What people tend to forget is that firesteel can also be used as a signaling device. Itīs a little bit like a strobe light because the sparks are visible from every angle unlike concentric beam of the flashlight. In addition it doesnīt need batteries. (I am not saying that itīs better than flashlight/strobe light etc. or whatever - just another signaling tool in your arsenal). In this case itīs good to have rather bigger firesteel - you get brighter, more visible sparks, it can be held more comfortably in your hand when signaling and it will not run out of sparks when signaling whole night.

You can also need to dry out some tinder by "bombing" it with shower of sparks before it catches the spark. Again the more (and the bigger) sparks your firesteel can produce the better.

So I think that bigger rods can be useful. But my EDC is rather small Pro Force firesteel which is attached to my Maxpedition keyper because something with larger rod would be too heavy for my pocket. However I donīt mind carrying big Strike Force in my backpack.

I think at the end of the day it boils down to your personal preference - whatever works for you is good. Many of us carry at least several fire starting solutions and various tinders so I guess we are quite prepared. It could be worse. I bet there are people that carry only several ordinary matches and think they can start a fire whatever the conditions.