Survival Matches vs Bic Lighter
Filed under
Survival Gear
If you have a choice between a Bic lighter or a couple survival matches, which one would you choose?
In almost every commercial survival kit survival matches often take the place of a good old fashion lighter….. But why?
Unfortunately a lot of these so called “Survival Kits” are designed to look cool and sell, rather than being designed to save lives. If given the option between a kit that has survival matches or a kit that has a lighter, I’ll choose the kit with the lighter every time.
In a survival situation, a lighter will start a lot more fires than the few matches that you’ll find in most commercial kits. It’s also a lot easier to use a lighter when starting a fire.
- Lighters are easy to use
- They can start thousands of fires
- And even if the get wet you can usually get them to work by blowing on the top of the lighter to dry it out.
In my opinion the good old reliable Bic Lighter’s the way to go.
Good point. And well after the fuel has run out of the cannister, you can use the small sparker (a tiny ferrocerium rod) to ignite cotton fibres etc… to start more fires. Make some char cloth the first time around and you’ll easily have lots of quick, easy starting embers.
Cheers,
Mungo
I have to agree with you on this 100%. I would rather have a bic, and even if I didn’t need it for myself…it makes a teriffic barter item!
Lights better in the wind, also!
Not having butane lighters probably has something to do with shipping/freight regulations. I often wondered why they didn’t put a small bic lighter in survival kits you purchase and that is what I figure is going on.
Good point.. I wonder why that is?
BIC all the way!! Be sure and get one that is childproof and see through though.
Child proof so that the fuel doesn’t get released buy gear depressing the valve, and see through so you are not left out in the cold with an empty lighter!
The reason they are not in survival kits is more than likely due to shipping restrictions on combustibles. You might need separate permitting or something along those lines.
Cheers and Beers
I think a part of the reason is that matches will always work as long as they are there (provided they are waterproof or kept dry)
While a working lighter would certainly be more useful than a box of matches, it can’t be guaranteed to work. Especially if its been sitting in the survival kit for several years. The butane may leak away or the mechanism for sparking may seize up; things which one wouldn’t want to discover when you need to start a fire in a survival situation.
A good idea would be to carry a Bic lighter for convenience but good old fashioned matches just in case.
What are some other peoples opinions on this?
I agree Michael that you should have both, I just prefer the Lighter because its a lot easier to start a fire with but….
I do have backups for just about everything, and still carry a few matches in all my kits along with a couple other firestarters.
You can never be to prepared
The Bic is good, but in the winter it can freeze in really cold temps. To prevent this, carry it inside your cold weather gear so that body warmth will prevent freezing. You can also store the small ones in a waterproof match container with a cotton ball on top to keep it from rattling and this will also keep anything from pressing the lever and releasing the gas. The cotton ball also has many uses.
Bic lighter + a few lifeboat matches as backups.
Then you can keep the fire going…
YES!!!!!!!!!!!! Completely agree, also the mini ones weigh like less than an ounce. So I carry like 4 on my person, never know they are there til I need them. Also as someone who actually goes out periodically and really tried to start a fire in the wet woods – matches are really not the way to go – even lifeboat NATO matches, sorry. The next best besides a bic is called a “SPark lite” spark steel and the tinder that comes with. Even with lighter or matches or spark steel BRING TINDER!!!
I find Tinder is often as important as the fire starter. Be safe everybody 
I carry matches in my kit, but i carry a bic in my pocket.
I bought a small box of waterproof & windproof matches in 1974. Since then I’ve spent a lot of time hiking and camping in wilderness areas, sometimes for months at a time. Those original matches have been with me through mountains (summer and winter), deserts, rivers, lakes and beaches and I’ve never had an occasion to use them. All I’ve ever needed was a mini-Bic (I carry 2, just in case) and a “metal match.”
One is none, Two is one…so Three must be two.
its a good saying for survival…ALWAYS have a back up. then a back up for your backup will keep you safe and alive.
Excellent thinking. People (including myself at times) are so caught up in thinking they can be Daniel Boone that they risk their life to prove their poorly perceived abilities. Go with the Bic lighter and keep your camping experiences good with tools that work.
Matches were fine last century. I always bring 2 mini BIC’s… 1 in my pants pocket and one in my pack. My backup is a ferro rod with a 2 inch piece of hacksaw for striking. No tinder better steel wool to take a spark. All these together weigh about the same as a few feet of 550 paracord.
The post above is hillarious.
Provided matches are dry, that you have ten thousand and that the scratching paper is limmitless, i would always take matches because a bic lighter might fail.
Bic lighters rarely fail, even if wet. And for those who would take a bic and matches, why not take two bics like the gentleman above.
Too much time in the hands of us modern men…. Good wishes, Javier.