Although the EN/ISO thread is the same for everyone, manufacturers are free to produce gas cylinders of amost any dimensions (height / diameter / gas capacity) so there is no guarantee that the width of the base or the resulting center of gravity of a given canister would give the recommended or minimum safe stability for a stove or lamp appliance from another manufacturer or indeed would fit inside any outer casing that may be included as part of the appliance. It is therefore necessary to be prudent when purchasing canisters from alternate manufacturers that you don't inadvertantly produce an unstable appliance or one that no longer can be properly fitted together. If in doubt, take your appliance along with you and check that everything fits and is stable enough (use your own judgement and remember the cartidge will get much lighter as it empties) to operate without tipping over - remember that a pan full of hot liquid on top your stove will significantly alter its balance. Other options are to use extended legs or canister bases such as the Markill Cartridge Support Feet or a completely separated connection that allows the appliance and canister to be used independantly such as the Markill Stove Base Adaptor. Either of these solutions can help solve many of these compatibility problems for the traveller who is forced to make use of whatever fuel is available locally. At the time of writing we are not aware of any gas regulators designed to convert EN/ISO canisters for use on low pressure camping stoves / barbeques but have seen prototypes of such devices which are expected become commercially available during 2009 and would mean that at single cartridge could potentially be used for almost any trekking/camping appliance. At least one manufacturer markets a stove and a lamp designed specificially to attach to their own pierceable to EN/ISO converter. On these models the control valve is on the converter and not on the appliance. This means should you attach such an appliance directly to a standard EN/ISO canister there would be no control valve in the system and hence would create an instant and full-on gas flow with absolutely no way of regulating the flame ! We therefore consider that you should ALWAYS purchase applicances that have their own control valve to avoid such potentially hazardous combinations from ever occurring.