By Hollis Easter
Essential Gear Windmill Trekker lighter
As long as I’ve lived, I’ve been fascinated by fire. If you keep reading my reviews, chances are you’ll notice a fiery thread running through my choices of gear.
I’ve never been a pyromaniac, exactly–that sounds like a habit that’s out of control, which isn’t the case at all. It’s just… an enduring passion. I love fire. I learn about it, read about it, study it, and love it.
So when Essential Gear asked me to review their Windmill Trekker lighter, you can imagine that I got a bit fired up.
The Trekker is part of Essential Gear’s Windmill series, a group of butane lighters advertised as “Stormproof”. They further explain that “stormproof” means that the lighters will withstand 70-80 mph winds, and that the rubber seals on the lighter will keep it dry and operable as long as the cap is closed–even if you drop it in a lake.
Shipping regulations in the USA mean that Essential Gear can’t mail the lighters full of fuel, since they’re carried by air. So my first exercise was to fill the lighter. Pretty simple–it uses a standard butane fill nipple on the base of the lighter, right next to a dial that controls fuel flow (and, consequently, flame height).
The lighter uses a pushbutton ignition system: depress the button slightly to start the flow of gas, then push it fully down. A piezoelectric crystal delivers a spark to ignite the butane. One thing I like about this sort of system is that it’s easy to use with gloves on, which is important in winter.
Once I’ve kicked the tires and lit the fires, I can adjust flame size with the dial on the base of the lighter. You can use a screwdriver, but I just move it with my fingernail and call it a day. There’s a little coil of wire inside the head of the lighter, and it glows orange when the lighter’s going. I assume that this is either platinum or palladium wire, and that it functions as a heat reservoir to keep the flame going when wind tries to blow it out. The orange glow seems to draw “Oh cool!” comments from the other people who play with my lighter.
There’s a wrist lanyard, which I would plan to use if I were (a) doing a big-wall climb where it was really important not to drop the lighter, (b) lighting a stove while kayaking, or (c) teaching a small child to light a fire safely.
Once I’m done using the lighter, it’s a simple matter to close the cap and secure it with the wire bail that covers it. Then it’s off into a pocket of my pack.
The lighter is 3.7 inches by 1.5 inches, and allegedly holds 4 grams of butane fuel. Remember that butane is very light. However, Essential Gear also says the lighter weighs 2 oz; my scale shows it at 2.4 oz. That said, this is not the lighter most ultralight hikers would pick (since it holds lots of fuel and is big and durable), and the rest of the world may not care about four tenths of an ounce here and there.
I’m looking forward to getting out and lighting some fires with the Trekker. We’ll see how it does with stoves and campfires, and if I run across a friend who smokes, I might let him borrow the lighter for that, too. Thanks, Essential Gear!
– Hollis
Update: 16 October 2009
Well, I’ve been using the Windmill Trekker all over the place, and so far I’m very pleased with it.
I’ve carried–and used–the Trekker on a variety of different excursions in the last couple of months. It went kayak camping on Little Tupper Lake and Rock Pond, where it helped to kindle a fire that warmed a friend who capsized his canoe. I used it to light morning campfires on Mountain Pond and Duck Hole, even in the rain… and I’ve used it repeatedly to light fires in my fireplace at home (the joys of having a broken furnace!)
I’ve also used it for other things: sealing the ends of nylon cordage, smoothing a patch on the bottom of my polyethylene sea kayak, and flaming slugs that try to eat my basil.
Sunset on Rock Pond, with my campfire behind me
First, the bad: the Trekker is noticeably heavier than other lighters, and it eats lighter fuel at a faster rate. I’ve had to refill it twice so far, although that’s partly because people like to play with the lighter. Because its flame is quite focused, you’ve gotta keep the flame pointed exactly where you want it–which can be hard when you’re wet and cold.
Those “bad” points aren’t really that horrible, to be honest, and they aren’t surprising at all. The weight is printed on the box, after all.
There’s a lot to like about the Trekker. The precise flame makes it useful for focused tasks–it’ll be useful the next time I need to replace the heat-sealed pads on my flute, for example, and it was good for smoothing out the hull of my kayak. The lighter works well even in the rain, and it puts out enough heat to get damp wood to light. I liked the fact that, when using the lighter for a long time, the button never got so hot that it was painful.
So far, the claims about windproofness seem to be accurate enough. I can still get things to light on fire in windy conditions, and that’s all I really care about.
Thanks to eGear for letting me review the Windmill Trekker! Check back in a while, and I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it.
– Hollis
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