Meh, marketing. If you don't have room for a fire starter in your BOB, perhaps you ought to reconsider your priorities.
I guess it could be used in EDC kits, though.
I had a BlastMatch for a while. It seemed to be a bit large for justifying putting it in my BOB. I was using it one day and the rod just broke off from the housing. I didn't replace it.
That's strange, I was under the impression the rod was spring-loaded. Are you talking about Blast Match
or Strike Force?