Baby, Light My Fire: The Rechargeable Looft Lighter X Review

Are you a man of the napalm variety? Or perhaps you prefer the spotty devastation of a flamethrower or the pointed destructive nature of a jet turbine. These may be three pipe dreams of the seasoned pyromaniac, but for the rest of us, when you dumb these down and add a steak as the primary target – they begin to look a bit more like lighter fluid, a lighter, and a heat gun. That is a ridiculous comparison, you say, but what we’re getting at is that you can light a fire using a lot of manly stuff, but just because you can doesn’t mean that you should, especially when you’re offering your steak as the sacrifice.

There are pros and cons to everything, but we’re not here to duke it out with which type is better, but rather offer a solid reason as to why you should adopt a forced air device into your current fire-making arsenal. Overall, these are clean, safe, relatively inexpensive, and get the job done, and not many would argue against that. The only question is: can the Looft Lighter get the job done with more focus, accuracy, safety, and pizzazz?

And the short answer is, yes.

Quite simply, a heat gun works, but the Looft Lighter X is just better equipped for the job. But before you head off on your merry way, let’s power up this electric turbine and see exactly what you get with the Looft Lighter X and everything that it’s capable of.

Yes, this is basically a battery-operated heat gun (well, maybe more like a wand), but it does have some crucial differences. It has a sturdy caged tip and decreased shielding where the heating element is located. This is key, as it works as the main ignition point that you can place directly on the surface of the item you are trying to ignite. With a standard heat gun, these are designed to NOT catch the items directly in front of it on fire, and therefore they are not as effective as a direct contact ignition point. Long story short, ignore your intuitions and place that red hot Looft tip directly on whatever it is that you’re trying to burn (your grumbling stomach will thank you for it).

The Looft Lighter’s nose is also long (approximately 8″) and is made from an aluminum alloy that can handle being placed within a pile of burning embers. The standard heat gun is shorter (your hand is closer) and has a plastic/resin case that is not as heatproof. Most heat guns also only have two heat settings, high and low. The Looft Lighter X has been programmed to heat the element in the tip for the first several seconds before focusing a superheated breeze across the surface you’re trying to ignite. The point of this is to establish a proper hot spot before introducing more oxygen into the mix. The initial forced air of the standard heat gun will almost always work against you.

The Looft Lighter X comes with the device itself, a battery, and a charger, and works within a heat range of up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. It can accomplish this output within the pivotal 60-second mark, which is the bar that Looft has set for itself to light any fire. This gives you the potential to get that initial heat into a pile of coals long before the standard paper and wood chip method, and with the elimination of smell and contamination when compared to using lighter fluid.

To get a fire going you simply press the (safety) trigger button on the handle for 3-seconds to initiate the control panel. Once the control panel lights up you have the option to choose “flame” (controlled heat, followed by the increasing velocity of heated air), or the boost button (high-speed heated air to stoke an already established flame). Unless you already have a smoldering bed of fuel to work with, you always want to start on the flame setting with the tip pressed into your fuel source. The boost works best with an already established hot spot.

If for some reason the initial heat cycle fails to get the fuel hot enough to be stoked by the second stage of hot air, the ‘flame’ button can be pressed again to continue the heat cycle without air, and this should be enough to get things going.

A quick word on the battery: The battery charges fast and will last for several lighting cycles (about 5 from our experience). There is a button on the battery that allows you to check its status quickly, and the charging base itself features a retractable cord and stylish LED light with ‘breathing’ motions.

The Looft Lighter X does live up to its promise to light just about anything in 60-seconds, provided that you use a proper burn source (we prefer light paper) and hold the tip of the Looft to the surface to give it that concentrated heat (we are mentioning twice, as this is important). Then, once you’ve got those glowing embers you can utilize the high-temp boost to stoke the fire to a quick and even burn. We’d estimate about 5-minutes to get an established fire or bed of coals going.

We tried using standard fire starter packs and these were not as effective as a simple ball of crumpled paper, so we’d save those packs for your lighter. We might even recommend using a bit of light paper underneath your charcoal bed, although the Looft Lighter proves effective at heating the coals without any other ignition sources. We just prefer the initial flare-up.

Short Answer, Yes! Long Answer…

So, we’ve established that we like the Loof Lighter, but the long answer as to why… is that it is easy to use, durable, features increased safety, involves no chemicals, establishes a fire (or hot spot) quickly, and does not require a regular subscription (a.k.a. lighter fluid, fire starter packs, etc.). Does it have any cons? The only con that stands out for us is that it is a bit of an initial investment compared to your other options. If price is a deciding factor, Looft does have a plug-in version that offers the same basic functionality at a reduced cost (and the addition of a cord), but the convenience of the battery and staged lighting cycle would definitely be our choice.

We invite you to get more information at Looft.
And if you’re ready to buy you can check the latest prices here.

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