UST Sparkie Fire Starter

Fair enough

Fell apart at first use ( by a child!), incredibly poor quality.

My Sparkie is the fire steel that my Cubs and other children have got on best with. As the striker is built in to the handle you always get sparks as they can apply enough pressure. It is best to get them to push against a hard surface but you can use a finger on the end instead - the only problem I have with this is I managed to burn myself when doing so once with the larger BlastMatch.The BlastMatch does produce more sparks that seem to be hotter but I actually think that makes this one slightly safer for children to use. It is also sized better for their hands as the BlastMatch is really large I'd certainly only buy a UST original as my knockoff BlastMatch isn't a patch on the proper one. (Harder to use and produces less sparks.)All in all I'm really impressed with this product and highly recommend it. Especially for use with children. It is far easier for them to apply the required pressure and to get sparks. Too often with separate ones they hold the striker and a sub optimal angle.

Useless stick with strike force or light my fire army

Ein super kleines teil, macht zuverlässig seinen Dienst bei mir! Kann bis jetzt nichts negatives sagen. Sollte ich noch mal einen brauchen würde ich ihn mir wieder kaufen.

This is an excellent fire starter. Very easy to use, and produces sparks that easily ignite anything that is a viable fuel, such as cotton balls, tampons, or dry brush. It also very easily lit commercial fuel such as compressed Trioxane.I used it to light the various fuels listed above, and it lit all of them easily. It is super easy to use, anyone could use it. It has not malfunctioned once after over a hundred used.It is very compact, and small enough to fit in any survival or camping kit, yet has enough power to create a fire with ease. It is truly the best of both worlds.This is an amazing fire starter that you should just have to have. It is inexpensive, but for what it does it can be invaluable. I personally have one in my emergency supplies bag, and will be getting another one for my camping kit. It is so easy to use, you just push where it says push, and depress the rod and instant shower of sparks. I would get this if you are here for your first one.

It is impressive, sparks come out readily. The latch machanism holding the rod inside the housing won't stand a slight impact, when I carry it around my neck, it comes out everytime when it swings to hit any solid object. Keep it in your pocket would be fine.

Hallo ich finde den Firesteel gut er ist anfangs etwas schwierig in der Handhabung aber letztlich reine Übungssache deshalb nehme ich lieber meinen herkömmlichen zum Feuer machen ist aber übungssache

This item should come with better instructions. I bought this for our 11 year old daughter, as she was having trouble getting sparks from traditional magnesium or ferro rods, due to her small hands, as a lot of friction is usually necessary. I started to return this, as it wasn't working but about 1 out of 10 strikes. Then, we discovered what the directions don't tell you.... What they do tell you is to strike it a few times to remove the black coating. Easy. They tell you to hold at at 70-90 degree angle. Easy. They tell you to squeeze the pieces together. Pretty easy. But it still doesn't work but 1 out of 10 times. What they don't tell you is that you cannot get the proper leverage by testing it in the air at arm level, nor on a counter top nor even a chair type height from the ground. It has to be used at or very near the ground. Only then do you get the proper leverage by bending over it, holding it with a straight arm and "punching" onto the ground and your tinder, which creates a lot of sparks and starts most tinders. Our daughter loves it now and finds it easy to use. A little bit better directions would have been helpful. It also wear down faster than most ferro rods, IMO, so hence the 4 stars and not 5, but you'll still get over 100 uses.