Anyone else use one of these. Came across a German made brand in the discount supermarket Lidl's today in the UK. Cost was I think £1.99 or around $3.00 and also included a 100ml Gas Refill (a Propane/butane mix, which can be used for other lighter makes, instead of just the normal butane refill) so good value



Construction was quite sturdy and the Piezo ignited Turbo flame was also quite windproof. Not too heavy but obviously bulkier than a disposable lighter.

Art.-Nr. 52448 from www.cfh-gmbh.de

I might just stick with one of these for bushcraft fire lighting duty than the other awkward feeble lighters around. I will probable just put one in the same pouch for the Bacho Lapland pruning saw.

I have something similar, but it's does not have a torch-type flame but rather a soft flame.

It's the BERNZOMATIC BZLTR300R Premium Flexible Lighter. I found it at Lowes for under $15 on sale, if memory serves. It works well for most things, but it lacks wind-proofing like the one you've posted does.

That said, I mainly use it to light the grill so it works for it's intended use.

-Jason

We find lighters similar to these at Target and Costco -- the ones labelled "Windproof" use a jet of flame and indeed work well to light fires outdoors. I have one in my camping kit.

I have that bernzomatic one also, it's great. I also use it mostly for lighting my camp stove. It has a built-in LED light, not really sure that's necessary.

I'm concerned about the reliability of piezo ignition in dirty or wet conditions. Relative to flint, piezo is significantly less robust under bad conditions. I'm also not that sure that propane/butane blends actually work well in other lighters intended for pure butane. Does anyone know if the filler valve on the blend can will even mate properly with a butane lighter?

I usually have one or more of those kicking around. I use them for lighting the BBQ mostly (the piezoelectric starter hasn't worked for years). My biggest gripe with these is that I have found them to be largely unreliable - could be a manufacturer specific thing I guess, but I've got a generally low opinion of refillable butane lighters.

I can definitely see these being better at fire-lighting than a traditional lighter though. It would be way easier to get the flame where you need it but, as you said, the bulk would put me off including it in my backpacking gear (I'm pretty sure I have one in my kitchen stuff for car camping though). That said, I personally hate using lighters; I'll use a firesteel or match over a lighter every time I'm given the choice.

i had that same problem with the refillable lighters until i got a brand of refill butane that had a metal rather than a plastic nozzle.it was a bit spendy at a kitchen gizmo store and made to fill the mini torches that are used to brown the top of some sort of custard.
i bought a Colibri CX windproof lighter at a shop that was changing to gifts and cards from smoking gear,i got it half price,
anyway when it ran out i tried the cheaper refills with bad luck.
i was really put off that what was a high end outdoor lighter that was going into my canoeing gear turned out to be so-so.
the metal nozzle brand worked..i just tried it out a minute ago after it sat unused since the summer.