Hitchcraft – Brunton Helios

I’ve bought a few piezo electric windproof lighters over the years, one of which was a $5 variety store gamble that ended up being a total waste of money. I also got a two models from Alpen that also didn’t last for long. I don’t know whether this speaks to the long term durability of piezo electric lighters, if they are by their nature fragile and temperamental, if they were just duds, or whether it is only the cheap versions that give up the ghost in short order.

I received this Brunton Helios as a Yule gift 7 years ago. The fact that it is considerably pricier than any of the ones I’ve had previously, gave me some confidence that this one would be a lot better. 

Part of what impressed me about it was the unconditional guarantee. “If your Brunton Helios Lighter ever needs repairing, mail it to us and we will return it to top notch working condition. The finish however is not guaranteed.” That was a pleasant surprise! No mention of “within 6 months or a year.” No provisos, no ifs ands or buts, no “regular wear and tear is not covered or abuse voids this warranty.” Just, if it ever breaks, we’ll fix it for you. Wow. How often does a company offer that? 

It’s not pretty – frankly it’s a brutish looking thing – but it’s got a lanyard hole, a secure cover, a little window to gauge how much fuel is left, it’s refillable, and the button is easy to depress. It doesn’t require nearly as much manual dexterity to manipulate as say a Bic lighter. Important if you’re really cold and need to get a fire going. And wind doesn’t affect the flame at all. Does a great job of lighting cigars when me and the rest of the twenty two skidoo canoe crew stop for a smoke break on a wind swept northern Ontario lake.

The refill port and the flame adjustment.

Well, after several years of continuous use, the little piezo electric coil broke. There was still enough left to light it up, but I decided to take Brunton up on their offer. I thought I should do the proper thing and make sure that all the fuel had been depleted before I sent it. I thought it was empty, the window indicated empty, it didn’t light any more, okay, I’ll pack it up and mail it tomorrow. The next day I thought I’d double check. A wicked flame issued forth, burned for a while, some more tepid flames belched out, and eventually petered out. I thought I’d try that again the day after, just to make sure that it really was indeed empty. Sure enough, a flame blasted forth. (I was reminded of Hurundi V. Bakshi as Gunga Din.) This kept on for quite some time. Eventually, finally, no more flames emitted, so I packed it up and sent it off.

I received it back within about a week. I thought they might just replace the whole thing, but no, got the old one back, and just the mechanism was repaired. (Which was fine with me as I had grown fond of the character the casing had taken on over the years.) It’s now a different piezo electric arrangement. Previously it was a spiral, joined at one end, but now it’s a zig zag, joined at two ends. It doesn’t really have as much of a flame either, very little discernible. It sets aflame what I want it to no problem though. It is noticeably “stinkier” as well. Definitely notice the butane smell more than before when I light it.

I wanted to put an orange fob on it, so that should it ever fall out of my pocket, it would be a little easier to find. I would have liked obnoxiously bright neon orange, but all I could find in the way of thin cord was this orange mason line.

The Brunton Helios is not pretty, it isn’t cheap, but it’s very rugged (it’s survived mountain bike wipeouts and unexpected dunks), it’s got some great features, it runs on fumes, and it’s backed by really excellent customer service. Kudos to Brunton for a great product and treating their customers really well.

Time for an update. The guarantee states they don’t cover the exterior, which is a bummer as it has started to crumble.

The plastic on the top has come off (which I think I can repair with epoxy), but the plastic at the bottom on the one side just crumbled into pieces, and is not repairable. It’s ultimately just cosmetic, but I worry whether the other plastic has now reached its end of life stage.

I guess I’ve had this nine years now. Maybe it’s too expectant of me to hope that it would last a lot longer. It still works, but if more of that plastic breaks off, the hinge and closure mechanism won’t work any more.