insufficient pressure to operate the needle valved burner, but the regulated burner will continue to function.
If you ran a head to head test at say 50F/10C between a regulator valved burner and a needle valved burner wherein you ran both burners until the gas* canisters of each were exhausted, the regulator valved burner would consistently be able to use more of the fuel in its canister. The needle valved burner would consistently leave more fuel unconsumed in its canister.
If you were to run the same test at 32F/0C, the difference will be in the Soto's favor more dramatically since the cold will further inhibit pressure, giving the Soto an even greater advantage.
HJ
*Assume a blend of 10% propane, 40% isobutane, and 50% butane.
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