Zippos were some of my early experiments, cool because of their simplicity, the relative reliability and their resistance to wind.
Later on, it became things like magnesium blocks, firesteels and other such wilderness oriented accoutrements.
And in recent years, I've been eyeing more and more the various kinds of "jet" lighters on the market.
I recently bit the bullet and acquired a lighter from Brunton, their Firestorm or Storm model and that's what I'll be covering today.
We'll start with some specifications from Brunton.
Features
- 3.3"x1.8"
- 1.6 oz
- Fuel: Premium butane
- Adjustable high-temp flame
- Windproof to 80 mph
- Waterproof w/ sealable lid
- Reliable for over 30,000 ignitions
- One-year warranty
As you can see from the specs at over 3 inches in length and close to 2 inches in diameter, the Firestorm isn't a small lighter.
The construction is quite nice though and the initial impression is that of a quite sturdy product.
Most of the lighter, body and caps is made from what appears to be a high-impact plastic.
The body and the top cap has panels of decently aggressive knurling that does a great job in providing grip.
The Firestorm in my hand to show scale. You can see the two O-rings at either end that provide the environmental seals. There are three sections on the body where the knurling is absent, two of these panels have the Brunton logo engraved in them and the third, smaller section goes under the steel pocket clip.
That's a nice touch as in doing so, you avoid tearing the hell out of your pants or whatever else you might have the Firestorm affixed to, by rubbing the knurling against it every time you take it out of your pocket.
The pocket clip is held on with a single, small Phillips head screw. It does a decent job of keeping the lighter attached to your gear or your person and doesn't get in the way when you're using the lighter. The caps, one on each end of the lighter, are screwed on and the waterproof seal is achieved by compressing an O-ring at the base of each section of threading.
Given that the body is plastic, I would like to see a slightly coarser and longer thread being used, especially on the top cap. As it is, the thread is kinda fine and short enough to where I could see it being a problem, particularly because of it being in danger of cross-threading easily.
The firing button is also made from the same high-impact plastic and is knurled in the same manner as the body. There is no provision to lock the button in place.
The actual lighter part seems to be made from a metal that has been coated in some fashion.
A ceramic tube can be seen surrounding the nozzle and catalytic element.
Oh yes, catalytic element. I didn't mention that before, did I? I'll get to that part in a second.
Note the coil and the white of the ceramic tube that surrounds the burner. The fill valve and flame adjustment is located on the bottom of the lighter underneath the second cap. Interestingly, this smaller cap uses a longer section of threading than the main cap.
The flame adjustment is achieved by a small lever with the fill valve in the center of it. Above the flame adjustment lever is a small fuel window that allows you to see the current fuel level.
The fill valve and the fuel level window are both easily accessible. It's nice that you can adjust the flame without having to resort to a tool of some sort. All in all, the build quality of the Firestorm is very nice. It fits my hand well and is comfortable to use.
The Firestorm isn't a traditional jet-lighter. It uses a metal coil or catalytic element to effectively make it wind-proof. The coil heats up and glows quite brightly and will relight the gas stream if the flame is blown out.
In theory that is.
The flame that is produced is almost impossible to see in bright light. The only indicators are the glowing coil and the hiss that the flame produces. In darker conditions, the flame is visible and can be seen to have a distinct cone shape. It is a pretty short flame in general, being somewhere along the lines of right over 1/4 inch long.
The distinctly cone-shaped flame. You can see the bright glow of the catalytic coil at the base of the flame and how short the flame is. Now, this is where the problems begin.
The flame is, as mentioned, pretty short. It obviously burns hot, but it's so short that lighting certain things becomes a hassle.
I'm also not impressed with the reliability of the lighter.
The flame adjustment seems incredibly finicky, since even a degree off from the optimal setting and the lighter just won't light the flame at all.
To further complicate matters, you often have to press the button multiple times to get the lighter to fire and sometimes it will even misfire.
Now, what I mean by misfire is that the coil will start glowing, but there is no flame! I'm not quite sure how this happens, but it almost seems like all the gas goes to the catalytic reaction, causing the coil to glow brightly but otherwise not doing anything at all. It's certainly not possible to light anything with the lighter in this state!
You also have to press the button just right. You do this by slowly depressing the firing button until you hear gas flowing and then you depress the firing button all the way, causing the piezo element to release the spark and lighting the gas stream.
That is, when it works. Which isn't even close to always. It's perhaps not even half the time.
Granted, to make certain things clear, I live at fairly high altitude, being that Albuquerque has an average elevation of 5300 feet above sea-level or so.
However, the Firestorm is rated to 8000 feet and that's still quite a bit higher than where I live, so I was fully expecting this lighter to work and work well.
Hell, the MSRP on this lighter is 60 dollars, which certainly isn't cheap.
I'm really quite frustrated by the Firestorm. It feels really well-made, I really enjoy the form factor and overall design. It's rugged, waterproof, even sexy in a manly-tough-outdoorsy-gear context.
But it just doesn't seem to work all that well.
One of the many reasons I bought it in the first place was to also serve as a means of lighting my cigars. And even there it kinda fails.
The flame is so short and doesn't project heat very well, so lighting a cigar, especially a big ring gauge one, like a 52 or higher, becomes a chore. That is, when you can even get the damn thing to light.
Overall, I'd say that this lighter is a pretty resounding disappointment and one that I simple cannot recommend. This is a shame, since as far as I know, Brunton generally makes very good quality products! This one however, is a miss.
That's interesting because I have the same issues with trying to get mine to light. I've had mine for a couple of years now but it definitely is not very reliable which is why I didn't bring it to Afghanistan on this last deployment. I use a Jetline lighter, and it's so much more reliable with a huge flame for lighting my cigars.
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