Vargo Titanium Flint Lighter - Compact and Durable Alcohol or Butane Stove Fire Starter

This sparker is super light weight and stays on my keychain ( you need a very small split ring though) it will light: white gas, alcohol, and propane stoves and Bunsen burners!

The best attributes of this flint are its size, weight, and reliability. If you want a sparking tool to ignite your pressurized fuel stove - whether it's white gas (e.g. whisperlite) or isopropanol (e.g. pocket rocket) stove - this can't be beat. That goes double if you like to keep your stove-starter and last-ditch fire starter on your person at all times as I do to prevent rummaging around for it when you're cold, tired, and hungry. It is much less intrusive dangling from a lanyard or belt loop than many other options, but in truth the spark from an empty $0.99 Bic lighter is nearly as good and usable, especially if you remove the thumb-confounding spring collar from the Bic's striker wheel. Plus, a full Bic - kept dry - outperforms this lighter in several other situations. To wit: It's less effective for alcohol stoves (e.g. cat food can) due to lower spark volume, heat, duration, and throw distance compared to the "Swedish Firesteel" type magnesium-infused rods that have separate steel strikers, but advantages are that it is much smaller and can be operated one-handed. You can get better results in warmer conditions, though. Here, a Bic is superior too. It's useless for Solid fuel stoves (e.g. Esbit tablets) or starting a campfire unless you also use some very good tinder or a volatile such as hand sanitizer. If you do use tinder, something like WetFire or the cotton/wax mixtures work well to catch itself we spark. Again a Bic is superior, with or without tinder. Without tinder you may tire or burn your thumb holding the flame, but it will definitely light and with tinder it is much easier. All in all, I like the portability and simplicity, but if I'm being practical a flint-and-steel combo is more reliable if you don't mind the marginal increase in bulk/jangliness and a plain old Bic is more versatile if you keep it dry. I carry this with some WetFire and the combination is my go-to unless I'm trail-weary in which case the Bic feels like the sensible, doesn't-have-to-be-such-an-ordeal option.

Small size and worthless clip make this lighter tricky to use, with cold hands this would be worthless. On the other hand it does work well once you get the hang of manipulation / finger dexterity but with cold hands / fingers I don’t see this device working for me due to the small diameter / width. I Have no problems starting my Trangia burner with this Flint Lighter after some experimentation on the hold and how to direct the spark. If this device was 1/2 longer and without the worthless clip IMHO this would be worth the cost. The clip actually digs into your fingers and makes the use somewhat uncomfortable. I try to understand any device I take in the field because there are no do overs when I am 30 miles from nowhere. This Striker is not field serviceable I took the flint out to understand what it would take to service if this device stopped working and was my only fire starter, struggled to get it back together and required a bench vise for reassembly, no way can you reassemble this device in the outdoors. For the cost of this device the only thing positive is its Titanium

Its difficult to hold onto while sparking but the real issue is how difficult it is to replace the flint. They chose to use a screw to hold the striker wheel in and you have to take the tiny screw out and remove the striker wheel which will quickly launch your flint and spring if you dont catch it. Then to replace the flint you have to push the tiny thing into a small hole against a strong spring and while holding it in you have to get the striker wheel back into the slot without letting go of the flint or you will send your striker wheel and flint and spring flying everywhere. Then after you get the striker wheen slotted in one side you have to get the tiny little metal piece lined up and you have to make sure its facing the right way while holding everything together against the spring. Then you take the tiny little screw and thread it it. Its rather difficult to replace the flint while sitting at a table, it would be silly to try to do it anywhere outside. And its downright impossible if you dont have really good dexterity and strength in your fingers. All of this could be avoided if they just had a bottom screw and spring assembly like zippo figured out forever ago. I would not recommend this product and i would not buy it again. Especially not at the price they want for it. It does work at least but thats a rather low bar for technology as simple and old as a flint & striker wheel. I dont think you could make a worse design if you tried. A small bic with no fuel would be better and you could get a 20 pack with fuel for the same price as this striker and it would be worth it to save yourself the hassle of trying to replace the flint on this striker. Update: after using it for a while its actually really easy to hold as long as you dont try to hold it like a lighter. You hold it just under your index finger and to strike it you just bend/flex your index finger to roll the striker. And the sparks come out almost exactly where your pointing almost like your shooting sparks from your finger tip. Very simple and easy to operate as long as you dont treat it like a lighter it would be great if they didnt make it so awful to replace the flint. They could get rid of the clip and screw the flint in from the bottom like a zippo and probably make the whole thing shorter and even lighter and it would be worth the money. But right now idrc for it.

It works for my alcohol stove after a few try’s. The sparks could be better. It does fit is my small cooking kit well and I have not failed to get my stove started yet.

Would rather have a hole to run para-cord through over the stupid clip.

I like titaniums stuff so I bought one of these. I was hoping to replace my cheap lighter to start my camp stove. This lighter is cute but it has some short comings. First thing is the clip and handle design is hard to hold and uncomfortable to use. I don't expect I will ever clip it onto any of my gear. Second the sparks are basically the same as a bic lighter so not too large or far. I have been using this to light my gas stove at home. Most of the time I find that I almost burn my knuckles. So I think it would probably not work well to light my camp stove. I do like the lighter and will continue using it. I would recommend buying one but it would be best to keep on hand matches and other fire sources. The construction is great. I expect it to last for years. Also it does work when wet. Which is a nice feature. Vargo if your reading this please remove the clip and make the body easier to hold.

Cool item for the survival type