SOLKOA Fastfire & Exotac Firerod - Short Review/Photos

DAVE_M

DAVE_M

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Jun 16, 2010
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A friend of mine bought a large pack of SOLKOA Survival Systems Fast Fire, so he gave me one to try out. They are a wee bit expensive at $2 a pop, but I was willing to burn one for science! At first glance, the package look rather small, but in comparison to my Altoids tin fire kit, it's huge! SOLKOA recommends to keep them in the packaging, but also recommends cutting them into cubes. So which is it? What is the recommended way to store them after being cut? I'm quite positive these are not food safe, so I'd like to keep my hands off them, if possible.

So we started out, by opening the package and squeezing the Fastfire onto the slab. It took many tries, with the Exotac Firerod, to get an ember going on the Fastfire cube. The Exotac Firerod is a monster flame thrower, so I know that wasn't the issue. Ultimately, we resorted to lighting a Tinder Quik next to the cube and it immediately lit up like a flame from hell! The burn time ran consistent with SOLKOA's claims and burned for 11 minutes 47 seconds.

My conclusion:
The SOLKOA Fastfire cubes are extremely difficult to light without another fire source. The cubes in their packaging take up a large amount of space and are not easily packed into a common Altoids tin. Chemical fire starters are also something I tend to stay away from. I prefer natural tinder and something that can be lit easily.

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Thanks for the review.

How closely related, in your opinin, are the Fast Fire cubes to the Weber Fire Starter cubes? They look a lot like the Webers but I've found the Weber stuff for under $3 for 24 cubes.
 
Rupestris said:
Thanks for the review.

How closely related, in your opinin, are the Fast Fire cubes to the Weber Fire Starter cubes? They look a lot like the Webers but I've found the Weber stuff for under $3 for 24 cubes.
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I have not used the Weber Fire Starters, but I would venture to guess that they are very similar. I believe they are all made of a Trioxane mix and will all do the same. There are many Military surplus stores that sell Trioxane bars.
 
Did you try to light the entire cube? Or did you scrape off a small pile of dust and used the ferro to ignite that? This is the best method for Wet Fire which looks very similar to Fast Fire.
If Wet Fire is still the same as it was 8-10 years ago it is non toxic. Back around 2006 the UST sales rep used to put samples in his mouth to show they are non toxic.

I have an Exotac Poly Stiker, it is one of the worst performing ferro-rods I have ever tested out.
 
billym said:
Did you try to light the entire cube? Or did you scrape off a small pile of dust and used the ferro to ignite that? This is the best method for Wet Fire which looks very similar to Fast Fire.
If Wet Fire is still the same as it was 8-10 years ago it is non toxic. Back around 2006 the UST sales rep used to put samples in his mouth to show they are non toxic.

I have an Exotac Poly Stiker, it is one of the worst performing ferro-rods I have ever tested out.
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I did light the entire cube. SOLKOA gives burn times for the entire cube and if it were divided into eight equal cubes. The cube did not completely burn through, the outer layer charred completely and put out the flame. I cut the remains into chunks and burned them for another 2-3 minutes.

I own a Light My Fire Mini & Scout, so my comparisons of the Exotac Firerod were based on those two. The firerod is very comparable to a Light My Fire Scout, if not better. The added ability to change out the ferro rod is a plus. You can also buy a longer ferro rod replacement.
 
DAVE_M said:
I did light the entire cube. SOLKOA gives burn times for the entire cube and if it were divided into eight equal cubes. The cube did not completely burn through, the outer layer charred completely and put out the flame. I cut the remains into chunks and burned them for another 2-3 minutes.

I own a Light My Fire Mini & Scout, so my comparisons of the Exotac Firerod were based on those two. The firerod is very comparable to a Light My Fire Scout, if not better. The added ability to change out the ferro rod is a plus. You can also buy a longer ferro rod replacement.
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I did not find similar performance in the Exotac as the Light My Fire. The Exotac throws a much smaller and more difficult to produce spark than the LMF. I find the Exotac scraper/striker does not produce sparks 100% of attempts. In a cold/wet emergency I would not trust my life to the Exotac, I would bet my life on a LMF scout or army even their mini.
The Exotac is "all show and no go" IMO. It is nice looking and sleek but noway as user friendly as the LMF from my limited testing.
 
billym said:
I did not find similar performance in the Exotac as the Light My Fire. The Exotac throws a much smaller and more difficult to produce spark than the LMF. I find the Exotac scraper/striker does not produce sparks 100% of attempts. In a cold/wet emergency I would not trust my life to the Exotac, I would bet my life on a LMF scout or army even their mini.
The Exotac is "all show and no go" IMO. It is nice looking and sleek but noway as user friendly as the LMF from my limited testing.
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That could be where our experiences differ. I used the same knife with each firesteel. I threw the LMF mini scraper in the trash and keep the scout scraper as a backup.
 
DAVE_M said:
That could be where our experiences differ. I used the same knife with each firesteel. I threw the LMF mini scraper in the trash and keep the scout scraper as a backup.
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I went the no-scraper route but found the LMF scraper did a better job than the knives I usually have on me. If you didn't use the Exotac scraper you might find the rod itself is perfectly fine. I found their scraper to be unreliable. Just tried the Exotac with a LMF scraper; big difference.
 
billym said:
I went the no-scraper route but found the LMF scraper did a better job than the knives I usually have on me. If you didn't use the Exotac scraper you might find the rod itself is perfectly fine. I found their scraper to be unreliable. Just tried the Exotac with a LMF scraper; big difference.
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Thanks for the heads up! I was looking into the other Exotac's and think I will just stick with the Firerod. I'm not much of a fan with scrapers.
 
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