VargoTitanium Flint Lighter - Compact and Durable Alcohol or Butane Stove Fire Starter

Would rather have a hole to run para-cord through over the stupid clip.

I like titaniums stuff so I bought one of these. I was hoping to replace my cheap lighter to start my camp stove. This lighter is cute but it has some short comings. First thing is the clip and handle design is hard to hold and uncomfortable to use. I don't expect I will ever clip it onto any of my gear. Second the sparks are basically the same as a bic lighter so not too large or far. I have been using this to light my gas stove at home. Most of the time I find that I almost burn my knuckles. So I think it would probably not work well to light my camp stove.I do like the lighter and will continue using it. I would recommend buying one but it would be best to keep on hand matches and other fire sources. The construction is great. I expect it to last for years. Also it does work when wet. Which is a nice feature.Vargo if your reading this please remove the clip and make the body easier to hold.

Its difficult to hold onto while sparking but the real issue is how difficult it is to replace the flint. They chose to use a screw to hold the striker wheel in and you have to take the tiny screw out and remove the striker wheel which will quickly launch your flint and spring if you dont catch it. Then to replace the flint you have to push the tiny thing into a small hole against a strong spring and while holding it in you have to get the striker wheel back into the slot without letting go of the flint or you will send your striker wheel and flint and spring flying everywhere. Then after you get the striker wheen slotted in one side you have to get the tiny little metal piece lined up and you have to make sure its facing the right way while holding everything together against the spring. Then you take the tiny little screw and thread it it.Its rather difficult to replace the flint while sitting at a table, it would be silly to try to do it anywhere outside. And its downright impossible if you dont have really good dexterity and strength in your fingers.All of this could be avoided if they just had a bottom screw and spring assembly like zippo figured out forever ago.I would not recommend this product and i would not buy it again. Especially not at the price they want for it. It does work at least but thats a rather low bar for technology as simple and old as a flint & striker wheel. I dont think you could make a worse design if you tried. A small bic with no fuel would be better and you could get a 20 pack with fuel for the same price as this striker and it would be worth it to save yourself the hassle of trying to replace the flint on this striker.Update: after using it for a while its actually really easy to hold as long as you dont try to hold it like a lighter. You hold it just under your index finger and to strike it you just bend/flex your index finger to roll the striker. And the sparks come out almost exactly where your pointing almost like your shooting sparks from your finger tip. Very simple and easy to operate as long as you dont treat it like a lighter it would be great if they didnt make it so awful to replace the flint. They could get rid of the clip and screw the flint in from the bottom like a zippo and probably make the whole thing shorter and even lighter and it would be worth the money. But right now idrc for it.

It works for my alcohol stove after a few try’s. The sparks could be better. It does fit is my small cooking kit well and I have not failed to get my stove started yet.

I have a couple Vargo Ti products that I love. Their flask and a couple cups--great stuff. This item though was absolutely useless while camping over winter. At home it worked great and he small size and very tiny wheel just took a bit of getting used to. But at the cold temperature nothing operates like it should. Forget using it in gloves. Heck forget using it if you have larger than average gloves. But in the cold its not just you. Even if you keep fingers warm and dexterous and can hit the wheel just right--the wheel sticks after about 5 minutes away from your body. If you leave it out in the cold (like mine was--connected to my pack) it wont work at all. When we did manage to spin the wheel there were no sparks. Its a real cute idea but just wasn't made for real tough or cold situations I guess. Warming it up near your body, and keeping your hands warm we still never got it to spark. It works now that its back at room temperature though. =(

This sparker is super light weight and stays on my keychain ( you need a very small split ring though) it will light: white gas, alcohol, and propane stoves and Bunsen burners!

It is small and light, but the spring clip is useless. It is amazing the designers did not design a better clip. The sparker works well, but the sparks only fly about half an inch from the flint. Since the sparks can be made with one hand, your tinder can be held in the other hand. This makes it easy to position char cloth or a fire starter in an optimum position to catch a spark. I am able to light my MSR Dragonfly stove with this sparker, but a fire steel that throws the spark farther is better for lighting white gas stoves.

Cool item for the survival type