Firefly hand warmer

[FishyFolk]

Just got a pair of these Zippo style hand warmers that burn lighter fluid.
Ordered them off Ebay, and I am test burning one of them now. The seller claims a 12 our burn time. So I have one lit up right now with the recopmened ammount of fuel to test that claim right now.

Got them after a frind suggested I may use them in the foot box of the sleeping bag to keep my feet warm. I am plagued by perpetyually cold feet after to many frostbites while growing up at the Svalbard isles...

Okay so they arrived today. First impressions is that the they look fairly solid. They come with a plastic fuel filling cup, and velvet drawstring bags. The last ones needed as they do get fairly warm. The drawstrings are long enough to double as a neck string to let the handawrmer dangle from you neck inside your jacket. I filled mine wioth Ronson ligher fluid as thats what I had, hnaged it around my neck and closed the jacket. But the stink of the fuels soon filled my nose so I think I'll reserve that for emergencies. The same problem makes them unsuitable as a sleeping bag footbox warmer as well. So will have to look at chemical hand warmers for that.

But they do get nice and warm, and should be able to keep my army mittens nice and toasty for when I need them. Even in sub-zero temps I seldom wear gloves, as I don't have cold hands. I only need them if windy or my hands get wet, or while holding cold objects. So wghen my hands do get cold it's nice to stick them inside a warm glove, or jacket pocket to warm up.

I will be back with more once these have seen action in really cold weather :-)

Rune

[FishyFolk]

The Firefly was lit at 6,5 hours ago and still going...and I have to put it right undr my nose to smell it..

[Chubbs]

Even 6.5 hours is pretty impressive for a handwarmer. Looks like you have found a really cheap way for keeping warm.

[FishyFolk]

It's now 7,5 hours and still going...
Chubbs, i would not say that. A 133ml bottle of ligher fluid was 4.99£

But this is not something I will use every day...

[Tigger004]

I have had two of these for a couple of years now, My wife and I wear them round our necks while motorcycling, outside our base layer (really good and the smell doesn't affect you due to loads of air movement)
When fully fuelled they last ages, the odd person will mention the smell when you're close but only so they can share one, out of the velvet bag they can be too hot to handle so take care it can't drop out in the wrong place,
From my experiences they tend to heat in cycles (hot to warm and back again) seems like it could be the amount of air they receive during use,
ours are a cheap copy of the actual zippo ones and are chrome with butterfly holey pattern, but I would whole heartly recommend them.
Hope you get many years of use,

PS. I bought a bulk pack of Ronson lighter fuel from a tobbaco wholesaler very cheaply, but found they aren't that thirsty really

WARNING - I forgot one day and stopped to fuel up my bike - halfway through fuelling I got a wiff of the hand warmer round my neck (nothing happened thankfully - but be aware of this type of situation)

[FishyFolk]

From your description I think mine is the same as yours.
Right now it's quite hot. And has been going for 8,5 hours.

This would be very suitable for heating up my Jerven bag in a survival situation as well. The producer recoemnd a tea light to heat it up while sitting. But this would be a lot safer...provided you have your face sticking out :-)

Rune

[Peaks]

Try using the Zippo or Newport fluid - its noticeably less smelly when used in the handwarmers

[FishyFolk]

I was all over town looking for it. Nobody sells it. The local gas station had one bottle of Ronson left...