Those of you who have been here awhile might recall that, unlike some, I was never very thrilled with my Windmill lighter. It's lightweight, and windproof... but it's expensive, the gaskets don't seem to do anything (mine's been immersed twice, and I had to disassemble it and dry it both times, not trivial) and doesn't hold much fuel. Mine won't light the first time if I push the button too fast, it seems that it sparks before fuel has reached the sparker. The lid hinge seems sort of flimsy and wobbly when it's open.

I was reviewing the lighters on colibri.com, and had gotten interested in their "Seal" model, that's supposed to be waterproof to 3 atmospheres, has a metal latch to dog the lid down against a gasket, and has a compass in the base, a feature I like. I found one for about a third of list price on eBay and ordered it.

Well, it's a lot bigger and heavier than the Windmill, but I guess I could live with that. There's a big, thick gasket, but for some reason the latching mechanism on the lid barely puts any pressure on the gasket at all- I'm not confident that it would resist any immersion for long, despite the impressively solid hardware and heft- and extra motions necessary to open it, which would probably make it a bad choice for smokers that would be doing it several times a day.

The real bummer was the compass. It didn't work. It showed some slight tendency to point North, but anywhere within about 90 degrees to each side seemed to satisfy it just as well. So far, we have a heavy lighter who's main features are waterproofness and a compass. The waterproofness is doubtful, and the compass doesn't work at all. Not good.

I've sent the lighter back (the dealer seems to be vacillating on whether he's going to refund my money), but in the meantime I swung by a local Davidus Cigars store just to see if they had the same model. They had two of them... and the compasses were actually worse. They showed no inclination to point North at all, seeming perfectly happy with whatever direction they happened to be pointing in at the moment. One already had a small bubble. The dealer seemed to think it was silly to expect them to actually work- he kept saying "it's a lighter", as though that explained it. These were on sale for the list price of $70. I pointed out that for $70, you'd think the $2 compass would at least work.

I'm really surprised that it seems so difficult to find a solid, waterproof, windproof lighter, at any price. The compass would be a nice feature, and it's not exactly rocket science to bother to buy one wholesale that actually points North.

I tried [color:"red"] [/color] 3 [color:"black"] [/color] of these Seal lighters and found that all had non functional compass. I think the reason for this is that they are cheap compasses surrounded by ferrous metal. On on unit the compass was much more responsive after I popped it out of the base.

Chris

It never occurred to me that the metal surrounding the compass might be ferrous, and I didn't test it. I just assumed that no manufacturer would be so stupid....

Oh, well. Maybe this one works:

http://www.elighters.com/1051.html

Let us know. I would still like to get one.


Chris

I too have had similar problems with 'waterproof' lighters. The Solos Storm ones I have are definitely not waterproof despite the rubber gasket o-ring. The latch just doesn't come done snug enough.

Anyways, I have decided to forgo the ability of lighters to survive a dunking and be waterproof. I just pack a few bics in a ziploc or rely on the trusty old spark lite or ranger rick type fire starters.

And also save the money to buy a $2 compass as well.. ...
<img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I've recently been testing the Solo Storm lighter. Not perfect, but so far not bad. But then, I've had pretty good luck with the Windmills. <shrug> Nonbe of them are really waterproof or submersible; I'm coming to beleive that water-resistant is the best you can expect.

http://www.getlit.com

What about the simple, 89 cent Bic lighters? I've left them in my pocket during a wash cycle, took them out afterwards and they work just fine. I don't know if that constitutes as "waterproof" but being in a washing machine for 25 minutes had to give it a good soaking.

I have also swam with a Bic in my pocket. After about 15 minutes of drying, it worked like a charm. I think I'm going to do a test tomorrow, just to see what happens. I'll put a Bic in two feet of water for about an hour, then see if it lights up. And, of course, I'll post the results here afterwards.

John McIntire

how about pernament matches, they are cheap, smaller, waterproof. a little harder to lite though...

Hi all and compliments of the season. I have a Windmill Delta Stormproof lighter and that it is. Works perfectly everytime. I am very happy with mine so far and I have had it for over a year now. I love lighters and have several in my different kits and include trench lighters, pocket torchers, Zippos, Bics etc etc. I still love my Windmill Delta. <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

John,

My opinion is that having to dry a piece of survival gear off before being able to use it is a deficiency that I'd just as soon not care to deal with. In some circumstances that might be extremely difficult to even accomplish. And, 15 minutes, to use your example, can be a very long time when you are wet. freezing and running out of energy and time. There's also the issue of the flame intensity and wind resistance.

By the same token, some simple vacuum packaging, shrink wrap or other means can waterproof almost any piece of equipment. There are ideals or ultimate performance in the most difficult of environments that we strive to meet with our gear and there's the reality of what we can find/afford or otherwise make do with. Many throw a few BIC style lighters in their kits and on their person simply because 95% of the time they are adequate for the job and at the price, why not? That's not really the issue in this instance.