IMCO Super 6700 

Interestingly enough, the prices on Amazon for Imco lighters seem to vary wildly? It looks like some of them are around $22-ish while others go up to $78-ish-and the one that you happened to link to is about $50-and all of these lighters visually look to be just about the same? (And on top of that, I don’t know what a fair price would be for one of these lighters since-like you-I’ve been pretty much been solely a Zippo user all this time.) So does anyone know what might lead to such a wide range of prices? For instance, are the cheaper ones knockoffs, or are the cheaper ones merely less in cost for some other reason? And are the ones that cost more better in some way than the cheaper ones?

@@handcoding Amazon prices vary, as you say. I've seen the Chinese models for as low as $10 on AliExpress (I'm guessing they may be knock-offs?), and on Amazon the official Chinese IMCOs range from $20 to $50. The old Austrian models sell on eBay from between $50 and $100, depending on condition, and Amazon has new old stock Austrian 6600 models for $78.90. My advice - buy the official Chinese ones on Amazon. They are as good as the originals, and stainless, so less rust issues.

@@Beery1962 That’s helpful info-thank you!

knew a guy who once took a zippo and an imco and threw them against a brick wall, zippo was busted and imco just needed a few strikes and it was good

That’s a cool feature, thank you for the information.

Sure, I’ll be happy to.

@@txtoolcrib The one in the video doesn't look fully filled to me (but maybe you're already aware of that). Anyway, in my experience, fully filled, the 6600s and 6700s last about 3 weeks. 6800s last a little longer - up to a month. A lot of the longevity depends on how low you trim the wick (lower uses less fuel on every light), and how the lighter is stored (upright seems to be best).

@@txtoolcrib Awesome-I appreciate it!

@@Beery1962 The 6800 last longer? I recently got the streamline model and I really like it, but if the fuel lasts for a month then I really lucked out getting the 6800 lmao

@@yyouuttuubbee lasts me over a month, very well made

Yup. I recently did tests on an all-brass Zippo (supposedly the best for fuel retention) and an old Austrian IMCO 6600. Both with all new cotton bacon and properly routed wicks. The Zippo lasted 27 days, while the IMCO lasted 54 days - literally twice as long.

I don't like those rubber seals - I'm guessing they dry out quickly in the presence of petroleum. Also, I've heard that the Douglass S lighters have problems with heat expansion of the metal (they use brass rather than steel) affecting the tolerances. I like the Douglass Field L better - simpler design, but I hear they evaporate within a month, which makes them no better than an IMCO, and at 5 times the price, it seems a waste of money. I'm sticking with my IMCO - it's never let me down.

You can buy petroleum , heat and chemical, even abrasion resistant O rings which I do for all my lighters that call for O rings. IMCO especially the original was IME excellent for fluid retention compared to Zippo. Lighter fluid is $70 a gallon so my Zippos are stored right now😂

I own a Field L and it is a work of beauty, however the cap is attached to two very thin pieces and mine started to not be aligned anymore. I feel IMCOs (even fake) more durable

@@Beery1962 I own a field L, the cap is attached to very thin pieces and starts to deform after some usage

They are actually really good. A Japanese company owns the IMCO name, so that positively affects quality. Also, the materials are better - stainless steel rather than nickel plated steel of the old Austrian ones. I wasn't sold on them at first, but now I really like the new IMCOs.

I bought one out of curiosity. And I am quite surprised because They were near perfect. Only thing that is not-original quality is flame adjustment. Flame was too large even in "lowest". Anything than that. They were really OEM quality. In stainless steel. if you are new to imco or want a imco, i will recommend one. And they are cheaper than a zippo. if you Change wick, flint, cotton to high quality ones... This will perform better than original. Because they are SUS. and I have two original and EDC one.

And I can see this reviewer's flame is small enough. Maybe it was my batch? Or maybe they got updated? I don't know.

In fact, they are far easy to maintain compared to zippos.

Победитель - спички

You pull the fuel tank out, pull off the bottom cap. fill the fuel into the cotton until it looks like its about to overfill. They're really easy to fill!

A Japanese company owns the name and the tools, but their factory is in China.

@@Beery1962 I didn't know Japan was off shoring their industry to China.

@@Castleknight Yeah, as far as I know, since 2012, Windmill must have at least one factory in China. Either that, or the IMCOs are subcontracted out to a Chinese company.

Good to know

@@eddieg9506 Yeah, not a big deal but good to know before buying. After using it exclusively for lighting my pipes for about a week, that's the only negative thing I can say about the lighter.

But the fuel cartridge can be removed and is stable enough to be used as a candle

IMCO was bought by Windmill (japan) so they moved production somewhere. If you're in the EU you can find nice Vintage ones for the price of a basic US made Zippo. I don't know how widespread they're in the US. Gifted a close friend an old Marlboro branded one which I got for 32€

To me, Zippos are still riding on the positive PR they got from being popular with GIs in WW2. The problem is, the company doesn't want to mess with that popularity, so the design hasn't changed in 75 years (and Zippos were originally an IMCO knock-off - based on the IMCO 2000 design back in 1929). So while Zippo stagnated, IMCO perfected the petrol lighter design, so that, by the 1950s, they beat Zippo in every aspect when it comes to functionality.