FWIW all this discussion of the TAD finally pushed me into ordering one last nite! I got an email that it shipped today.

My Survival Spark showed up today! Overall it's a nice little piece of gear, very solidly constructed. And it's very very compact- tiny even. However, I do find it a little to small to use comfortably, and being totally round it's difficult to keep it from rotating or shifting in the hand in use. I prefer the Spark-Lite and find it easier to use. I suppose now I'll end up getting the aluminum version, too.

But don't get me wrong, I do like the Survival Spark. I look forward to getting out in the woods and trying it out.

Thank you for the comparison, good points I had not considered.

If you have good pre-made tinder, it seems like the Survival Spark (or Spark-Lite) is nearly full proof.

Spark-Lite isn't entirely reliable. For example mine did not perform well at all. I would not bet my life on this piece of gear. I have nothing against it, it's just a warning. After all it's a *survival* gear, not a toy, and has to deliver when your life might depend on it.

Mine has never failed to spark. Of course, I haven't had it that long, either. It's easier to use and more ergonomic than the TAD product but maybe not as well built. I don't want to blow it out of proportion- in a survival situation, the fact that the handle isn't comfy won't bother me so long as the TAD strikes my tinder! I still want to try the aluminum Spark-Lite, though.

In case it doesn't go without saying, let me say I don't plan on either one being my only fire lighting tool. I plan to keep them to back me up if I lose my firesteel, lighter and/or matches.

BTW, you can check the date of my other post and see that TAD ships pretty quickly! I was surpised to get it so fast.

I've had the plastic version for couple of years and just recently bought the aluminum version too. I'm a fan.

That said, for your intended cold weather purposes, consider too that the Sparklite is small and isn't the easiest thing to grip and use one-handed in any weather, especially if you've got good-sized hands. Gloved or cold hands would make even more challenging.

The Zippo Emergency Fire Starter Kit is a similar concept and a bargain, relatively speaking.

http://www.zippocasemuseum.com//index.as...=productdetails
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye3x87M82ec

If I had seen this product earlier, this thread's topic would have been this.

At $20 the Zippo Emergency Fire Starter Kit is no bargain. Just get a old cleaned out boot polish tin and fill with cotton balls and drizzle with white gas and then close up. You get wrap some old butyl inner tube around the lid to double seal the tin. It also provides additional tinder. The cost is virtually nothing and will easily out perform this product.

A single cotton ball removed from the tin will take a single spark even from an old fashioned traditional flint and steel and you will get a 2 foot high flame for about 1 minute.

BTW the Zippo Blu mentioned in this video is probably the most ineffectual piece of supposed survival gear out there. It's a terrible lighter.

OK... I own about 15 firesteels because they're my favorite fire starters, but there are other threads for discussing those. Back to this thread...

These are similar products:
http://www.zippocasemuseum.com//index.as...=productdetails
http://www.tripleaughtdesign.com/Equipment/Tools/Survival-Spark

The Zippo is essentially the Survival Spark plus waterproof housing and compartment for tinder. Also, there are deals out there for less than $20. For someone who wants a metal flint sparker, this Zippo looks pretty good.

I have just spent the last 5 minutes trying to get a waxed cotton ball to light with the zippo sparker (from a Zippo blu). It eventually lit but this was in highly controlled conditions and it gave me a sore thumb.

I would give these gizmos a wide body swerve and stick to the $3 Firesteel from DX. It lit another waxed cotton ball first time around. These sparky devices need highly volatile tinder to get going such as the white gas cotton balls or bicycle rubber cement. Even then it has trouble igniting a jet of butane gas about 5-6 mm away. Also the flints internal to these sparkies had a very limit number of strikes, although you can carry around a set of Zippo flints if required.