I recently purchased a "Sparkie" from Ultimate Survival Technologies, makers of the much acclaimed "Blast Match". Today, daughter Katie and I took the opportunity of a nice afternoon to take a short hike in the woods, and along the way I gathered various bits a pieces of potential tinder. My intent was to start a study of available natural tinder materials and their effectiveness. At the same time I would get the chance to try out my new fire starter, figuring it is best to try before you die - this being survival equipment after all.
Now, there were two things that drew me to this product over the Blast Match - well three really:
1) The lower price compared to the blast match
2) Clever looking packaging that allow one handed opening and operation (I have to carry a boat as well, after all).
3) Finally, that it was made by the same company that makes the Blast Match - giving me confidence that it would perform.
When the package arrived I was a bit disappointed by the feel of the device. In the picture it looks pretty solid, but in reality there is a fairly flimsy feeling snap together plastic structure under a thin, slip over, rubber boot. Further, the flint is too small to be self supporting so it has a backing to support the flint. This was clear from the marketting pics, but what wasn't clear is that the backing is plastic.
One of my requirements for a firestarter was one handed operation. The Sparkie is made to deploy the flint by squeezing the body. This worked brilliantly at first, but after a few uses the flint would no longer deploy and I had to pry it out with my knife. A few uses more, and the support for the flint broke at the foot so that the flint was no longer retained and could fall out and get lost.
I was able, even after it broke, to generate lots of sparks and light several fires with ease using natural tinder (Birch bark, dry ferns, dry wild flowers, etc.). Wear of the flint suggest to me that you could get maybe 50 bites at the apple before you run out of usable flint (guessing here). Acceptable for emergency use, but not if you are going to use it regularly.
So in summary: I'm VERY disappointed in this product. I will be contacting the company and give them the opportunity to correct the situation. I will be buying a Blast Match based on other reviews of the product, but this particular Ultimate Survival Technologies product is neither Ultimate nor suitable for Survival IMHO.
Hope this is useful to you.
Matt
Update:
The customer service rep explained to me that very likely I had received an older version of the tool that had some failings. Changes to the materials and manufacturing techniques have been implemented that should address the issues with operation/breakage.
They are sending me (at their cost) a newly manufactured "Sparkie" and a "BlastMatch" to make things right. When the new products are received I will review them again and give a side by side comparison of the BlastMatch to the Sparkie.
Thanks to UST for knowing what superior customer support is about.
Now, there were two things that drew me to this product over the Blast Match - well three really:
1) The lower price compared to the blast match
2) Clever looking packaging that allow one handed opening and operation (I have to carry a boat as well, after all).
3) Finally, that it was made by the same company that makes the Blast Match - giving me confidence that it would perform.
When the package arrived I was a bit disappointed by the feel of the device. In the picture it looks pretty solid, but in reality there is a fairly flimsy feeling snap together plastic structure under a thin, slip over, rubber boot. Further, the flint is too small to be self supporting so it has a backing to support the flint. This was clear from the marketting pics, but what wasn't clear is that the backing is plastic.
One of my requirements for a firestarter was one handed operation. The Sparkie is made to deploy the flint by squeezing the body. This worked brilliantly at first, but after a few uses the flint would no longer deploy and I had to pry it out with my knife. A few uses more, and the support for the flint broke at the foot so that the flint was no longer retained and could fall out and get lost.
I was able, even after it broke, to generate lots of sparks and light several fires with ease using natural tinder (Birch bark, dry ferns, dry wild flowers, etc.). Wear of the flint suggest to me that you could get maybe 50 bites at the apple before you run out of usable flint (guessing here). Acceptable for emergency use, but not if you are going to use it regularly.
So in summary: I'm VERY disappointed in this product. I will be contacting the company and give them the opportunity to correct the situation. I will be buying a Blast Match based on other reviews of the product, but this particular Ultimate Survival Technologies product is neither Ultimate nor suitable for Survival IMHO.
Hope this is useful to you.
Matt
Update:
I did submit a request for some satisfaction on the company web site after posting this. This morning I received a very nice phone call from a company that knows how to do customer service!
The customer service rep explained to me that very likely I had received an older version of the tool that had some failings. Changes to the materials and manufacturing techniques have been implemented that should address the issues with operation/breakage.
They are sending me (at their cost) a newly manufactured "Sparkie" and a "BlastMatch" to make things right. When the new products are received I will review them again and give a side by side comparison of the BlastMatch to the Sparkie.
Thanks to UST for knowing what superior customer support is about.
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