I’ve had this one for a little over 2 years, but I suspect it wouldn’t last the average person 2 months before it outright fails and they just throw it away.
Why? Well, electronics don’t exactly like smoke of any form, whether it be nicotine, weed, wood, paper, etc. But that’s exactly what these lighters do, literally light things on fire, which of course generates smoke and dirties the electrodes, up until the point they start shorting out, if not other issues first.
I happen to be an electronics technician that knows how to safely disassemble, service and clean this thing occasionally, but its highly suggested that nobody ever try to service them, as they generate thousands of volts for the electric arc, which absolutely will burn the piss out of your fingers, if not worse.
I’m actually glad to have it, it was a cheap late Christmas gift from my mom back in January 2024, but I figure basically 99% of average consumers would end up having issues with it and throwing it away within ~2 months or less.
Sigh, e-waste…
You have a good point regarding not keeping flammable fluids in your camping gear, honestly I’ve barely even thought about factors like that.
I have done some basic tests with my arc lighter, and I figure that if you’re gonna keep something like this in your camping gear, then either have a small pack of toothpicks packed in, or be ready to use a dry twig.
Either way, it’s really easy to start a flame with one of these lighters by lighting a thin and dry twig to start with.