Without a doubt, my favorite way to start a fire is with a ferrocerium rod (otherwise known as a fire steel, fire rod, metal match, etc). Nothing to me is more satisfying than gathering your tinder, striking your fire steel and watching the flame begin to rise.
With that said, it is past-time for me to tell you all about my preferred fire steel. So let’s dive into my ExoTac Polystriker XL Review.
Exotac Polystriker XL Fire Starter
To get things started, let’s go over some general specs.
- The Polystriker XL has a 5/16″ thick ferrocerium rod built into its brightly colored orange handle (though other colors are offered).
- The fire starter measures 5.3″ at its entire length, while the rod itself is around 2″.
- The striker is made of tungsten carbide and is extremely sharp. In fact, it’s my favorite striker…But more on that in a moment.
- The Polystriker XL is very lightweight at 1.4oz.
- Lastly, the entire fire starting unit has a large hole to secure everything together with a paracord lanyard.
All In One Design
What I love about the Exotac Polystriker is how everything is a self-contained unit. The striker nests perfectly into the large handle of the Polystriker body. This makes for a compact and sleek package to throw into your pocket, or into a bag. As you can see above, the 2 pieces of this tool are secured with paracord, so you’ll never run the risk of losing either of them when you’re in the field.
* Pro-Tip: Leave your paracord lanyard long enough so you can feed it through your belt loop and prevent it from getting dropped/lost.
Best Fire Steel Striker
I’ve used a lot of brands when it comes to fire steels and no one has come close to beating Exotac with their supplied striker. The Exotac Polystriker XL comes with a tungsten carbide striker that is sharpened to a perfect and VERY sharp 90° angle.
This striker really shines with Exotac’s ferrocerium rod. But what’s an even better testament to their striker is that it makes other brands of subpar ferrocerium rods work 100% better because of how well it scrapes and showers sparks.
Ferrocerium Rod
The built-in ferrocerium rod is advertised to burn at 5500°F (3000°c) and withstand up to 10,000 strikes. While I cannot attest to a true temperature test, I will say that the sparks coming off of this fire steel are seriously hot. They are easily the hottest sparks that I’ve had my hands near from a ferro rod. I have also had a larger success rate with this fire starter than any other on the market, which leads me to believe they are in fact burning hotter.
Exotac Polystriker XL vs Light My Fire Army
The Exotac Polystriker XL is currently going for $16 and some change on Amazon. While the Light My Fire Army comes in around $12 on Amazon. Both of the ferrocerium rods have been excellent in my testing. However, the striker that is supplied with the Light My Fire Army is far below what you’re getting with the Exotac Polystriker in terms of sharpness (which directly results the kinds of sparks you’re going to get). The Exotac Polystriker is far easier and more comfortable to use as well, given its larger gripping areas. So with that said, I would buy the Exotac over the Light My Fire.
Exotac Polystriker XL Value
For $16, the value of what you’re getting with the Exotac Polystriker XL is excellent and you won’t beat it at this price point. The striker is fantastic as I already mentioned. The ferrocerium rod itself showers insanely hot sparks. And lastly, the handles are very comfortable to get a grip on.
Exotac Polystriker XL Review (10 out of a 10)
I’ve been really excited to tell you all about this fire starter, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t romanticizing it. So I kept testing it. And now, I can give this a very solid 10 out of a 10 based on my usage with it.
The Exotac Polystriker XL has always performed well in any conditions, thrown reliable-fire-starting sparks and is a great value that I would recommend to my fellow bushcrafters & campers.
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20% Off At Exotac.com: Use coupon code “anthonyawaken” at checkout.
* Ethics Statement: I personally purchased the Exotac Polystriker XL a few years ago for around $20-25. All opinions, statements, and content are my own.
DROP ME A COMMENT
Q&A: If you have any questions about the Exotac Polystriker XL or anything else please drop me a comment below – I’d be more than happy to help!
Comments: What’s your favorite fire starter? Or are you looking to buy an ExoTac of your own? Let me know in the comments below!
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