Lighter vs Fire Starter

Bic & Redbirds.

Mini bic in the emergency gear, another in the cooking kit.

I have more expensive lighters, and a Zippo. The Zippo fails at elevation. So do many of the lighters. Bic doesn't.

A friend got something like this - www.1stclasshumidors.com/cyclone-triple-laser-lighter-bullet-cutter.html - at a cigar shop, only lighter and cheaper, five bucks. He uses it to light his Esbit. Very reliable for him. Also refillable.

There's plenty in the fancy lighter department, but plain old Bics work more consistently and are easy peasy to come by.

I use a flint&Steel when I'm not in a hurry, and want to feel like I'm really roughing it. But a Bic lives in my pocket too, as a quick and easy way to do it. If I was in a real situation, I'd rather just have both anyways, and I'd go for the Bic to save my life, but it never hurts to have a method that doesn't run out of fuel.

After a hardcore survival course where I had to make fire from anything except matches or a lighter, I have half a dozen butane lighters stuck in various places in my pack and another one in my pocket.

I can promise you that while a fire starter thingy looks cool, it really sucks trying to start a fire when wet and cold and miserable with numb hands.

Pair of marked mini-Bic's. The one in use would have a colored tape around the circumference and used first to prevent simultaneous expiration of both lighters.

2 mini Bic or std Bic depending on what I have around.
On trips that I know I could/would light a wood fire I also took a fire stick just for the fun of using it.

I carry lighters and matches, and use whichever comes to hand first, though when wet I usually do better with the matches. I also don't always worry about if my mini-bic has fuel, because it's just the spark I need to ignite the stove--and I don't build fires (of course, in an emergency situation I might, at which point I have the matches, the other lighter, and often my fire-starter candle).