The typical HOME stovetop burner is +/- 7k btu.. on the high end they get to around 12k (rare).
Kinda reminds me of any number of any other hot button marketing metrics.. horse power for one. 500 HP does you no good if it's tied to a mediocre drive train.
The geometry of the stove as far as burner placement, cookware placement, and wind control counts for a lot. Put another way, a stove can cook better, boil faster, and use less fuel with lower btu burners if it's designed correctly.
I hear ya about all the other factors that go into making a stove top work well. So far, I think that the Mountaineer has a good combo of windscreen, big cook surface, and what appear to be pretty good quality burners.
I've had the chance to cook a couple more times on it since my last post and it seems like while the dials aren't linear, they are consistent (both over time and between the two dials).
We'll see how it holds up over time, and what affect being rattled around in the truck has as it ages. Maybe this will hold up and work well, maybe the right answer is to pony up the cash for the more expensive brands.
-bill