2XPLORE Ignite Glow Fire Steel Magnesium Fire Starter Flint Striker - Glow in the Dark Survival Tool Kit for Outdoor Camping Living Survival …

Really great product, ideal for camping trios or just having a fire in your back garden.

With a firm strike this rod produces a reasonable shower of sparks. I only use it to ignite the alcohol in a Trangia burner and can achieve this with only one or two strikes. When it arrives it is mounted on a loop of elasticated cord...I have untied the loop and arranged it so the rod is on one end and the striker on the other (see pics) This makes the striker much easier to use and also means I can coil the cord around the rod and tuck the striker under the first loop...so much neater and tidier for storage.Quite a bit of force is needed to produce a decent shower but it is easy enough, once you have the hang of it. The rod has a black coating that needs scraping off...it is only a five minute job. The green handle does emit a slight glow, enough to be able to locate it in darkness. The striker has a ruler engraved, up to 50mm, but I have no idea what use that would be in a fire lighting/camping/survival situation...it also has a bottle opener....now, I can see the validity of that, right enough! The bottle opener is also super-useful to tuck the cord into when coiled up for storage (see pics).There are bigger rods out there and many people say a survival knife makes a better striker, but for my purposes it is ideal and I recommend it, particularly for the price.

Takes practice to get going ....but works a treat!

First time I have used one. It is great. Works a charm. Great price

This is basic, magnesium fire starter. The Composite used for the stick part can be made to spark strongly by using a suitable iron/steel scraper. Unfortunately the scraper provided isn't very useable as it comes painted - so no steel to cause the spark until its been removed. It also has edges that aren't sharply squared off so, even when the paint has gone, it hard to find an edge that's sharp enough to give a good scrape and strong spark. If you persevere though it can be made to do the job. If you're going to use it in the wild you're best off using a different steel implement: the back of your knife say.

Never go out with out one

I bought this as an 'extra spare' for my bug out/survival pack. It fits perfectly in one of my knife sheath external pouches, which is a bonus for me. I've tested it and it works fine when a decent tinder is used, I.e. Cotton wool, but I struggled to get featherwood lit but did manage eventually.

Great product easy to use, just what I was looking for. Recommend.