GerberBear Grylls Fire Starter [31-000699]

Short and sweet. This product works just as it should. Its well made, and well put together. The lanyard cord you may wish to replace with something heavier if you feel the need, but I found the one it came with to work just fine. As for the little whistle that comes with it I could take it, or leave it. Its not that loud of a whistle and sounds a little " cheesy " That being said, the fire starter itself works just fine. I like the way the two pieces fit together when not in use and have a very good water resistant connection point. The striking rod and steel are small but more then enough to do the job. On my first attempt at using I placed a small cotton ball dipped in vasoline under some fine tinder and small dry sticks. Two short quick pulls with the fire starter threw a mass of sparks into the pile and in an instant I had fire. That quick, that simple. Just be sure your holding it CLOSE to your fuel source. Its not going to throw sparks from three feet away and start your fire.. Worked just fine. I think a lot of your success depends more on your pre job of setting up your fire fuel then on how big an area of sparks this thing will throw. If your not using something that will EASILY catch fire then obviously your going to have to work a lot harder at igniting it. So, as I said, product works just fine. Well built, compact and very light to carry.

Product is exactly as described. Scrape the membrane off the striking rod then watch out... tons of sparks. I used this product on a 55 mile/8-day backpacking trip in the Adirondacks. This worked excellent rain or shine; I was able to produce a shower of sparks in a down pour; moist wood took the sparks. I used the striking rod about 50 fires; enough sparks produced to start a fire with a single strike. Product is a multi tool with a decent 2-tone whistle, end cap has enough for 2 cotton balls, dipped in Vaseline. Has paracord about 12" long. Housing is sturdy composite material. Weights almost nothing. Has a small description of SOS, Y & N emergency signals on the exterior.Excellent product. Excellent price. Would buy it again.

This fire starting tool has so much going for it, and then just a couple of design features take a bit of that away. So you do not have to read through all the good, just to find the not so good let me put that out there first.The 'water proof' end cap that seals the storage compartment does not have a locking mechanism, there is an "O" ring that provides the water barrier as well as the snug fit to keep the cap in place, and if there is a weakness in the overall design of this product that is it (not the fact the storage compartment is all but useless). The method to secure this end cap in place really needs a better approach such as a quarter to half twist lock along with the "O" ring. I believe this is necessary to ensure it stays in place, primarily because if you are hanging it by the lanyard instead of storing it away in a pocket, pouch, or other containment device - as it bounces up and down it can pull the cap off, and if the lanyard is not tied off you could loose the entire thing as you hike about and never notice it falling away. I do not hike along trails, I climb up and down rugged terrain and with all the bumping about I am sure not going to notice an item that weighs in at a few ounces falling away.I do not subtract points for the storage compartment, as many have already stated it is very small. It comes with a cotton ball supplied, so they say. There is no way that is a full size cotton ball that I am used to, it is a ball, it is cotton, so they did not misrepresent that but is only the size of perhaps the finger nail on my little finger. I did not purchase this product for the storage compartment however, it is a nice touch but overall based on the size has no practical purpose. If you need tender to carry about with you I suggest using a length of jute twine, this, or paper can be wrapped around the fire rod and still allow the rod to fit it to the mating striking half of the device.Now for the good - it works, it is rugged, it is fairly compact, did I mention it works? The black coating around the fire rod will need to be scraped through initially, the first few strokes produce little to no sparks at all until that is done, after that it is quite the light show with just tons of sparks. Some have mentioned the device could be smaller and lighter - I disagree. It is perfect and with the ridges on one half, and finger depressions on the other it provides for a firm hold. You will never appreciate being able to start a fire quickly until you are soaked to the bone and shaking from cold. Having something you can hold onto in this condition makes this device a winner, a keeper, and for me a must have.The lanyard is paracord, a nice touch if you know the many uses it can have - the little survival booklet tells you none of that however, pity it was a perfect place to mention it for them. The length of the lanyard could definitely be longer, I have already adjusted a new longer one for my use, but again I did not purchase this product for the lanyard, it is a nice touch, and the holes for attaching one if you want to use it makes this a plus overall. Note: why use a lanyard to attach the two half's together? When your cold and shaking, it is dark, and the terrain is rough or downhill the last thing you want is to have the striker piece go flying out into space, a nice touch to keep this from happening.The attached whistle on the lanyard is, so so. It makes for a nice noise maker to keep from surprising bears, as you hike along, and after maybe an hour of yelling or calling out and losing your voice it is a handy thing to have, I give it points in the plus column, but if you are planning on using it as a signaling device I would suggest getting a different one, such as those sold for boating, as the loudness and range of this whistle is not robust - period.Would or will I purchase this device again if needed - YOU BETCHA, it fits in my hand, has some heft to it, and the ability to hold onto both pieces when using it is a must. I recommend this for the purpose to which it is intended, making sparks to start a fire. Carry better tender, replace the whistle, get a longer lanyard, but GET THIS for making sparks.

The media could not be loaded. Gerber 31-000699 Bear Grylls Survival Series Fire Starter:While at first I was hesitant about this because most "Bear Grylls" "survival" products tend to be overpriced to the name attached to it, I was singularly impressed with the product for the price. Running about $18 or so, it uses what I believe to be a composite phosphorus/flint type "flint" and a very sharp edged steel to shave off extremely high temperature embers that make firestarting very easy.I'm not sure why it is packed in a large case (waterproof? But why, its flint and steel?), but it has a great loop with toggle to attach anywhere, and as my video shows it works really well and much easier than similar but more expensive products. The embers tend to last somewhere between 0.25 and 1.2 seconds, and temperatures can be as high as 900 degrees (I own at home scientific equipment). Great buy, easy to light hay/other tinder and even paper (accidentally lit newspaper).