UST BlastMatch Fire Starter with One-Handed Operation and Lightweight Design for Camping, Hiking, Emergency and Outdoor Survival

Pretty good just wondering how long it will last

I've been looking for fire starters for a long time. The ones with the magnesium and the small rod/scraper just aren't durable enough for our needs. I asked a friend of mine, who had a long Army career, what he recommended and he said the US BlastMatch.I found a video on how to use the BlastMatch and I was surprised how easy it looked to use with just one hand. All the other strike kits required two hands. As I get (a bit) older I find my hands are not be as nimble as they were all those years ago so this unit started to look more interesting.I ordered two of the units from Amazon (Acme Approved) and they were in our mailbox within just a few days. I was curious, having seen the video, if this was a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). Once I was able to extract one of them from the manufacturer's package, I read the back of the package to see if the instructions were the same as I remembered in the video. They seemed to be the same.The fire starter looked like the one in the video. I put a cotton ball on an old paint lid we keep around for these kinds of things, lightly pushed in the "striker tab", and pushed down. You have to do this a couple of times initially to remove the protective black oxide coating. The third push lit up the cotton ball like the 4th of July. I was taken by surprise because I just didn't put that much effort into pressing the striker tab or pushing down on the flint. With ONE hand! There were a lot of big sparks, not little wussy ones.Another nice feature is the flint rod easily turns so you're not using the striker against one area all the time and this gives the unit longevity. If the unit gets wet, simply wipe off the water and you can use it immediately.When I was through playing.... uh.... experimenting..... I flipped the end cap up and over to go on top of the flint and pushed it down so the flint was enclosed. It's self-packaging. When I get ready to use it again I push up on the end cap and rotate it 180 degrees to be a part of the bottom I push on to get sparks. Someone put a lot of thought into making this fire starter.Here are the directions on the back of the package:1. Place thumb on BlastMatch cap next to the striker tab, against the lip of the cap, exposing the spring-loaded flint bar.2. Push end cap over flint bar and slide to rear of BlastMatch body. Fit cap on rear of BlastMatch body.3. Place thumb on striker bar and press down with medium pressure. (Reviewer note - I used "light pressure")4. While maintaining pressure with your thumb on the striker tab, plunge the body of the BlastMatch down the striker bar. Initiate a few strikes to remove black oxide coating and expose bare flint.A "WetFire" cube is included in the package. You scrape the cube to get some starting tinder.I'm so pleased with the BlastMasters. I thought I would never find a product durable enough to go in our survival gear. I read the comment where the reviewer said it was not for survival situations because you can't light things you find in the woods. That depends on a lot of factors; however, any survivalist/camper/hiker knows to carry flammable material to use with nature's combustible material (dead leaves, dead grass, dry pine needles, etc).

I got this as a "let's see if I can do this" type of thing. I've determined that if I'm ever stranded in the wilderness and I have my Blastmatch, I am still going to die from hypothermia. No fault of the device - it works as advertised to create hot sparks. But after experimenting with it on two occasions, I find that I can't ignite a flame simply with the tinder found on the forest floor. I've been successful when I strike the sparks onto clothesdryer lint or cotton swabs, more successful if those materials are laced with petroleum jelly (these were tips I learned from various fire-starter videos). So if I'm carrying that stuff along with the Blastmatch, I'm confident of lighting a fire. But I think that goes for any fire-starter, in my hands anyway.As for the tool itself, after a couple of outings and a couple of hundred depressions of the flint, it's wobbly inside its handle as I had read in another review, but I can't really say that this is a problem. This is because in order to create sparks, one must apply FIRM thumb pressure to the striker against the flint (IMHO, this fire-starter may not be the choice for those whose grip strength is not strong) and that prevents it from wobbling while being depressed. So my reason for four stars instead of five is this play that develops in the rod, which makes it feel as if the tool is about to break, but let me be clear that it still works fine. I love the design aside from that, how it hinges open and closed to protect the rod. I like the one-handed idea, and in my limited experience, it seems that directing sparks into tinder accurately is easier with the Blastmatch than with a two-handed device.

Summary: This fire starter works one-handed easily and does not take much coordination.1) Its very easy to use, I was able to draw white hot sparks on the 2nd attempt to use it. You can hand this to a child and they could use it with a a few tries as practice.2) If you are suffering from hypothermia and shivering or had injured a hand, you could still start a fire with this.3)You can place the sparks exactly where you need them, simply stand the rod in your tinder and push down once firmly while keeping pressure on the scraper. One push down is all it takes!4) The rod is large enough that I'd get good use out of it for a very long time. You can spin the rod to even out the wear as you use it.5) It compresses up into a small device enclosed into its handle that does not leave the rod exposed to be accidently broken off if packed too tightly in a bag or dropped on a hard surface.6) Comes in a nice bright color so you can see if you accidently drop it on the ground. (NEVER buy survival gear in camouflage as it gets lost easily.)I lit both wood shavings and paraffin soaked cotton makeup wipes with a single push down of the Blast match. I am a search and rescue volunteer and this fire starter has replaced the standard issue rod and scraper that I bought initially. I will be showing the blast match off to all my fellow volunteers and the deputies to demonstrate how easy this product is to use.

Not bad, not great. Fun little fire starter, but matches or a bic lighter is way better.

Need to create a spark with one hand?, this will do it. Soft ferro rod, works easily, throws good amount of sparks, will it replace my regular rod? Doubtful, butt it is a good option to have. Seems a little flimsy, but works as expected and I would reccomend....

La primera impresión es buena pero una vez en la mano deja mucho que desear.Probablemente no forme parte de mi equipo pues no me inspira confianza.•Valoraciones:-Materiales: 3/5.Materiales de construcción de poca calidad,el cuerpo de plástico se nota endeble y frágil para este sistema. Remarcar que la tapa del ferrocerio se sostiene sobre dos nervios de plástico bastante delicados.-Funcionamiento: 2/5En funcionamiento no es bueno pues al accionarlo pude comprobar como la cuchilla que incorpora el pulsador es endeble.No genera chispas correctamente, mas bien genera virutas o se resbala sobre el ferrocerio.El único inconveniente que podría pasar por alto es el ruido del resorte que incorpora en el interior.•Conclusion:Si está interesado en este produco le sugiero otros ferrocerios de mayor calidad y prácticamente al mismo precio, sin ir más lejos el hermano de este modelo el "UST StrikeForce" y también el ferrocerio de una famosa marca sueca.

LE point fort de cette article c'est qu'on peut l'ouvrir et l'actionner d'une seule main; c'est facile d'emploi et sécurisant, c'est pour ça que je l'ai acheté pour ma mère. Personnellement je continuerais de me servir de firesteel classique car le Blastmatch est quand même cher (d'ou 4 étoiles au lieu de 5). Je ne sais pas ce que ça vaut dans le temps; le ressort tiendra t-il le coup? Le système de verrouillage sera t-il fiable? Je ne sais pas. Fait de belles étincelles, semble robuste.

As described at best price on internet for the UK. Works surprisingly well. Good buy.

Endlich habe ich einen Blastmatch!Gefällt mir sehr gut. Ist zwar nicht ganz billig, aber mir istbes das Wert.Der Feuertahl wackelt zwar ein bisschen und die hülle wirkt ein klein wenig billig, allerdings gibtnes für mich bis jetzt nichts zu beanstanden. Der Durchmesser vom Feuerstahl ist ziemlich groß. Ich hoffe ich werde lange freude daran haben. Habe schon Erfahrungen mit anderen Feuerstählen gemacht, allerdings stand der Blastmatch wegen der einhändigen Bedienung schon länger auf meiner Wunschliste und er gefällt mir sehr gut.

utilisant régulièrement des firesteels celui ci présente des faiblesses rédhibitoires au niveau du capot protecteur de la barre de magnésium le système de verrouillage servant en même temps de grattoir va casser a moyen terme de façon prévisible a cause de sa double fonction . le capot protecteur a trop de laxité pour un usage courant