👍👍👍. I've never smoked and I have had my Zippo for years. Got it as a present from the Wife. A Bic is part of my EDC and I have others stashed elsewhere too. They are one of the greatest inventions since bubblegum 😁. That said, the common kitchen Match is my go-to for starting fires .. especially a Trangia in cold below freezing weather. Light match and drop it into the Burner. It acts as a wick until the alcohol heats up and vaporizes more readily. Nevertheless, I love my Zippo. I use the bicycle tube hack to reduce fuel evaporation, keep it in a ziploc bag when not on me, have spare flints behind the felt and carry a little aluminium key chain Zippo Fuel Bottle that gives me a refill when needed. Alternate fuels .. I've tried Kerosene (Paraffin / 'Petrol' in English / 'German' -speak). It burns .. the problem however is difficulty with Ignition using the the Flint Mechanism. White Gas, Paint Thinners, Benzine Cleaning Fuel, Gas (Petrol in English-speak) and similar work fine .. thus reinforcing the idea that when empty, there are alternatives, not available to a Bic. A good share .. thanks.
Hi ,mate , I say to hell whith the naysayers, everyone should use whatever works for them, I too carry a zippo, and an EDC no name see through cheapo gas lighter whith a narrow ranger band twisted round several times below the trigger to stop it dumping gas in my pocket, it also has about a yard of thin cord wound round, ( you never no when you need a bit of string ) lol ,secured whith a couple more ranger bands, useful tinder. This setup has been in my pocket edc for about 10 yrs, and I thought I'd test it last week, it sparked but no flame, It had plenty of gas, the mystery was solved when I looked in the top, it was clogged whith fluff from my pocket, once removed we had flame as usual, who'd have guessed!. I also favour a zippo for various reasons, and after your video it's given me food for thought, at least they don't freeze, and they stand up when lit. What's not to like, lol. Cheers my friend, and I hope the hunting went well, stay safe, best wishe's to you and your's, Stuart UK.
We are in agreement Stuart. I think both have strengths and it shouldn't be a choice of one or the other. Always good to hear from you my friend. Best wishes to you and your family! Take care!
Try the Zippo Fanatic trick after filling cut the corner of a freezer bag on the bottom of the lighter cam spring on the correct side you will get improved fuel economy get an aluminum fule container from Zippo for refills !!!
Zippo sells a great little travel refill container that also has a spare flint. It carries several refills of fluid. I hate bic lighters for outdoor use. They blowout in the wind. Don’t work in cold temps or high altitudes and you can’t light it and take your thumb off. My bushcraft lighter is a zippo and the keychain refill kit.
Thanks for this vid, I've kinda come to the same conclusion after going down the rabbit whole in terms of emergency preparedness. My area has bad infrastructure, and also frequent internet outages... it feels like the wind can blow the wrong way and the power will go out sadly or even in minor thunderstorms. Not very fun at all in cold windy rainy wet winter... got some battery power banks, a few cheap long lasting prayer candles, some books, board games, plan on a good sleeping bag for the winter, just doing a little at a time on a very frugal budget. Very interested in a mr buddy heater too. Zippo seems nice to get eventually to possibly use in an absolute worst case scenario where it might be too cold for a bic to light at all or reliably, and being able to use alternative fuels. The longest the power has been out is 5-6 days in the winter last year which was not fun at all. I saw a trick about using a hard uncooked spaghetti noodle to be able to reach down into those deep cheap $1 prayer candles I plan on stocking up on. I may get more elaborate or fancy later on but I definitely wanna get more of the major basics...instead of more pricey battery powered lanterns and battery powered candles which can be pricey themselves nonetheless the batteries to keep feeding them, it may just be a couple cheap $1 prayer candles with 90hr runtimes and a 7 pack of scripto disposables that are a whopping ~$2.50 or so at walmart I start out with. I already got a better cell plan with mobile hotspot so if the internet goes out but power stays on I could use it to get online on my pc
what makes this even more funny is that the creator of the bic lighter’s last name is bich, but he changed all of his product names to bic after he learned how the English were pronouncing it. so son of a bic is quite a good fit.
i dont smoke but i carry a zippo i think they work better than normal lighters but they are also funner and cooler than regular lighters and with a normal lighter you have to hold down a button unlike a zippo lighter and the zippo fual leak problem can kinda be solved with a plastic bag at the bottom of the insert by that point its kinda completely better than a bic at least in my experience also zippo lighters arnt weak plastic like a bic BUT bics can literally be found anywhere and a single bic is like 1$
Put a Zippo and a BIC inside the fridge on a zip bag and wait a couple of hours, frozen BIC will not lite Zippo will ignite even on freezing temps (with the right maintenance zippo is more reliable) carry lighter fluid wicks and flints on your survival kit and you will always have fire. Note: your zippo on the video need the wick to be pulled and trimmed to avoid the issue of striking so many times to make it ignite or your fuel is bad
Thanks for the tip on trimming the Zippo wick. I've heard people say that for years about Bics, but I've spent a lot of time in the cold climes and never had problems, likely because I kept the Bic close enough to my body for the body heat to prevent problems.
Zippo is a far superior fire starter due to that big flame that keeps burning and I carried one for a bit but was really shocked at how quickly fuel evaporated. So for EDC it's definitely BIC for me
I ve discovered if you put a cut out portion of bicycle tube around a Zippo, it drastically cuts back on the evaporation of the fuel. Zippy may become my edc again.
I would take a Zippo over any disposable lighter in the field disposable lighters may be cheaper and the gas last longer but you do get the occasional defective one that has little or no flint plus they don't like wet or cold weather a Zippo is easily maintained if you carry pack of flints in you survival kit and carry a can of fuel in your pack
Zippo is more durable, uses the same flints as a bic, lights in the cold, is environmentally friendly since you reuse it and uses multiple fuels. A Titanlight is the best of both worlds but 4x the price.
@@OLDSOLDIER6 Truth there is a tool to every occasion. Bics don't stink or evaporate neither but they ain't waterproof, I'd recommend an orange Titanlight if yer life depends on it but if yer likely to lose it stick to a bic.
@@OLDSOLDIER6That tends to work well if It's not to cold or yer at high elevations. Think of a round Zippo with gaskets that prevent fuel loss and make it waterproof, expensive but the last lighter you will ever need and American made quality so buy once, cry once. Sorry if I am coming off as rude just going down the rabbit hole of survival lighters and thought a healthy debate was in the cards.
The thing is at least personally speaking it cost around 60 cents to buy a small bic Lighter and it costed me 4 bucks to buy a zippo around my area also if ur gonna be in the woods for a long time and u have to pick a bic or a zippo The bic will take less space than the zippo because the bic will not need refueling the bic also evaporates much slower than zippo because it has better isolation for the fuel than the zippo if ur gonna carry a zippo for long time in the woods ur gonna also carry a huge fuel can with u otherwise u will basically have a dead lighter with u so between getting a whole can and a lighter or a simple bic lighter that u can shove in ur pocket I'd say the bic wins just because of the practicality of it the zippo might be better if u have harsh weather conditions because the design is specifically made to be windproof but it's still hard to learn how to use a zippo efficiently a bic is a pretty straight forward thing anybody knows how to use even by just seeing it without ever knowing about it so yeah the zippo I've had cases where I accidentally spilled fluid over the case and when I lit it the whole thing was on fire so u gotta be really careful with a zippo because it can very easily burn u up if ur not cautious that's why I'd rather buy bunch of bic lighters in a plastic bag than a zippo because it's just easier to carry around and in larger quantities and takes less space than the zippo with the whole fluid can separately I think it really comes down to preferences some say bic lighters are worse cuz they aren't weatherproof now while it's true that wind can blow out a bic ligher u can very quickly build a small shelter where wind doesn't bother you in order to use a bic lighter in the wild so that doesn't really matter the best lighter would be one of those with gass torch light because they're weather proof and Instantly light stuff on fire also they're as big as a bic lighter too and refillable so there goes all if ur looking for best lighter that's the one zippo and bic lighters are just personal preferences that people have
@Dav624 your points are all valid. At the end of the day it shows people the different options. I carry a zippo refill cannister that does not leak, so at the end of the day, I have 14 to 16 days max. If it's going to be longer than that I have a kit with several other ways to start a fire. I just love the reliability, and nostalgia that comes with a zippo.
@@OLDSOLDIER6 yea you can find them on Amazon or any other online store (i ordered mine directly from aliexpress lol). They run around 5-15$. Burn any liquid fuel, have an O ring seal in the screwcap, have replaceable wick and flint. mine came with a little carabiner cap so i can put it on my car keys and always have a lighter on me.
Easiest question ever. A bic uses only butane and if it gets water in it it’s game over. A zippo can use regular lighter fluid, gasoline, or any other flammable liquid, and if it gets soaked with water you can dry it out and refill.
