I'm no expert in firestarting, having had little practice under terribly adverse conditions. But I do try to practice - albeit on nice sunny days usually - whenever I can. I carry a couple of different firestarting methods when I go hiking. A Bic mini-lighter, waterproof matches, a Boy Scout HotSpark, a fresnel lens, trick birthday candles, ranger bands, and vasoline/cotton tinder in my pocket kit. I then carry all this stuff redundantly in a kit in my daypack as well, except the HotSpark is replaced with a large Swedish Firesteel and I have an additional larger candle and many more matches. Also a large knife for carving wood down to it's drier innards for tinder/kindling. If I had to pick one and only one firestarter, it would be the large firesteel for it's all-weather versatility and robustness. For speed under good conditions? I'd light a few of those ranger bands with the Bic! (Similarly, for signalling I could pull out the StarFlash mirror and the Fox40 whistle, but first nod would go to calling 911 on the cellphone and relaying my exact coordinates off the GPS!)