Favorite lighters?

mini bic, with “safety” spring removed.

Bic  +1

Electronic lighters have no place outdoors. Some don’t work at altitude. All are gimmicks.

A fire steel will always light your stove, even wet.

Mini Bic

For a canister stove, all you need is a spark.

An empty mini-Bic is the UL answer.

For most alcohol stoves (non-pressurized) a firesteel works best IME.

mini bic

Full sized Bic FTW!

BIC. They proved their worth for backpackers decades ago. No need to waste time thinking about alternatives.

In Summer, Mini-Bic with the child-proof arc filed or pried off from over the sparker wheel. 3 pack for $2.21. Take bright colors. Leave dull colors at home. And one more in your repair or first-aid kit.  Because it is one of the few things worth the redundancy.

In Winter, two full-sized Bics, child-proofing defeated. Because the bigger lighter is easier to hold and work with gloves and if you’re lighting frozen twigs or warming a butane canister, it’s nice to have a few more grams of fuel in it.

I see some off-brands for half the price, but haven’t bothered to try any. $2 of Bic lighters lasts me a few years.

Bics work great.  If you just have to be different, I’ve had great success with Djeep brand as well.  I had several refillable butane lighters back when I was a smoker, and quickly learned to distrust them. None would light as often, or as reliably, as a good disposable.  Zippos are super-reliable, but the fluid seems to evaporate in a couple days whether you use them or not.  Plus, they’re heavy.

Walt

Bics are good after pulling the child-proof spring, Mini-Bics are better (lighter.)

Bic Clics are best for me:

http://tinyurl.com/MiniBicElectronic

The electronic (piezo) ignition is much easier to light than the wheel-flint version, especially when my hands are cold. Wet? Blow out the water, it still lights.

Hard to find locally, I wound up paying way to much on Amazon after shipping.

— Rex

Rex,

Have you ever had trouble using the Clic at altitude? There’s a discussion of piezo ignition, and the Big electric (same thing as Clic?) at altitude.

Jim,

I haven’t used the Clic about above ~3,000 feet yet. The thread you linked to seems to indicate no problems at higher altitudes.

— Rex

A blast from the past-

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/62669/page/2/#post-1866033

always have a standard Bic in my pocket with an Exotac polystriker in my cook kit as a back up

I have used the mini electric flawlessly up to around 10,000 feet. It doesn’t work above 12,000. I haven’t done testing to see what altitude it starts to fail.

Here’s a meal I cooked at 9,500 feet with the mini-electric…

Mini bic, too small. Regular bic, too big. I like the mid sized lighters you can find at 7-11.

I have a smaller version Zippo that I still carry, in addition to a Bic. I haven’t smoked in close to a decade, but I still associate the opening click of a Zippo with relaxation. Also, it’s is in my pocket, so the weight doesn’t count. If I were ever able to get out for longer than a Zippo will hold fluid, I’d probably have to carry two Bics instead.

“Also, it’s is in my pocket, so the weight doesn’t count.”

How long you have been here?

I laughed at that too.  FSO baby

Looks like BIC is the way to go