Gerber Bear 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.

This works and sparked almost immediately. It's been a long time since I've seen a product, which goes WAY above and beyond; than just giving you what you've ordered. For me this is a FABULOUS product. The rod and striker goes together with a rubber washer to keep water, dust out. But that isn't why I love this. They have included a very compact, folded guide. An the title is a real gem, "So you're in a spot of trouble." A very personal message. It details information on determining direction, collecting water, snares/traps, knots, fire starting, shelter, signaling and a ruler in centimeter and inches. So much information so copy it, have spares and I really hope you do this. But No There's More - They've made little diagrams (but easy to read) - 'what position to take if a plane flies overhead, SOS and Alpine Rescue Signal - ON THE CASE. Oh and the lanyard is OK but I'm going to replace it with a weaved paracord; cause you can never have enough paracord. Anyway, I totally understand if it doesn't fit your needs or you're looking for something else. As you can expect, I definitely recommend this and will definitely purchase more.

The first part of the review: the fire starter: In short, the firestarter worked great. Plenty of sparks, hot enough to start even a small amount of dry tinder. Had my tinder smoldering after one flick of the bar. You can tell, however, how much of the material is worn away with every strike, so I wouldn't consider this a long-term firestarting tool (but what tool can you say that about?) but it's definitely something I'll keep in my pack. The second part, the strap: At first I didn't care for how the strap was designed, which basically goes completely through each endcap. It gives you really three lengths to grab on to... two (one each side of) the whistle, and the other one being the piece between the endcaps, without the whistle. After playing around with it, and twisting the one endcap, I realized I could create some decent string "patterns" if you will. In the end, it's a strap. I did notice that one of the end caps pops off (more on that later), but the other end of the tool is not removable, so there's no disconnecting that, unless the strap is cut completely. The whistle: It's a small plastic whistle. For it's size, it sure packs a decent volume of ear-splitting rescue goodness. No complaints there for now, hopefully it's durable enough to withstand a drop or two. One thing I really didn't like is that the end cap that is removable just pops off. There's no twisting or unscrewing involved. It's a pretty tight fit, but I can see a moderate bang (ie dropping it) and that cap might be pop off. The good news is that the cap that is removable has a length of the strap that fits through it, but the down side to that is, the striking bar (not the metal piece, but the "flint" piece) is not permanently attached to anything. If the end cap pops off, and the metal and flint pieces separate, you just lost your "flint". I think having a screw-off cap, or even something that would allow the strap to go through all parts of the tool would have been better. The cap itself came with a little wad of tinder (looks like a cotton ball), which is good. The cavity in which that fits is empty, with a little bit of room for maybe 2-3 more cotton balls, or an equivalent amount of tinder. I know the inside of that is used to hold the "flint", but if it was large enough to say, hold standard matchbox matches, that would have been a bonus. There's nothing like having a firemaking tool that has room to hold other firemaking tools! (Especially if it's waterproof, but I don't know that for sure yet.) One last thought, the tool is mostly a dary gray color with an orange gasket and small print. I think having the tool be a brighter color in general would have been better. We're not looking for camouflage, but rather being able to find your tool if you dropped it in a puddle or in some muck. In the end, for the price, I'm extremely happy with this tool. I wouldn't have paid $20 for it, but the $9 (with free shipping -- thanks to Amazon prime) was a very good price to pay.

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.

Man muss schon sagen, typisch für die Bear-Grylls-Reihe, es hat alles seinen Preis, ich bezahlte für meinen ersten ca. 30€. Aber wenigstens taugt der Feuerstarter was, auch wenn für sein äußeres der Starter selbst mir zu klein ist. Aus meiner Sicht, ebenso wie beim BG USK, wenn schon Survival Experte Bear Grylls mit Gerber eine Serie heraus bringt, sollte man sie möglichst gut machen. Wer den Starter vom USK kennt, die Größe ist für den Preis einfach ein Witz, zumal auch wenn die Funken gut fliegen, ein Feuer zündet nun mal nicht immer gleich beim 1. Versuch. Wegen des kleinen Durchmessers hab ich persönlich gar keine Lust mehr ihn zu benutzen, hab bislang etwa 3 mal mit dem Messerrücken drüber gezogen, ich benutze lieber billigere Army Firestarter, größere Masse, wg billiger und hab mehrere davon. Der Durchmesser des BG FS ist ok aber ich hätte ihn länger gemacht, wenn ich da an die Größe des Armageddon von firesteel.com denke. Wie auch immer er ist wahrscheinlich einer von wenigen auf dem Markt, der trotz seiner Größe auch noch Zubehör hat. In Form einer Pfeife am Nylonband und einem Fach mit Watte als Zunder, wie auch umfangreichem Aufdruck für Notfälle, wie zb. SOS.

Por fin un ferrocerio que funciona. Probé muchas marcas y modelos. Pero no me convencía ninguno. Hasta que di con este. Conozco la marca Gerber y su calidad. Así que no dude en comprarlo. Aunque el precio no es el de los mas baratos. Pero compras calidad. El diseño es compacto, el estuche resistente y estanco. El cordel cómodo y multiutilizable. Lo recomiendo a todos a los que les guste la aventura y salidas al campo.

I purchased this Fire Steel to take with me when walking. While I normally carry a Zippo, you never know when you will find yourself without fuel. The compartment for tinder is not very large, but assuming you can build and start a fire, it holds more than enough cotton wool/fluff from tumble drier to get a flame very quickly. It takes a few strikes when new to remove the protective coating that is applied prior to shipping, but then the sparks are strong and on cotton wool or tumble drier fluff, very effective and they take a spark well. The lanyard contains a SOS whistle and on the side the steel are the SOS morse singals and the alpine rescue signals, (this also come with a BG survival guide, which is quite informative on shelter, food etc). The lanyard is not meant to go around your neck but rather to prevent you from losing one of the two parts (although if you take the tinder compartment lid off, then it is possible to lose part), so be careful. So far have only lit my chiminea with it, but more than certain it will live up to its reputation when needed in the woods! Highly recommended!

コフランの定番の奴を長年使ってましたがストライカーがガタガタになってしまい、 点火時に持ちにくい所がずっと不満だったので色々と探していたところ、 ティンダーが収納できるコイツに出会いました。 まず、沢山ある同類の中でも最大級の大きさ。 持ちやすさ、操作感は言う事なし。 小さすぎても失くしてしまう事もありますし。 表面の塗装を擦って落として使いますが、 強い火花が簡単に豪快に出ます。 マグネシウムを削るタイプは面倒ですが、 これは火花が強いのでマグネシウムの必要がないですね。 予めコットンティンダーが入ってますがタダのコットンなので、 自家製ワセリンティンダーに入れ替えました。2個入ります。 このキャップ部分はOリングで防水ですね。 ホイッスルは使うかどうかわかりませんがあると安心かな。 一つだけ不満があるとすれば、コードが首に下げられるくらいは欲しいなぁ。 中途半端な長さ。首にかけることは想定してないんだろうけど。 持っていると安心感と所有欲も満たされる一品です。

Well made although a bit heavier than I expected. The sparker and ferro rod works real well. You can remove the cap. I put a few tiny cotton puffs impregnated with Vaseline in mine. There is also a whistle for emergency and the basic Morse code for SOS, alpine rescue signal, semaphore for need help and don't need help are painted on the body of the device. Once closed, it is sturdy enough and just the right size to be use as a Kubaton for self defense against an assailant.