SparkForce Fire Starter with Durable Construction and Lanyard for Camping, Backpacking, Hiking, Emergency and Outdoor Survival, Orange, One Size (20-310-259)

Great backpacking camp stove (white gas or isobutane) starter. Good backup for a cheapo cigarette lighter- it ALWAYS works. Light and stands out visually. I've got a nice piezo lighter (no flint) but it is heavy (stainless steel Zippo body) and the "flints" in light cheap butane lighters turn to mush when rather damp or wet (been there, done that). This happens pretty often in the USA Pacific Northwest.

I bought this at Walmart also figuring what the hell 7 bucks I will give it a try. It is excellent. The whole thing weighs about 24 grams which is nothing. The striker is not crap and gets a great spark off the rod it comes with. It also gets a great spark off other bigger ferro rods I have which came with useless strikers. This thing is great just because it is so small and will ignite a dry plain cotton ball with one spark. You should carry some cotton balls with you for emergency situations. Come one how much do cotton balls weigh? Go to the gym more if you have to. A cotton ball is a guaranteed fire for 1 minute even without a little Vaseline. Just a small touch of Vaseline makes cotton balls burn hotter and longer (2 minutes). I tried the product on dry wadded grass at that also ignited immediately. BTW be careful of the cheap Chinese knock off strikers and magnesium bars. They don’t spark or ignite they are a complete waste of money. They are worse than useless because they can give you a false since of security. Always test a product at home before you really need it.

This is a decent fire starting device. It isn’t as durable as some others of the same style I’ve used in the last, but it isn’t flimsy either. I prefer a longer tool as it provides more area to create spark from. I always carry at least three methods of producing fire in my backpack when out in the backcountry, and this has been used a few times as I wanted to test it out. It worked as designed, but as I mentioned earlier, I prefer to have a longer area to strike to create spark. All in all, a good product.

Excellent emergency fire starter. These can be packed into a small kit. I fill the part of the cover that the ferro rod goes into with petroleum jelly to protect the rod from corrosion after scraping off the coating. Petroleum jelly is an air and moisture barrier. I also carry cotton balls with petroleum jelly as a fire extender. I’ve gone swimming in a lake with this ferro rod in my pocket with no problems. Very nice little product. I agree with another poster, for survival gear, don’t buy communist Chinese products.

The UST Spark Force Fire-starter is a good value and also a practical item to have in emergency situations. It does not weigh a lot but seems to be a solid product. The fire starter is also compact and does not take up a lot of room in your backpack. The orange color helps this important survival tool stand out in your pack so you can find it when needed. There are other similar, more expensive, fire starting tools but this one can spark it up with the big boys, and I imagin it will last me for many years. See my pics for packaging, size reference and other info. If you found this review helpful, please click the button below :)

This tool has good and bad aspects. I have bought one these ferro rod & striker combo's before. I bought this one to use on a neck chain. It is not only small enough but, main feature for me is it is self contained and sheltered by it's case from the corrosive effects of the salt in perspiration. Perspiration will cause a ferro rod to rust and become pitted. The two parts are solidly locked together and I use the lanyard to pull/ force them apart. Another plus is the highly visible orange color. Starting a fire at dusk or during difficult conditions it is pretty easy to mix dark colored equipment such as a ferro rod with the natural debris present. This can happen even in best conditions. This rod and striker individually are small and aukward to use. It is not a big spark generator making it necessary to get up close and personal with the tinder. The tinder must be well prepared with positioning of the ferro rod so not to strike your knuckle with each attempt. I'll try different technics but haven't found the best yet. Practice is a must with this set. The striker is pretty good and works better than most loose ones coming with ferro rods. There are some mm measurements on the inch or so of metal striker extending from the plastic housing/handle. I don't know why or if I will ever use them. The ferro rod itself in this set works pretty well. Some material can be scraped off the rod to help ignite tinder when sparks are struck. It takes more than normal force to generate sparks. That's where the knuckle busting comes in. I ordered another of these for my kit but, I couldn't generate sparks with this striker or the better bayite striker. Amazon is great about returns. There is a length of small orange lanyard with the set. It is not 550 or bank line. It is good for what it does. Sincerely hope this will help you in your decision making.

Amazon just doesn't have a high enough rating scale for this product! I bought this after watching a YouTube video, thanks Chris from preparedmind101, and thought it has a great shower of sparks. Could it be the fact he is just use to the product? When I received it and tested I barely had any sparks with the first strike. Then changed the angle of the striker on the ferro rod and thought it was the 4th of July and I lit a sparkler. I figured ok let's have my 13 year old daughter try it. She never tried any fire starters prior; other than a lighter for fireworks. She almost jumped out of her skin from the sparks. I laughed. You want something that works? Buy it. You want to waste your time and energy? Buy something else. Oh and as far as field use, I live in Pacific Northwest and started fires on two separate camping trips. One was when it happened to be raining.