Lousy weather on a Saturday afternoon made me decide to test some gear that I had never tried. Good thing that I did, as now I know what works, or at least what works for me. Here's what I had out:

REI Storm Proof Matches (REI)
ProForce Wind & Waterproof (NATO) Matches (Brigade Quartermaster)
BlastMatch (had it forever, don't remember where I bought it)
Coughlan's Emergency Tinder (some department store)
Sparklite Firestarter kit (CountyComm)
Trioxane (Cheaper Than Dirt)
JetBoil (EMS)

My intention was to see how I could get a fire going the easiest and fastest way. I laid out the Coughlan's, the Sparklite tinder and the trioxane and tried lighting them all with each firestarting item.

Both types of matches worked great. It's quite true that you can only light them with the correct striker pad. I had the REI matches in my K&M case (real nice, BTW) with a striker. The ProForce have a striker on the top of the container. I will carry the REI ones only because they are twice as long and therefore will burn twice as long. I think I got every match to light on the second swipe.

The BlastMatch and the Sparklite caused me some problems. I never got anything to light with the Sparklite. The amount of spark coming off of it was minimal, and I rubbed two different fingers raw trying to use it. The Blastmatch woked best with the Trioxane, then the Sparklite tinder, then the Coughlan's. I don't think I got flame with less than 5 strikes. I'm guessing it's my technique because I've read great reviews on both products.

The Coughlan's was almost impossible to light except with the matches. Once it lit, it burned big and strong for quite a while. The Sparklite tinder lit very easy, but didn't have an excessive burn time. The trioxane lit easy and burned forever. I say burned, but that's deceiving. It gives off very little flame, but incredible heat. It was cool, damp and windy but as soon as I dropped a few wet pine needles on it, they flamed up immediately. Probably the best over all flame I got was putting a Coughlan's on top of a burning Trioxane.

Once this was done, I pulled out the JetBoil for it's innaugural run. As has been reported, the Piezo lighter is not very good. It lit only twice out of the four runs I gave it. However, the unit itself worked as advertised, 2 cups of water to a full boil in exactly 2 minutes. This is a keeper, even though I'll need to always have matches.

What did I learn from all of this? Exactly what everyone always says, have at least two forms of firestarter with you, and preferably two forms of tinder. I was very dissappointed in the Sparklite. I thought this was going to be a great compact kit. It isn't, at least not for me. The tinder is excellent though. I won't be buying any more Coughlan's as well. I may need to experiment with some home brew tinders. My primary gear will have the REI matches in the K&M case, SparkLite tinder and Trioxane. I will have the BlastMatch and the ProForce matches as backup. I need to get a Bic lighter as well.

At the risk of teaching granny how to suck eggs: are you sure you were holding the Sparklite the right way round? On the body near the head there's an arrow showing which way the wheel should turn. One way gives lots of sparks, the other hardly any, and if you don't know it's not obvious it will make a difference.

Heh, yep, and don't think that didn't cross my mind. I even checked the review here that has animated .gifs to make sure I was using it right. The sparks in that .gif were probably 3-5 times more than I was getting.

Remember those wax covered PJ saturated cotton balls I made? I just made a second generation of these things but I rolled the saturated cotton in magnisium filings before I covered them in wax, They burn for a shorter amount of time (about 3~1/2 minutes) but they burn hotter and wind does not effect them at all. You've gotta makes some of these little balls-o'-fire (BOF) ....Using them is easy, you just use pliers to open one and loosen the cotton so it's about the size of a quarter with the cotton exposed. With a plain-old flint and steel I've never had to strike more than three times to get flame that builds to 4-6" almost immediately.

BTW, you know those gag bithday candles that don't blow out? What's in those things and how come we don't all have some of these in our bags?

This issue has been sticking in my craw since yesterday, so I had to revisit it today. The problem seems to be with the Sparklite. I had bought two at the same time (hate to waste shipping) so I broke out the second one. It sparks about 3 times as much as the first. I got fire to the tinder on the second try. I also gave it a shot on some dryer lint. That worked just as well. The Coughlan's is still a no go, with both the Sparklite and the Blastmatch. It does have a great burn time if you can light it with something else, so I may keep a couple as backup.

Hi all.
First time poster long time lurker. I'm a fitter by trade started in the aircraft industry, moved to boat building side more recently. Hope i'll be able to contribute here.

You've already managed it, its magnesium in the wick. The liquid parafin of the candle protects the magnesium from the air but when the candle blows out the magnesium is ignited by the ember, now exposed to the air it burns reigniting the parafin. This principle should keep your PJ / cotton balls windproof.

The wick is actually a fuze, and I do <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Troy

I'd be interested in taking a look at your Spark-Lite. Will be happy to send a replacement.

Email me at dritter AHT equipped DAT org

Thanks for the offer Doug, but it's not your fault. I bought it from Countycomm, and the plastic case was cracked and broken when I got it. I had bought a couple of their "empty small green boxes" at the same time, so I just moved the contents and didn't think anything of it. It was only $6.50 and the tinder is still good. No biggie. I just glad I tested the second one without junking it.

Something isn't right with your Sparklite test. I have had excellent success with the sparklite in lighting a wide variety of materials. I have videos in a thread from about a year ago that demostrate this in detail. It might be helpful to take a look at them.

Not the point. I want to see what went wrong.

With regards to the coghlan's tinder, are you following the directions with regards to preparing it? The back of the packaging has instructions about the rather non-obvious method of use for the stuff.

You're supposed to squish it flat, rip it in two, push the two pieces back together side-by-side, and direct the sparks into the exposed fluffy bits, where you ripped it.

Alex

I tried a number of geometric shapes with it, including trying to light just the ripped threads.

I'm sorry but the Coughlan's Emergency Tinder is very easy to light with just about any ferro spark. Pull it in half and stick the halves back together with the fuzzy end up. Any hint of a spark will cause it to burst into flames and last for over five minutes.

I'm sorry but this sounds like operator error! My 11 year olds light this stuff all the time with a BSA Hot Spark. I've lit it with a SparkLite with no problem.

Has anyone else had problems lighting Coughlan's Emergency Tinder?

Thanks!

Quite possibly. Quite possibly it was the weather, or any of the mecahnical devices I was using (it lit fine with NATO matches). Nevertheless, it does not work for me, and that's really all that matters. It is no different than the $500 backpack argument that has been going on here. It may be the best product out there for 99% of the users, but if it doesn't work for me, through it's fault or mine, it is useless.

I too use magesium with my cotton balls. If any of you were wondering here is a web site to order from

http://www.unitednuclear.com/chem.htm

Here are two of their products

Magnesium Powder
Pure, fine granulated Magnesium powder. Grain size is around 100 mesh. Perfect for bright flashes in magic tricks and brilliant colored stars in fireworks. Keep dry, Magnesium powder degrades quickly if damp or wet.
2 ounces: $7.00
4 ounces: $14.00
8 ounces: $28.00
MSDS ( Material Safety Data Sheet )

and

Magnesium Shreds
( turnings, strips & powder )
Pure Magnesium Turnings, Short Ribbons, and a bit of Powder. Inexpensive grade of Magnesium, but perfect for making incredibly bright flares, stars, or just adding to a campfire for some great effects.
( 2 ounces is about a cupful ).
2 ounces: $2.00
4 ounces: $4.00
8 ounces: $8.00

Okay, not sure how I missed this part when I submitted my first reply. Oops! <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> In any event I love the Sparklight. I have often said, as have others, there is only one thing I would change about it if it was up to me. I would make it metal. Brass, Aluminum, Ti, whatever. Anything other than plastic. As it is though it is still a worthy piece of gear. I think its greatest advantage next to its easy one-handed use is that you can get the source of the spark right up on top of your tinder.