A Firesteel $3.65, an Aluminium Match Case $2.60 and a Miniture Light Show Green AAA Laser. $11.52 (For a very compact night time Laser Signaler)



They all work, and I'm quite impressed with the AAA Laser Pen (the only downside is the battery would need to be stored outside of the Laser due to the power button design to stop inadvertent powering on.

The Firesteel is quite a nice design being slightly longer than a Swedish firesteel but with a slightly skinner plastic handle making it slightly easier to fit into a BCB mini mess tin for example. At the price I may just order a couple more.

The Match case has room for about 30 ordinary strike anywhere or 20-25 Lifeboat matches and striker with room to spare for a 3/4 inch height candle, button compass or tinder etc.

Interesting. I've been noticing firesteels for $5 or less under some of the lower-end brand names, and wondered if they were worth buying.

How robust does the O-ring look?

I always wonder with the super low cost versions.

someone needs to make a laser like that with a auto SOS function.
press one switch and it flashes a ...---... ...---... all nite long..even better a PLB for under $50!
something rough of the match holder would make it easy to open with cold hands wet hands.

You could use a ranger band, a piece of bicycle tube length about two inches long on the match case. Should provide more water proofness, and useful to grip when hands are cold or wet. Just roll it down when needed.

I forgot about Dealextreme.com, thanks for the post!

I just ordered these items:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.36157
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3734
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.27551

The Firesteel has the handle exactly how I want it. Before this thread, I was about to order some Firesteels from Firesteel.com, but they don't have the handles that I want. Generally, all the name brand Firesteels are too expensive for my taste. I have a Swedish Firesteel Army that someone bought for me at Amazon.com for $16. It works fine, but at that price, it makes me not want to buy another one.

The fake peanut lighter looks like a good alternative to the real thing from Countycomm.com. At 80% less and free shipping, I can't lose. If I'm satisfied, I'll order 4 more for less than the price of one real peanut lighter. If the real ones come down to $6 or so (unlikely), then I'll buy them.

The Countycomm Peanut lighters have a flat bottom so can tailstand. The DealExtream looks like it has a round bottom (Can someone verify?) so will roll. I'm not sure why this seems important to me but it does.

Here is a slightly smaller - flat bottomed key chain kettle.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.33430

What do you store in these? Tinder?

The fake peanut lighter in the link above has a round bottom. I don't care. Plus, I like the look of the round bottom for a necklace. Wait. Are we still talking about lighters?

Here is a slightly bigger lighter at DX with a flat bottom:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10079



I bought a few containers. I will be storing tinder, specifically cotton balls infused with Vaseline or Murray's Beeswax. In another container, I might store a peanut lighter to keep it organized with bike inner tube (waterproof tinder). I may use another container for storing matches, a flash drive or other small survival gear like fishing line. There are many uses.

Line it with something non-conductive and ground it- micro farady cage? Of course, what good is a flash drive if nothing can read it. *snickers*

Good point...I have an all plastic case similar to the metal one in the link. That'll do.

I wonder if the laser is legal in the US? I read the item description and unless I misunderstood it sounded like they couldn't ship to the USA?

Did DX charge a fee for international money exchange without asking you?

They charged me a small fee. If they're going to do stuff like that, then I'll give my business elsewhere. The whole point of using DX is too get stuff dirt cheap even though there's zero customer service, but the transactions have to be dirt cheap and honest.

The exchange rate on the invoice using PayPal for UK Sterling for the date I ordered the kit was $1.52 to the £1.00 but looking back at the exchange rate using XE.com for the same date was $1.56 to the £1.00. As always there will be someone creaming off the top of the transaction, but I was not charged for a International Money exchange by DX except for a $0.01 shipping charge. The $0.04 on the dollar more than compensates for basically free shipping especially on small difficult to get items in the UK such as 18650 cells for example.

At the end of the day a $4 Firesteel delivered to your door from China beats a trip into the town (you can easily pay $4 for just a car parking space for 2hrs) and paying $18 for an equivalent Swedish firesteel at the local outdoor store (although saying that I was there yesterday voting for which Monstrous Carbuncle at one of the local Universities the town will have to endure when they build it next the the RSS Discovery ).

Oh, yes, the deal was good, but I'm annoyed about a fee of $1.89 that was charged to my credit card outside of the original transaction. The fee showed up 4 days after the original purchase. The overall transaction was still less expensive than competitors, but that's not the point. The additional fee was abnormal and dishonest, frankly. A customer should be informed of such fees while they're about to buy. I did not find any mention of an exchange rate fee in the original transaction paperwork.

Agreed. That only happens once before I will stop doing business with a company. I'd also be very likely to dispute the charges in your shoes.

Was the credit card itemised entry for $1.89 actually charged by DX or by the credit card company for the currency exchange transaction?



Yes, I'm in complete agreement. If the $1.89 does not appear on the DX online statement then it looks like it was either the bank performing the currency transaction billing your credit card company or the credit card company itself.

Unaccounted for fees on credit cards are usually the credit card companies themselves trying to rake in a few more bucks.

OK, it does look like the credit card company (or other middleman) made the charge. Anyway, I'm still keeping DX on a short leash. Once I get the products in my hands, I'll probably be less annoyed.

By the way, I also ordered extra O-rings for the pill-shaped containers.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5694
The best size is either 25mm, 24mm, or 23mm. I'm starting with 25mm.

I confess I didn't pay that close of attention to see if I was billed extra fees. If I was I'd be annoyed but I'd probably still buy from them since the stuff if mega-cheap.

Regarding Phaedrus' question on legality of pen lasers: Perfectly legal, unless you happen to blind a pilot with one.

"Interfering with a flight crew is a federal crime, interfering with aviation. So, the FBI has looked into many of these laser incidents over the last several years. We've located some of them, arrested some and several have been prosecuted," Richard Kolko, FBI Supervisory Special Agent, said. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=7392021

Such devices are great for pointing out stars during astronomy events, and I call tell you from experience that a 5 mllliwatt laser is plenty bright: Reflection off a metal surface half a mile away is painful; shining it at the ground at your feet is flat-out dumb.

In a survival situation, a laser certainly is a useful tool. However, shining a laser into a cockpit could cause temporary blindness, which could create a whole new set of problems.

The firesteel I use the most is some no name one I picked up in local outdoor store, works just fine.



Better check your credit card company agreement (you know the pamphlet comes with the card that nobody reads), I bought a lot of times from DX and never charged anything extra.

If you like misch metal rods, this combination at Firesteel.com is a good deal:
Three of these rods (bulk discount)...
http://firesteel.com/products/FireSteel-Armageddon-with-Lanyard-Hole.html
Three of these strikers...
http://firesteel.com/products/FireSteel-Super-Scraper.html
Use your own cord to join everything.

Mischmetal ferro rods include magnesium and shoot sparks that stay ablaze longer. Rods from Goinggear.com and Firesteel.com rods are mischmetal. Light My Fire Swedish Firesteels NOT mischmetal, but many people think they're easier to spark and easier to aim (not my opinion). I doubt the rods from Dealextreme.com are mischmetal, but I could be wrong.

Anti-skid tape (adhesive on back-side, often for stair-tread use, available in different widths/colors/grits at Home Depot etc) ... two pieces cut to, say, 1/2-in. x capsule-circumference and attached to both halves of capsule would do the trick.

If you feel like spending a bit more money , get the glow-in-the-dark version.

Since they weren't cheap (but might be cheerful) I started a new thread with a potential survival item from Deal Extreme.

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=209571&#Post209571