I think I talked about on here too about that one rod that was supposed to have an abundance of magnesium mixed in... it worked REALLY REALLY well, and had an AL base, and it was an "AIO" kind of thing, and could fit on a keychain, by far the best 'fire steel' I had used. I forget who made it or where I got it.. man I need to get these upon my site so I can reference them hahaha.


-Todd

Dude, I don't know what you paid for these but i hope you get your money back!

and I was gonna jump on one these when they became available...

Thanks for good and objective review falcon5000.

I like my UST Strike Force very much, one of my favourite piece of gear I own but unfortunately this looks too much like a toy. I don´t understand how company that have "Ultimate Survival" in their name can come up with almost a plastic toy. I like the concept a lot but like falcon5000 and others I wish they change it or do another version in the future (with important parts made from metal). When your hands are cold and you are tired you have no luxury to be carfeul not to break or jam the firestarting device.

Well I prefer Swedish firesteel on my keychain and Strike Force in my bag. Those solutions are not one-handed but are more powerful and straightforward for signaling. I would like to try out Blastmatch in the future too though. And maybe even the Sparky if they fix the issues.

Good idea and sign of an invention but I hope this is just a "beta version".

When people burn magnesium they burn it in mini-pieces / powder... I don't think you can light a stick of it on fire (with a small cold flame like a spark or match).
If you try get a video... haha
-Todd

Looking at the size of the thing, and it's "three strikes you're out" rule, I'd think that a simple Mini-Bic would be more robust and reliable - even given the butane lighters problems with water, cold, etc. I still think a simple Bic and a large firesteel is the best two-item survival combo to have. I also carry waterproof tinder, a fresnel lens, some waterproofed matches, a normal candle, and a few of those trick birthday candles as well. I am not overly concerned about the one-handed deal, but I do have two BlastMatches at home (which I usually do NOT carry hiking - maybe I should!)

Thank for the review!

I was going to pick one of these up, but I think I'll stick with my current fire steel for the time being.

While the sparky doesn't sound that great, on a different topic, I noticed in one of your pictures that you put stuff in what looks like the "waterproof wallet". I purchased one of these and took it on vacation. Three seperate tests swimming in the ocean with it and it leaked all three times. You would think that I would have learned from the first experience, but I tried to ensure it was fully sealed. It was, but both sides leaked. You may want to test yours for extended periods or put in through a wash cycle. Afterwords you may reconsider it as a waterproof container.

Do you mean Aurora Fire Starter by Solo Scientific? It is a fire starter with greatest amount of magnesium that is directly integrated into the rod. From the videos on the Internet it seems this is the most powerful sparker on the market. Does anyone own it? If so, can you share some experience with it? Thanks.

Good catch GoatMan with the waterproof wallet, I had got that when i had gotten the sparky to give me more room for the PSK and hadn't even got to test it for water yet. I have a vacuum sealer at the house and have been putting the contents of a lot of items in freezer bags cut to go in the space and pulling a vacuum on them to gain as much room in those pouches and add as a extra waterproof protection. Most everything in the kit can be submerged without concern for the bag but I will look at the bags design and have to make sure if I continue with it that water resistance will have to be ruled out. What did you end up going with, I'm trying for max space with min volume and using vacuum bags are helping a lot in squeezing more items in the little space that I have.

OK, here we go again...

Pure flint does not spark at all.
With a flint and steel, it is ONLY the steel that burns.
All of the firesteels have NO flint in them...
With a firesteel, it is ONLY the fero rod that burns.
It is made out of Mish-metal, which is a combination of several of the rare earth elements(which are rather interchangeable as they are all so close in molecular structure that they all behave almost identically).
Some do add magnesium to help.
They can be 'sparked' by ANY sharp, hard object. Broken glass works great, as does any of those carbide knife sharpeners. A REAL flint works great to 'spark' them with too!
What you may have heard about needing carbon steel to strike a flint with, does NOT apply to a firesteel, as it takes the place of the STEEL in a flint and steel set, not the flint. And the steel striker takes the place of the flint!
Mish-metal, aka firesteel, aka ferrocerium is a VERY soft metal and so can be cut by steel(and MANY other things). Steel is softer than flint and so can be cut by flint.
Mish-metal is VERY much softer than flint and and therefore be cut VERY easily by flint.

I know I get a little too perturbed about this, but knowing how these things work, makes them a LOT easer to use when thing are not going right, and you have to improvise.