UST Micro Sparkwheel Emergency Fire Starting Tool WG02032

I am fairly new to camping and prepping, but over the last year, I've started assembling a Go Bag. I bought one of these Spark Wheels to be an alternate fire starter in my kit. Seemed a little gimicky, but it was cheap enough I felt willing to try it out.

Once received, I took it outside to my concrete patio, to test. I took a regular old untreated cotton ball from the bathroom, stretched it out a little so it was wispy and put it on the ground. One simple strike of this device "sprayed" out a fan of sparks that instantly caught the cotton on fire. This wasn't a small smolder I had to coax into life, this was legit open flame that burned hot for 10 seconds. It was startling, actually. If I'd been intent on a campfire and had a birds nest prepared, I could have had one going in no time.

The Fire Starter comes in a handy little plastic tube (about an inch tall and third inch in diameter). I was able to stuff a cotton ball in there, and will have more in my pack. I understand treating them in Vaseline allows them to burn longer, I'll try that out, too.