About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

The Swedish FireSteel 2.0 Scout is a good product. Are there better fire starters out there? Maybe. Probably. But this is about as basic as it gets, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a simpler solution for making sparks.



Pros

• Works when wet - just remove excess water and go.
• Compact and light - only weighs 0.95 ounce.
• Striker handle includes a built-in emergency whistle.

Cons

• If the lanyard is cut or comes loose, you could lose the striker or flint.

• Requires two hands to operate.
• Not made in USA (but it's from Sweden, not China).

Description

• Two-piece tool (linked by a lanyard) for creating sparks to start a fire.
• Size is hard to define, but when nested together the parts are about three inches long, and one inch thick at the handles.
• Weight: 0.95 ounce.
• Flint and steel; it doesn't get any more basic than that.
• Striker handle has an emergency whistle molded into the plastic.

Guide Review - Swedish FireSteel 2.0 Scout Flint and Steel Fire Starter Review

The Swedish FireSteel 2.0 Scout model is a handy flint-and-steel fire starter, designed to produce a shower of sparks using both hands. It does that job, but of course you must have proper tinder available and do a bit of practice in order to build a fire without starting with an open flame.

In a flurry of fire-starting review research, I gave the Swedish FireSteel 2.0 Scout model a try, along with some other products. This FireSteel is a newer design; older ones have a plain steel striker. The one I'm reviewing has a striker with a molded plastic handle, which is easy to hold on to - and which features a built-in emergency whistle.

I pitted the Swedish FireSteel against a couple of other flint-and-steel fire starters I've been needing to review, and it fared okay. Chances are that I would have rated it a tad higher if I didn't have experience with UST's Sparkie and BlastMatch one-handed fire starters, but it simply came in third in usefulness, and gets a bit of a bump downward because it requires the use of both hands.

This thing works. It's about as simple as you can ask for... people have been lighting fires with flint and steel for many, many years. But it's also easy to use and it does include that handy-dandy whistle.

My only reservation with this tool involves the little plastic cap that joins the two ends of the lanyard to secure it. Mine looked a little odd, and when I pulled gently on it, the cap unfolded, freeing the ends of the lanyard to come apart. That's bad - you do not want to lose either piece of this thing. I think this plastic cap should be glued together somehow, to better secure the lanyard.

I did light some flames with this tool, and while I won't be throwing away my lighter for camp use, the FireSteel makes a handy item to toss in your pack (along with some suitable tinder, of course) for emergency situations. It won't take up much space, and having a whistle to call for help in a pinch could be a real boon.

All in all, I like it.

- Russ Chastain



Disclosure: A review sample was provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.