Anyone know of a small, mini-bic size, lighter to carry on a keyring?

Here are a few links that might be what your looking for.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.absolutecigars.com/images/Accessories/9788_Lighter.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.absolutecigars.com/shop/search.cgi%3Fcategory%3Dlighter%26catname%3DLIGHTERS&h=191&w=242&sz=47&hl=en&start=37&um=1&tbnid=j2HS0Slk9PaDIM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=110&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkeyring%2Blighter%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN


http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wildcatcommerce.com/productimages/medium/26/stormlighters.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.onelifeoutfitter.com/catalog.php%3Ftype%3Dproduct%26id%3D948&h=150&w=150&sz=5&hl=en&start=110&um=1&tbnid=PAJDM6XuNLLtbM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkeyring%2Blighter%26start%3D100%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

Or these guys have a good Idea.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://podbelt.com/img/lighter-clr.jpg&imgrefurl=http://podbelt.com/buypod.html&h=477&w=687&sz=60&hl=en&start=147&um=1&tbnid=PanfVPmqEPEIpM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=139&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkeyring%2Blighter%26start%3D140%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

Or there are a lot of bic lighter cases either leather or plastic on Ebay that have keyrings attached.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190168005834&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:Watchlink:middle:us

Not a pre-fueled lighter, but key ring sized:


Peanut Lighter

Stainless Steel Lighter


Nice that it can be used as sparking device if fuel is not available.

Pete

That last link is a great idea!!!!!

THANKS!

How about the BIC C2 Metal Cases for the actual BIC Mini lighter? There is a keyring hole in the top cover. Can’t get more BIC Mini sized than a BIC Mini!

(These were posted on the forum here previously, and I’d give credit if I could remember who posted it.)

This is an ignition style lighter that can be hung from a keyring (and has a clip):

Brunton Firestorm

Could be a higher-end option?

Countycomm.com (?) had the best price for the "spy capsule" size fuel lighters.

Bmo

Thanks for that link, I just ordered myself one

A Brunton Fuel Adapter is pretty useful as well,

http://www.leathermanstore.com/brunton93.html

I've been goofing around today, and came up with a keyring "modification" to a mini-bic, that might work.

Will post pictures this evening.

I have 3 of those peanut lighters. They are really small, so is the flame. They work fine with warm dry hands, but they are really slippery with sweaty/wet hands, the alluminium outside will make it really cold to handle in the cold and due to it's small size, it's probably very hard to use with numb fingers.

Nice as a gadget, but as a proper survival item, get a proper light.

Countycomm.com had a good price on the spy capsule style of lighter.

I'm not a fan of putting too much extra on my keychain. I prefer to keep items loose in my pocket. With that in mind, I have EDC'ed a Redilite lighter and have recently swapped it out in favor of this butane model I got at Fry's.

Both are easy to use with the Redilite having the added bonus of retaining flint/wheel in case fuel is gone.

Piezo-start lighter and Redilite are 2nd and 3rd down respectively.

Observation re: the "peanut lighter" Pete mentions.

My only complaint about the good old Zippo liquid fuel lighter is that IMHO little can be done to prevent rather rapid evaporation of fuel in storage. I bought 5 peanut lighters from Countrycom, filled them, closed them tightly, and periodically tested them.

I'm confident that much, even MOST, of the fuel remained after 5 months. In fact I'm confident enough that I replaced the sparklight with the peanut in all my PSP kits. Even w/o fuel the spark will start a tinderquick or cotton-vaseline ball. I'm sold. And for $5.00.

OK, here's what I tried with a Bic-Mini, this is an old one that is about empty, if it holds up OK after awhile, I will redo it with a bright orange or yellow Bic.

I used an ice pick to gently expand and round the vent ports in the metal shroud, to accept and allow a small split ring to fit.

The lighter still works just fine, the trial run will be to see how well the metal shroud is attached to the lighter after pocket carry over time.





The rest of the gear is a Photon light, spare car key and a Bison Capsule with $20.00 and a small paper with pre-paid phone card info' in case my cell is lost/stolen/damaged etc....

And a Victorinox Super Tinker rehandled with StayGlow scales.

I've been carrying a mini bic this exact same way for about a year with no problems. I used an even smaller ring from a cheap whistle and didn't have to widen the holes.

Firebyrd from spyderco - carry a lighter and an extra blade (I doubt it's much of a blade by the standards of this forum, but still an extra sharp thing)

Thanks, good to hear, hopefully this will work then!

Shadow,

Cool! You will have to let us know how it works out.

Thanks everyone. I've been looking for one too and really appreciate the suggestions!

So, that peanut lighter looks like it would be a cool addition to my survival necklace. Does anyone have experience with it? The chief complaint I've heard about mini lighters is that they're hard to use with cold wet hands.

How about any of the lighter options listed? Does anyone have any experience with any of them?

I'd have thought the 'cold wet hands' thing applies to almost all the smaller options, including the sparklite and conventional firesteel? Operating any small device is going to be fiddly in difficult conditions, but the alternative is to go to something bigger, which then might not edc so well.

If I had my choice with cold wet hands I'd take the firesteel. It may take a bit more work to get something to burn but it's very easy to use and does not require a lot of dexterity.

Yeah, you're probably right, but I'm thinking tha some products will be better than others.

Others, please chime in here, especially if you've actually used any of the products.

Good feedback; thanks.

Hi,

It is no good for keyring or necklace carry but to solve the "cold, wet hands" problem I carry a couple fusee's (road flares) in my truck, snowmobile and ATV. Easy to spark up even with gloves on and will light just about a anything, good signaling device also.

To increase the potential of lighting a fire with cold, wet hands the use of accelerants helps a lot but you have to be very careful (eg BOOM). My partner at work carries a small bottle of gasline anti-freeze in his floater snowmobile suit pocket for just this reason.

Mike

Certainly I'd rather have a big honking lighter. But I have no trouble using the peanut lighter with "cold wet hands." Actually, one hand. I have no trouble opening and using it with only one hand.

OK, so you've tried one of them? (the peanut lighter?) And it works reasonably well? That is good news.

I like it that the peanut lighter if fully enclosed in what looks like a water tight container. If one goes for a "swim" in the backcountry and all of one's clothes are sopping wet, that's when I'm going to need my lighter the most.

Does anyone know if the peanut lighter is refillable? I didn't see anything either way on the countycomm.comm site.

The peanut lighter is refillable. Its a simple liquid fueled lighter and you can use lighter fluid such as the zippo brand. The lighter is pretty reliable to use inside but I really wouldn't rely on it in difficult weather circumstances. The Brunton Firestorm lighter, although larger and much more expensive will still ignite in very wet and windy weather. It is also waterproof.

DR has a quick review at http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=20

The Brunton is perhaps the most reliable lighter I've ever used together with the Brunton Helios Lighter.



Windmill Delta Shockproof Lighters are excellent also.

Cool; good info, thanks.

I have a Windmill; it's been pretty good although I don't like that there's no protection for the injection port.

I've heard that the piezo ignition doesn't work well at altitude.
Anyone got the skinny on this?

Unless it's something to do with the science of the piezo itself, the spark should be easier to produce at altitude. The breakdown voltage of air goes down as altitude increases and air pressure drops (this is why some aircraft have been manufactured with pressurized magnetos since the 30's).

Lighters that aren't adjustable can have trouble at altitude because there is too much fuel and not enough air in the mix.

I'm kind of now wondering if the person who told me this knew what she was talking about. It didn't make sense to me at the time, particularly since the Windmill is definitely adjustable.

Also, the highly popular Jet Boil stove (as well as many other brands of stoves) uses piezo electric ignition. If these piezo ignitions weren't reliable at altitude, why in the world would anyone put them is stoves used by backpackers, climbers, and mountaineers?

I guess, as they say, that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Next time I'm up above 8,000' or better still 10,000', I'm going to have to fire my Windmill up and see how she does.

Hmm, something to think about.
Hacksaw is right about the breakdown voltage - simple physics. But that could lead to early discharge of the spark energy somewhere far away from the regular ignition spot (probably inside of the piezo module?). I do had ignition problem with my favorite piezo-turbo lighter at high altitude. No matter how the gas pressure wheel was set - just no spark over the jet opening... But I thought that's because of a high humidity in that place...

I don't trust lighters you have to add liquid fuel to. I had a zippo that would completely evaporate after a couple of days. Yes, the lid was closed.

I have a peanut lighter. My main problem with it was the o-ring. It's too easy to lose it.

I haven't gassed up my Windmill since I bought it, and it seems to have very little (if any) fuel leakage.

I'm going to definitely fire my lighter up next time I'm at 10K+ -- which may be a while since all four Nat'l Forests and the one high State Park are all closed due to fire danger right now. I'll post results when and if I get some.

How's about a drop of glue or something sticky?