Well, it looks like Kelty is trying to change a couple of those. The Cosmic Down 20 degree sleeping bag is a 2.5lb (1.12kg) down filled sleeping bag that comes in at the extremely low price of $100. Typically this price point is reserved for light weight summer bags or 6lb monstrosities that take up half your pack.

How did they do it? Well, it’s a down bag, but don’t expect everything you get in one of the $350 down bags. The down used in the Cosmic Down is 550 fill duck down. This means it’s not as high loft as an 800 fill bag and thus weighs more for the same amount of insulation. That said, this is a 2.5lb bag. It’s not going to be breaking anyone’s back. It’s also about half the weight of comparable synthetic bags at this price. The lining is a simple polyester, not the breathable/waterproof fabrics you occasionally see on much more expensive bags.

Additionally, the sack it comes with is pretty basic without any real way to compress the bag down in your pack. I’d highly recommend you spend the $15-20 on a nice compression sack for your outings. No storage sack is included either. So, you might want to invest in one of those too.

In testing, our impressions were over all positive. The fill is a bit lumpy looking compared to the $350 20 degree Mountain Hardwear bag we brought along for comparison. It’s also quite apparent that Kelty saved a lot of weight by cutting back on the thickness of the fabric. The Cosmic Down uses a 50 denier polyester that doesn’t look like it would last for an AT or PCT through hike. That said, for the average camper, it should be more than adequate.

The baffles aren’t high tech like many of the newer bags coming on the market, but they work well to keep the down in place. There were one or two spots I could see that were a bit light on the down, but over all this sleeping bag should keep you pretty warm.

Kelty used a 3/4 length zipper in the Cosmic Down 20. This saves some weight, but may come at the cost of accessibility. In use, we never had a problem though. They brought the zipper down far enough that it was never an issue getting in and out of the bag.

How about the big question, does the bag keep you warm at night? We haven’t had anything near 20 degree nights yet here in the PNW, but we were testing on a 40 degree night. The bag was warm enough to require venting.

So in the end, the Kelty Cosmic Down 20 degree sleeping bag works well at a spectacularly low price point. It certainly doesn’t have the features of the $350 sleeping bags, but you’ll have an additional $250 in your pocket. It’s about a pound heavier than the $350 bag. So, if you’re looking to go ultralight, this may not be the bag for you. You’ll also need to get yourself a storage sack and a decent stuff sack. So, be sure to budget for those.

When it comes down to it though, this bag is a steal at $100. If you’re the average camper, you could do far worse than the Cosmic Down. It works well, will keep you warm, and does the job well.

Product provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.

The Pyro 15′s main feature is the utilization of Sierra Designs Core Comfort Technology (CCT). This is the same technology that they use in many of their insulated jackets–placing additional insulation in the places you need it most, namely, the core. The science behind CCT is that when your core is warm, your body doesn’t have to work as hard to stay warm, and (hopefully) you get a better nights sleep in the process.

In the Pyro 15, the extra insulation can be found in the core and in the ergonomically shaped footbox. Using 600-fill down and a double baffle provides loft and warmth where you need it, without the hefty price-tag that 800+ fill bags will run you. At 2lbs 13oz, it’s comparable in weight to many other sleeping bags rated to the same temperature.

While the main feature of this bag is the CCT, there are a few other nice features that are welcome comforts. One of my favorites is actually the two straps on the underside of the bag to keep your sleeping pad in place, directly under you the whole night. A pretty smart feature, in my opinion. And when you’re backpacking, a pillow is usually the last thing you’re thinking about on your list to pack. I usually just roll up whatever insulated jacket I brought along for the trip and call it a night. On the Pyro 15, Sierra Designs integrated a small pillow-sized pocket in the hood where you can stash some clothes to make a pillow.

In most areas of the country, a 15-degree bag will be overkill in the summer, but we haven’t had much of a summer here in the Pacific Northwest. In the mountains, it still gets quite cool at night and the 15-degree bag is great for staying warm. I would much rather be a little too warm and have to vent the bag then spend the whole night shivering and putting on extra layers. Sierra Designs has had this bag EN tested, with the lower limit being 12 degrees Fahrenheit, though the comfort limit being 25 degrees. You can read more about EN ratings here.

The Pyro 15 is available in Regular and Long sizes, and though I am no where near tall enough to test the limit of the Regular size, they say it fits to 6 feet. If you’re much taller than that, definitely go with the Long for maximum comfort and fit. The Pyro 15 retails for $250.

Product provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.

Usually in the summer I can get away with a 40-45 degree bag on overnights, which saves a lot of weight and space in my pack. Unfortunately, some nights that just isn’t always enough to keep you warm. With a rating of 15 degrees, the Casper 15 is designed to keep you nice and toasty well into freezing temperatures. I was willing to see how it stacked up to some of the other synthetic bags I’ve used if it meant I’d be warm and cozy in my tent at night. Though it never got that cold when I was testing the pack, I can say I was pretty comfortable all night long.

It’s carry weight weighs in at 3 pounds, only a few ounces more than other brands that cost twice as much. While I wouldn’t take this bag on a long backpacking trip (because of size and weight), on short overnights, it’s likely that on short jaunts, you won’t notice the weight (I didn’t). The Casper 15 has a few nice features, my favorite being the trapezoidal footbox. This give you a little extra room at your feet so that you can sleep with your feet in a natural position, rather than being cramped up at the bottom of your bag. There is also a pretty generous draft tube that runs along the length of the zipper, keeping cool air out.

If you’ve never used a mummy-style bag before, it might take some getting used to. Even after years of camping and backpacking, it always takes me a night or two to adjust to the constraints. I tend to choose bags that are roomy, even if I know I’ll be carrying the extra weight. Measuring at 64″ for shoulder girth, it will definitely feel narrower than your average rectangular bag. As a woman with a narrower frame, this wasn’t an issue but if you are a larger man, it might be a tight squeeze. If you’re concerned about size, find an outdoor store that will let you try bags out for size. Because it is rated down to 15 degrees, the insulation (Rteq™, a blend of four polyester fibers) provides quite a bit of loft. This, combined with the soft “peached polyester” lining, makes for a comfy sleep. Plus, I didn’t have to worry about getting the bag wet as I would with a down-filled bag. An added bonus was the small internal pocket near the shoulders is a good place to stash your iPod or glasses for easy access.

At around $100, Eureka’s Casper 15 is a great deal for a quality sleeping bag with nice features, making it a good choice for a beginner backpacker.

Product provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.

At just shy of 16 ounces, the Lumapivot trades lightness for brightness. With 2 15 LED panels producing 110 lumens of light, this lantern will light up just about any tent on the market and will give you ample warning of a branch at ankle level when going out for a midnight bathroom break.

While the Lumapivot is heavier than the standard headlamp, it’s actually quite light for a lantern. Kelty has kept the materials to a minimum by using extruded aluminum rods for the body of the lantern and fairly lightweight plastics for the remainder. At 15.9 ounces without batteries, it’s not going to kill you to carry around. It’s certainly much larger than I’d want to take on a backpacking trip, but for basic camping it’s quite manageable.

The lantern has 2 modes. One where both panels are on, and another with a single panel on. Using both panels works great for lighting up tents for night time card games. A single panel is just what you need for walking around outside the tent at night.

Unfortunately, there is a tradeoff with this much light in a battery powered device. The run time isn’t fantastic. Using a single panel, you can expect a full set of 6 AA batteries to last you 12 hours. Using both panels, that run time drops to 6. That said, no one is going to take this lantern on through hikes of the AT thanks to its size and weight. For car camping, the battery life will be more than acceptable.

While I’m not crazy about the number of batteries this lantern takes, I applaud Kelty for not using a proprietary battery pack. You can pretty much guarantee you’ll be able to find AA batteries just about anywhere in the world for decades to come. That said, I really wish they would have made the Lumapivot take either 4 or 8 AA batteries. Nearly every AA recharger takes sets of 4 batteries, making recharging 6 somewhat of a pain.

The Lumapivot has an MSRP of $49.99, however as of writing this review you can find it online for as low as $35. At that price, it’s a no-brainer. If you’re looking for more light than a headlamp can put out, but still want something that’s not going to break your back, the Lumapivot lantern is a good choice.

Product provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.

Then there are 4-season tents. “4-Season” is a bit of a misnomer though. They should really be called fourth season tents. They’re big, they’re heavy, and they’re made to withstand the worst that mother nature can throw at them. This is where the Mountain Meteor 3 from Sierra Designs comes in.

With a trail weight of 11 pounds 10 ounces, this is not what I would call a lightweight tent. In fact, you might have to split up the weight between two people if you’re looking to use it. Unlike your standard Coleman tent though (that might weigh about the same), this thing is built for the worst weather around.

Unpack the tent and you’ll see exactly why this thing weighs so much. The fly is made of a very thick nylon that can clearly keep the snow off you. The sheer number of poles this tent comes with is amazing in itself.

The poles themselves are made with DAC Green Poles. According to DAC, one of the worst processes in making tent poles is the anodizing. It apparently releases some pretty nasty chemicals in the world. DAC says they’ve been able to eliminate nitric acid and phosphoric acid from the process. So, while it’s still not 100% environmentally friendly, it’s a big step in the right direction. You can read more about the process here.

Unsurprisingly, the tent itself is pretty heavy duty too. The tent floor is made from some very thick nylon, and the body is equally well constructed. So, while you may be cursing yourself on the hike to base camp, you’ll love it once you get there and set up camp.

Setting up the Tent:

In my mind, the real test of a tent is how fast you can set it up. I want to be able to set up a good tent in 50mph winds while it’s dumping snow on you. If you have to spend 20 minutes fooling around with pole locations, you might as well start digging a snow cave.

This is why I like my personal winter camping tent, a Mountain Hardwear Trango 3.1. The Trango is the direct competition for this tent and has an extremely long history of mountain use behind it. If the Mountain Meteor 3 plans to knock the Trango of its throne, it has some serious work to do. Thus, I planned to compare the Mountain Meteor to the Trango for the purposes of the review.

Since this tent has what they call “Jakes Corners”, I figured I’d take a look at the manual. So, I unpacked everything and opened the paperwork to take a look. This was a mistake. The manual consists of 2 double sided pages of folded 8.5×11 paper with extremely poor instructions included. If you want to see them yourself, they’re available here. Compare that to the MHW Trango that comes with an owner’s manual and pitching instructions, and you’ll see the difference. Not really a good start if you ask me. Thankfully though, there’s nothing incredibly revolutionary about the design of the tent. So, I was able to put it together without a manual.

Like most modern tents, the Mountain Meteor 3 eschews the traditional tent pole sleeves for a clip system. So, setting up the tent involves rolling out the tent, assembling the pole structure above the tent, and then clipping everything to the poles. The big clips on the tent are a bit different than others that I’ve seen. As you can see in the picture, there’s a length of bungee cord attached to them. You’re supposed to clip the poles, wrap the cord around the poles a couple times, and then stick the end of the cord in the clip. It works, but it’s not the fastest method of setting up a tent. The remainder of the clips you simply attach to the poles.

Once you have the tent setup, it’s time to attach the Jakes Corners. If you’re in a hurry, it’s not 100% required as far as I can tell, but they will provide extra stability in high wind situations. This reduces the need for interior guy lines in high wind. The process to setup the corners takes a bit to get used to, but it’s mostly painless. You take one of the provided poles, slip the cord between a piece of plastic, and attach it to the tent.

After that’s over, it’s time to attach the rain fly. This is a pretty standard affair of clips and tie outs, although there are a couple added poles to deal with. All in all, it’s a pretty standard process.

Using the tent:

Once you’re done setting up the Mountain Meteor 3, it’s time to move in. The first thing you’ll notice is the size of the tent; it’s simply massive. Most 3 person tents can really comfortably fit 2 people. Not so with the Mountain Meteor 3. As you can tell from the header image to this article, this 3 person tent can actually fit 3 people. As long as you keep your packs in the equally massive vestibule, you should have plenty of room inside.

Also included are ample pockets for gear storage. Each side of the tent has 3 pockets that allow storage of smaller items. If you need more space, there are spots to attach a gear loft too.

The top of the tent includes two vents that you can open to reduce condensation on warmer nights. I actually liked these much better than the vents on the Trango, as they seemed to work quite a bit better.

Overnight, the Mountain Meteor 3 kept me warm enough that I ended up opening the vents a bit on a 20 degree night. There weren’t any huge winds that night though. So, I couldn’t test how the tent is under extreme wind load.

Conclusions:

While I haven’t had the chance to do a ton of camping in the Mountain Meteor 3, I’m pretty happy with what I see. In some areas I like the Trango better, in others I like the Mountain Meteor better. Once you get to know the Mountain Meteor, it’s actually pretty easy to setup. I’d like to see a much better manual, but that’s not really an issue in the field if you know the tent.

The Mountain Meteor 3 is certainly well made, and appears that it will stand up to some serious abuse. Whether you’re going high altitude mountaineering, or just taking the family out for some winter camping, the Mountain Meteor 3 will serve you well.

At $650, this isn’t a cheap tent. If you’re looking for something to use once, you might want to look at cheaper models. If you’re looking for something that will stand up to whatever you can throw at it and last you through years of winter camping, the Mountain Meteor 3 is a pretty good choice. If you look at the competition for high quality 4 season tents, the Mountain Meteor 3 is priced right in line. Give it a look, you’ll like what you see.

Enter the Eta Solo. I first saw the Eta Solo back at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2009. Back then the company only had a one-off demo unit to show. Obviously, I wasn’t going to get my hands on that one to try out.

However, a year later and the Eta Solo has finally hit the market. I was quite excited to get my hands on one to try out and to compare to the competition.

Eta Solo Overview:

If you’ve ever used a JetBoil, the Eta Solo will be pretty familiar to you. There’s an insulated mug for boiling water, connected to a heat exchanger. The stove itself attaches to the heat exchanger and is powered by a gas canister that the stove sits on top.

The Eta Solo does vary a bit from the JetBoil though. For one, instead of a system of tabs to keep the mug attached to the stove, the Eta Solo uses two clips with positive stops. The advantage to this design is that it’s a bit more secure than using tabs that you twist the stove off. The disadvantage of this is also that it’s a bit more secure. It’s more difficult to attach the stove. So, you probably don’t want to have hot water in the mug when you’re attaching the stove as there’s a chance you might get scalded.

The Eta Solo also comes with a neat set of metal supports that you attach the stove so you can use it as a regular camp stove. The nice part about this is that you don’t have to buy special pots if you need to cook for more than one person. The trade off is that the bigger pots aren’t going to be as stable.

As with other stoves in this class, you’re not going to be cooking any fine dining with them. These stoves run incredibly hot as they’re designed to quickly melt snow and boil water. There is flame control, but it’s not exactly made for simmering sauces. You buy stoves like these to eat dehydrated food, and save weight in your pack. At 12.9oz, the Eta Solo isn’t exactly going to break your back.

Eta Solo Vs JetBoil:

Seeing as the competition for this stove is the JetBoil, I thought I’d dig my Flash PCS out of the closet and put them both head to head.

As you can see by the picture on the left, the JetBoil Flash PCS has a slightly larger mug than the Eta Solo. This is slightly deceiving as the JetBoil can pack everything inside the mug, while the Eta Solo won’t fit the stand for the gas canister inside. the Flash PCS also includes a cover for the heat exchanger.

For the test, I would see how fast both of these stoves would boil 1 cup of tap water. So as to make sure there weren’t any differences in fuel tank pressure, I used the same Primus brand gas canister for both tests. Since the Eta Solo doesn’t have a clear lid, I decided to leave the lids off both to get the most accurate reading of how long it took to boil.

So, I got 2 cups of water from the tap and headed outside on a cloudy Seattle afternoon. The ambient temperature that day was around 65. First up was the JetBoil. I attached the stove to the mug, turned the gas up to high, lit the stove, and started my stop watch. At 1 minute and 15 seconds, the water had a rolling boil. I then moved the gas canister over to the Eta Solo and repeated the experiment. In this case, it took 1 minute and 29 seconds for a rolling boil.

So, roughly a 15 second difference between the two stoves. Does this difference mean a lot in real life? Probably not. 1:15-1:30 is still a pretty damn quick time to boil a cup of water. Obviously, it’s going to take longer the more water you put in the cup. However, it’s not like these mugs can hold 5 gallons each.

The good, the bad, and the ugly:

So, the Eta Solo isn’t perfect in my mind. There are a few things I’d like to see changed in later revisions. First, the gas control knob needs to be revised. The current knob is fine if you’re in warm weather, but it’s not ideal if you’re wearing gloves. A wire bale like on the JetBoil would be nice to see. Second, I’d like a clear lid on the top to more easily see what’s going on inside the pot. Sure, lids do get fogged up when in use, but I can still see when something’s boiling. Lastly, the gas canister stand needs to be redesigned to fit inside the mug when the stove is packed up. Near as I can tell, it’s impossible to fit it inside the mug and still get the lid on.

Summary:

Overall, I like the Eta Solo. It’s not perfect, and it’s not going to revolutionize the outdoor stove market, but it’s a decent product. Primus has made some pretty spectacular stoves in the past, and this one appears to live up to their usual quality standards. As of writing this review, the Eta Solo appears to be retailing for around $80 (US). At that price, it’s a quality product that should last for years of backcountry use.

Product sample provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of innovation in outdoor products. Too often it seems that all the companies out there are copying each others designs. Rarely do truly innovative products come along.

Last July I was at the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City. It was here  that I ran across a previously unknown (to me) design firm called Alite Designs. On display were quite a few products for enjoying the outdoor. Their big draw though was the sexy hotness. The company claimed it was designed around one thing, getting busy in the woods. A bit gimmicky perhaps, but at least it seemed that there would be something different about it. Fast forward to this spring, and the sexy hotness is ready for production. Alite contacted me and wanted to know if I’d like to test their sleeping bag. How could I say no?

The sexy hotness itself is a synthetic fill bag rated down to 20 degrees. It’s not the lightest bag on the market at 3.5 pounds, but it’s also nowhere close to the heaviest. The designers at Alite saw fit to put zippers on both sides of the bag, so there’s no need to pick one over the other. The bags can also zip together for sleeping with your significant other (or tonight’s one night stand). Dual pockets on the front will hold small items like a head lamp or car keys for a quick morning getaway.

That’s where the normal sleeping bag features end. Open up the bag and you’ll notice something a bit strange about the lining. There’s a reflective Kama Sutra pattern printed on it. Obviously, Alite likes to have a bit of fun when they design their products.

So where does the ‘sexy hotness’ part of the bag come from? Well, that’s due to the zipper you can see in the picture on the left. The entire bottom of the sleeping bag zips in half and there are insulated slippers built into the bottom of the bag. If you unzip the side zippers a bit you can stick your arms through them and walk around while wearing your sleeping bag. From my personal testing, this is extremely nice for getting up to pee in the middle of the night. While it’s a bit awkward to unzip the bag and your legs do get cold while making the walk to the latrine, it’s still better than the alternative.

This is what I love about Alite Designs. Their designers aren’t afraid to take some risks in the name of improving the products they make. Clearly, this isn’t an ultralight bag. However, it will work perfectly fine for 90% of the people that do go camping. So while the ‘sex in the woods’ marketing angle is a bit gimmicky, I do really like the bag overall.

It hasn’t been cold enough to test the sexy hotness down to its 20 degree rating, but I was never cold in the bag. The extra long zipper pulls are a nice touch as they’re incredibly easy to find in the dark. The inside of the bag leaves more than enough room to toss and turn at night without feeling claustrophobic.

The sexy hotness retails for $149 and you can buy it directly from Alite’s website. From the rumors I’ve heard, it may also be available in your local outdoor stores too (sans Kama Sutra pattern). At $149, it’s priced roughly at the same level as all the other synthetic sleeping bags out there. If you’re looking for a sleeping bag that’s a bit more playful than the average Coleman, you might want to give the sexy hotness a look.

Product sample provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.

The Brunton Restore is a bit different than the usual solar panel that the company makes. Traditional solar panels require you to unroll the panels when you get to camp and attach the device you want to charge. The Restore on the other hand combines a solar panel with a battery so you don’t have to keep your electronics attached to charge.  This means instead of only charging at camp, you can keep the restore on the outside of your pack during the day and then recharge your device at night.

If you’re a little closer to civilization, Brunton also includes a couple handy adapters so the Restore can be charged in a couple hours via a USB port or even a car’s cigarette lighter. The restore itself will charge anything that can be charged by some variant of USB. So in my case, this was perfect for keeping an iPod charged. I found a bit of webbing and a carabiner worked to attach the Restore to my pack. While you have to make sure you don’t hit the restore against a tree or branch, it works pretty well for charging on the go.

The Restore will hold 1000mA in its internal battery. In my case, this was good for 3 charges of my iPod. A full charge takes about a day with a decent amount of sun. If you have shade or an overcast day, recharge time will increase dramatically. That said, the internal battery was more than large enough to keep my iPod charged through an overcast day.

Retail prices for the Restore seem to be between $60 and $90 at the moment. At that price, the Brunton Restore is a pretty decent deal. If you’re going on a long backpacking trip and want to keep small electronics charged, take a look at the Restore.

Product sample provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.

MSR has since come out with the Reactor, and Primus is soon to release their own competitor to the PCS. However, Jetboil hasn’t taken this lying down. The Flash PCS is the latest version of the stove that has had several feature improvements over the years.

As the PR people for Jetboil’s competition constantly remind me, a previous version of the Flash PCS (called the PCS) had issues with the burner that resulted in a rather large recall for the company. The Flash PCS has had this issue fixed and is as reliable as ever.

So, what exactly is so great about the Flash PCS? In its essence, the Flash PCS is an insulated mug with a stove attached to it. While that may not seem like such a revolutionary concept, hear me out.

In roughly the space of the fuel bottle for other stoves, the Flash PCS stores the stove, fuel, measuring cup, and a 1 liter mug. Gone are pounds of gear that you would have had to bring along on previous trips. Instead, you have a 379g (w/o fuel) ‘cooking system’ that can be packed up smaller than almost anything else out there. Additionally, the stove is extremely efficient, reducing the amount of fuel you’ll need to bring along. Setup takes seconds and no matches are needed to light the stove as it has an included piezo ignition.

There are some limitations to the Flash PCS. Since it’s basically an insulated mug, you’re not going to be cooking any gourmet meals in it. The Flash PCS is pretty much good for boiling water, and that’s about it. If you’re looking for more involved meals, you’ll have to upgrade to a larger stove like the GCS or the Helios. A larger pot is available, but it does make the stove much less compact.

That said, if you can live with the limitations of the stove, it does what its designed to do very well. Every single piece of the stove has been well thought out. My favorite feature of the stove is also one of the most boring. Jetboil manufactured the base of the stove out of plastic instead of metal. I’ve had huge problems with other stoves rusting where the gas canister connects as there will inevitably be a bit of moisture left in the pot after cleaning up that the stove sits in. Since Jetboil manufactured the base out of plastic, the metal part that hooks into the gas canister never actually touches the ground, thus removing this problem all together. While it’s a minor detail, it removes a huge headache from my typical camping trip.

The rest of the stove has some pretty nice features too. The insulating cozy serves as both a handle and an insulator. Also, an indicator is built in to the side of the cozy that changes color to tell you when the water is hot. The lid of the stove can be used to strain pasta or to aid in drinking directly out of the pot. A ‘tripod’ is included that snaps on to the bottom of the gas canister that provides quite a bit of extra stability. Even the lid for the bottom of the unit can serve as a measuring cup.

As would be expected, performance is much faster than traditional white gas stoves. The Flash PCS does actually boil 1/2 a liter of water in the 2 minutes that the company claims. Obviously this will be a bit slower if you’re using it at altitude and starting with glacial ice. However, this is quite a bit faster than it used to take on the old expedition stoves.

I really can’t say enough good things about the Flash PCS. If you’re looking for something extremely lightweight that will prepare your freeze dried meals, this is the stove for you. It’s very well thought out and at $99.95, a relative bargain too.

Product sample provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.

The Primus Power Lighter is a compact refillable butane lighter with a very strong flame. According to the packaging, the flame burns at 1300 degrees Celsius, so it should light just about anything you’ll need from camp stoves to p-tex candles.

From my testing, the flame lit in any direction I held the lighter. While the company does say the flame is wind resistant, it isn’t wind proof; I was able to blow out the flame. That said, it isn’t any easier to blow out than any other lighter I’ve had in the past.

Filling the lighter is a simple matter of attaching the filling adaptor to a can of fuel, flipping the lighter upside down, and pressing the adaptor against the lighter. The middle of the lighter contains a plastic window that allows you to see how much fuel is left, and how far you’ve filled the lighter.

Perhaps the best endorsement I can give the Power Lighter is that it has replaced my old lighter in my backpack. While I do keep a spare set of waterproof matches, this has become my go to lighter.

The Primus Power Lighter retails for $17. However, you’ll also need the filling adaptor that’s sold separately for $14. All told, it’ll cost you $31 (at MSRP, online prices are a bit cheaper) to have a lighter that can be filled off cheap camping stove fuel canisters. This is a bit more than you’ll pay for a Zippo. However, considering there aren’t any flints to replace and the fuel isn’t going to leak like in the Zippo, it’s not a bad deal if you ask me.

Product sample provided by the manufacturer for review purposes.