not as reliable as a fire steel or a piece of flint or even bamboo.
Unlike Doug, I'll let you keep both arms, but I still say prove it.
And it by any measure more time and weight efficient. Bushcraft is great if you've got the time, but it is technology developed in an era when the average life span was under 40 years old. I'm stacking the deck- I'd have 52 aces if they'd let me bring my own.
Speaking as someone who has broken his left arm/wrist 6 times and his right 4, (I raced motocross and three-wheelers when I was a kid and fought a lot) I KNOW how hard it is to do even the most mundane tasks with one hand.
Run to the can and try unzipping, do your business and pack everything back up with your off hand only. (Stay Dry,and don't get caught in the zipper!)
Now you were in a comfy cozy environment. Would you want to try that after having walked in the cold all day? How about after taking an unplanned swim in a near frozen pond?
If the SparkLite can best the BlastMatch, USAF Mg bar, Fire Steel, Lifeboat matches and a Bic in the cold hands of my 12 year old daughter (then, now 13) ON THE FIRST TRY to ever light a survival fire I think the "technology" must be OK.
All I did was hand her the DR PSP and told her "Make Fire". I had to train her on the others.
Go figure, A girl of 12, was able to make a tinder bundle from having watched me, open a PSP and spark up a tinder-quick with no help. Might be the best thing going for that one armed bandit now, huh?
Yes, I do carry multiple fire starters. I carry SparkLite, Doan Mg block, REI Matches in a W/P container, Fire Steel, and since I like to stack the deck also I have a "Torch" lighter and my bad habit forces me to have a Bic. The BlastMatch has been relegated to the survival junk drawer. Yes the SparkLite is rarely used, because I save it for the express purpose of fire when I have issues with all the others. (Or break my arm again)
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