Baladeo Emergency Fire Starter - Magnesium, Ferroceium, Steel

works great!

This devise is not effective. A true magnesium devise makes magnesium shavings that ignite and can be counted on to staart a fire in adverse conditons. The chunk of metal is not magnesium and while it does make sparks it is NOT a true fire starter that can not be counted on in a survival situation.

It is easy to use and useful. And it is Light and small. But I think it is not exquisite enough.

You might want to use your knife to strike a sprak since the chain which links the 2 parts together is a little short.

I don't get much of a spark from this tool and it is also hard to get any shavings. George San Diego, CA

Great to carry as an emergency fire starter.

i bought one and liked it so much i got another to keep in my hurricane kit

This fire starter does not work as well as the other brands that I have tried. It sparks but it does not light easily to build a fire.

I bought this as an addition to our hurricane emergency kit. I've used several magnesium starters in the past with good results, but this thing would NOT WORK! The little knife is too flimsy to scrape the magnesium. We used a big pocketknife to get a big enough pile of shavings, just to find the striker works only maybe 1 of 50 times. Don't waste your money, and don't plan on using it in an emergency!!

I have to laugh at some of these reviews... Yes, of course a match is easier to use... What if you get stuck, lost etc, and run out of your matches? Or they get ruined after dumping over your canoe? Can you start a fire with a single match? If you do not have the basic fire starting skills to start a single match fire, you'll never get this thing to work. It takes an additional, not complicated, but an extra step of smaller tinder than a match lit fire. This is a perfectly functioning survival backup tool that with a little conservation of shavings can light over 100 fires. Don't bring this as your only means of fire starting unless you know what your doing and want to spend the extra 3 minutes dealing with the small step of firestarting without flame. Some idiot will try the older rod and block method for a couple minutes and say it will never work, give me 30 minutes and I'll show you a fire with a round branch and a block of wood... Less time if I have some shoelace to make a bow to spin the branch.