At first I thought zippo lighters were terrible survival tools because they tend to run out of fuel fairly fast. But now after using one almost everyday I came to realize their versatility. A zippo lighter can be fueled with any flameable volatile liquid. And while in the wilderness when you do run out of liquid, you have the flint sparker; and if you keep extra flints unter the felt pad, your zippo can be used just like a flint striker to ignight some tinder. Also, if it came down to it, inside the zippo you have about five cotton balls of tinder that will easily ignight with a spark.
A zippo may not give off sparks as hot as the new firesteels, but a zippo has multiple uses, and another thing I love about them is the large flame it produces, giving it a great ability to illuminate things in the dark.
Yes, zippos downside is the fuel runs out fast, but before I carried just a flint rod attatched to a piece of pitchwood, so as long as someone has the skills to locate tinder in the wilderness that will catch sparks from flint, a zippo is a much better firestarter than others just because of its many uses. This is my thoughts on the zippo lighter, please feel free to share your comments, thanks. Elkman.