SL3-OD Military Edition Fire Starter and Tinder Quik

My friend and I are trying to become better by practicing fire starting with emergency fire starting tools in bad weather conditions. We were in his backyard in Michigan next to the woods. 5F currently and it was 40F and sunny the day before, so it was a mix of wet and snow. We were not in danger at any point in time, we could have walked back to his house within 5 minutes.As my main kit: I had an emergency stove with alcohol pads, and a ferro rod and this Spark-Lite kit.I know you should pack a BIC lighter, but we intentionally set ourselves outside in a 5F degree weather and try to start a fire without it; BICs do not reliably work under freezing temperatures unless you keep them near your body heat so gas flows normally. We did not use a BIC on purpose.We tried hard to collect kindling and find something in the woods to start the fire (there was no birch bark available and at there was at least a foot of snow on the ground so downed trees were not easy to find) we tried different methods to start the fire.We tried several woods (oaks, pine) with the backspine of our knives to shave off some of it and use it to start the fire. We striked our ferro rods at least 100 times on many of the different options with no luck. The trees were either still green or wet with snow.The Spark-Lite kit with the cotton and spark tool started the fire in one strike. Put it below our kindling and fire worked wonders, we had the fire run for a couple hours no problem. We learned we need to practice more with the ferro rods and different kindlings. But if youMy friend purchased one next day as part of the emergency kit.

First, this item came almost a week earlier than estimated, packed nicely and securely, along with a 15% coupon towards my next purchase! Great little fire starter kit for your pocket, tiny survival kit or as a addition to your larger fire starting kit in your backpack! Handles great, fits my small hands perfectly and everytime I used it, big sparks erupted! I even like the tiny case in which the spark lite and the 8 pieces of tinder quik came in. The only problem was of my own doing, I ordered by mistake the green military version, when I really wanted the bright orange in case I dropped it by mistake...because this is TINY!! Handy, portable, what more would you need? Very happy with this item, definately planning on buying more for other members of my family, and also to place in each of my cars. Someone with larger hands might have some difficulty holding it...but it suits my needs to a tee!

Had one of these when I was in the service (it was made of brass). Just tested this on a vaseline covered cotton ball. One time and the cotton ball was lit. This little gadget works, it works well, and it's something every serious prepper ought to have.

So, I bought this because I was working on a project where I wanted to make the smallest most compact survival kit. Long story short, I ordered one of these to try out. Out.Stand.Ing. The striker is so tiny and light, and shoots out a shower of sparks every time. The tinderquick boggles my mind. I read it could be lit wet, just shake it out and fray the edges. I figured that was a best case scenario. I left a couple in a glass of water overnight, with the striker. The striker took a few pulls to spark, but everything lit. It did fail when I soaked them in water and then froze them. (Don't judge, I do mountaineering and was curious to see if it would still work in those conditions.). But I already have several, but I am ordering more so I can toss one in every pack and jacket I own. I agree with another reviewer, that the case is flimsy. But here is what I do (from my compact survival kit experiment):-Take an old bicycle inner tube. (if you don't bike, buy a bike and ride until you have a ruined inner tube).-Cut a six inch section.-Take some vulcanizing cement (for repairing rubber) and seal one end.-Stuff the tinderquick and striker in there.-Seal the other end. Trim as needed.The great thing is- this set up is waterproof, tiny, lightweight, and you can use the tinderquick to light the rubber. Toxic as all get out, but if you are trying to burn wet wood, this gives you a bit more heat and time.Oh, and a 8 pack of tinder quick on Amazon is (as of this writing) about half the cost of this kit. Just order this. These are like chainsaws, you can't have too many.

Love the size and weight.Takes practice. Small sparks from wheel. Hold fire starter next to spark wheel.

Exactly as advertised!

I’m usually hesitant to buy anything military issued because the majority of stuff I got was junk but I thought I’d give it a try. It only took one strike to make it catch. Stayed burning for a good 30 seconds or more afterwards too! I highly recommend these, I’ll be snagging one for every bugout bag

This is really amazing little kit weighs almost nothing starts in amazing flame and is super small. I have a pent much more on other kits that don’t work nearly as well and are much heavier and bulkier. No need for a ferro rod now. truly exceptional probably all U need but always good to have a lighter as well.