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Survival Matches vs Bic Lighter

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If you have a choice between a bic lighter or some survival matches, which one would you choose?

In almost every commercial survival kit I have come across, 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 actually save lives. If given the option between a kit that has survival matches or a kit that has a lighter, I will choose the kit with the lighter every time.

In a survival situation, a lighter will start a lot more fires than a few matches, and is a lot easier to use when starting a fire. Lighters are very easy to use, can start thousands of fires, and they will work even when wet. In my opinion the realible  Bic Lighter is the way to go.

Comments

10 Comments on "Survival Matches vs Bic Lighter"

  1. Mungo on Mon, 29th Jun 2009 6:38 pm 

    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

  2. hermitjim on Mon, 29th Jun 2009 9:35 pm 

    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!

  3. Dave on Mon, 29th Jun 2009 11:22 pm 

    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.

  4. Survivalchick on Tue, 30th Jun 2009 7:34 am 

    Good point.. I wonder why that is?

  5. Yeti on Thu, 16th Jul 2009 4:17 pm 

    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

  6. Michael on Tue, 28th Jul 2009 11:53 pm 

    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?

  7. Robert on Wed, 29th Jul 2009 11:17 pm 

    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

  8. ghostrider_tx on Tue, 11th Aug 2009 3:38 pm 

    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.

  9. Todd on Wed, 12th Aug 2009 10:48 am 

    Bic lighter + a few lifeboat matches as backups.
    Then you can keep the fire going…

  10. John on Sat, 29th Aug 2009 4:10 pm 

    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 :)

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