F37 Arc Plasma Waterproof Double Arc Lighter USB Rechargeable

There is no flame for the wind to blow out.

You are crouched over a pile of kindling with the wind coming straight across the paddock, one hand cupped around a servo lighter, and it goes out. Again. Your thumb is wet, the gas has gone cold, and the fire still is not lit.

On a Sunday barbecue that is a nuisance. On a cold night a long way from the car it is not. Fire is warmth, dry clothes, hot food and a signal somebody can see — and the thing standing between you and all of it is a ninety-cent lighter with a flame the weather can put out.

An arc lighter has no flame at all. It fires a plasma arc between two electrodes and you touch that arc to the tinder. Wind cannot blow out a spark, and cold does not thicken it the way cold thickens the butane in a servo lighter. There is no fuel to run out of either — it charges off a USB cable.

What it does have is a lithium battery, and that is the honest catch. Flat battery, dead lighter, and nothing to top it up with. Read the Limits tab before you decide where this one lives in your kit, because that is the part that actually matters.

Three Different Lighters, One Option List

The dropdown on this page covers three different lighters, not three colours of the same one. They are all sealed, rugged, USB rechargeable arc lighters with a carabiner clip and a lanyard, and they are genuinely different tools at three different prices. Match the option code to the photo before you buy.

• F37, the gooseneck: a sealed case with a flexible metal hose that pulls out and bends, so the arc reaches down into a candle jar or the guts of a stack of kindling instead of your knuckles going in after it. Lanyard hole moulded through the base. 85 × 48 × 18.5 mm.
• F33, the one with a light: a clear-shelled version with a COB LED panel across the face, so it doubles as a small work light for finding the tent peg you dropped. Also sold in a silver shell and in a glow-in-the-dark "luminous" shell you can find in a dark swag.
• F17, the flip lid: a hinged lid that closes over the arc head and locks shut on a safety buckle, so it will not fire in your pocket. The supplier's own diagram labels this head a dual arc pulse igniter — two arcs crossing in the middle. 71 × 48 × 19.5 mm.

What It Does

• Lights in wind: there is no flame to blow out. That is the whole argument, and it is a real one — a spark does not care which way the breeze is going.
• Runs on a cable, not gas: charges through a USB-C port from a wall charger, a car charger, a power bank or a laptop. No refills, no flints, no butane to buy.
• Shrugs off rain and spray: the case is sealed and the charging port sits behind a cover. Rain, spray and a splash are fine. Going under is not — see Limits.
• Clips where you can find it: steel carabiner on the body and a lanyard in the box, so it lives on a pack strap or a vest instead of in the bottom of a dry bag.
• Tells you when it is charging: an LED on the top deck shows charging state, so you are not guessing whether the cable is doing anything.

Key Features

• Plasma arc igniter: no flame, no fuel, no flint. The F17 and F33 heads are labelled by the supplier as dual arc.
• USB-C charging: the same cable that charges most phones and head torches. A USB-A to USB-C cable is supplied.
• Sealed, ribbed case: moulded grip ribs down both sides so it does not squirt out of a cold wet hand.
• Carabiner and lanyard: both supplied. Clip it to a pack, a vest, a tackle box or the swag.
• Flexible hose on the F37: a bendable steel gooseneck that extends the arc away from your hand and holds the angle you set it to.
• Work light on the F33: a COB LED panel on the face of the clear-shell models. The other two styles have no light.
• Lid lock on the F17: a hinged lid over the arc head plus a safety lock buckle on the side.
• Pocket sized: 85 mm tall on the F37, 71 mm on the F17. Both about 48 mm wide and under 20 mm thick — smaller than a deck of cards.
• Boxed option on the F37: the "With Box" choices are the same lighter supplied in a retail presentation box with the cable and lanyard under the tray. Handy if it is a gift.

Limits

This is a lithium battery that makes an electrical arc. Here is what it will not do and what you should not do with it. None of this is us talking you out of an arc lighter — it is what you need to know to pick the right one and use it safely.

Water — read this bit properly

• No IP rating is stated by the supplier: the title on this listing says waterproof and the supplier's photos show one sitting in a glass of water. We have no IP figure, no immersion depth and no test standard from them, so we will not repeat a rating we cannot show you. Treat it as water resistant: rain, spray, sleet, a splash over the gunwale.
• Do not swim or dive with it: a charging port is an opening, and an opening is where water gets in. A lighter that survives a downpour is not a lighter you drop in a creek and expect to work.
• Dry it before you charge it: never plug a cable into a wet port. Open the cover, shake it out, let it dry, then charge.
• If it does go under: get it out, open the port cover, dry it thoroughly and leave it a good while before charging. Salt water needs a rinse in fresh water first.

What it will not do

• It is useless flat: no fuel means nothing to top up. A dead battery is a dead lighter until you get to a charger, a power bank or a 12 V socket.
• Not a survival kit on its own: this is not a replacement for matches or a ferro rod. Anything that depends on a charge does not belong as the only fire-starting method in a kit you are betting on. Carry it as the easy option and keep a ferro rod as the one that always works.
• It will not reach down a burner well: the arc on the F33 and F17 sits right at the top of the body, so lighting a gas stove or a heater down a recessed burner means getting your fingers in there. The F37's hose gives you some reach; the other two give you none.
• It is not a torch: only the clear-shelled F33 styles carry an LED panel. Pick an F37 or an F17 and you get a lighter, nothing more.
• Charge and run time are unknown: the supplier states no battery capacity, no charge time and no number of ignitions per charge, so we are not going to make one up. Charge it before a trip and take a power bank.

Safety — plainly

• The arc burns: it is hot enough to light tinder instantly and it will mark skin just as fast. Keep fingers clear of the head, and do not fire it to show someone how it works.
• Never near fuel vapour: not over a jerry can, a gas bottle, a two-stroke mix, a fuel filler or a solvent rag. An arc is an ignition source and vapour travels further than people expect.
• Keep it away from children: the supplier states no child-resistant mechanism. The F17's lid buckle is a lid catch, not a child lock. Treat it like any other lighter and store it out of reach.
• Do not charge it unattended: it is a lithium cell. Charge it where you can see it, on a hard surface, not overnight on the bed or on the dash of a hot ute.
• Heat kills lithium batteries: do not leave it sitting on the dashboard through an Australian summer or in a closed glovebox in the sun.
• Fire bans still apply: no flame does not mean no ignition source. Total fire ban rules cover this the same as anything else that makes a spark.
• Check before you fly: lithium lighters are handled differently by different airlines and some will not carry an arc lighter at all. Ask your airline rather than finding out at the screening point.

Q & A

Is it actually waterproof? The title says so.
The title is the supplier's wording and we have left it alone, but we are not going to back it up with a number we do not have. No IP rating is stated by the supplier. What we can tell you is that the case is sealed and the charging port sits behind a cover, so rain, spray and a splash are fine. Do not swim with it, do not dive with it, and do not drop it in a creek and expect it to light afterwards.

Will it really light in wind?
Yes, and for a real reason rather than a marketing one: there is no flame. A flame is a column of burning gas and moving air pulls it apart. An electric arc jumps a fixed gap between two electrodes, so wind has nothing to blow out. Your problem in wind becomes the tinder, not the lighter.

How many lights do I get from one charge?
Not specified by supplier. There is no battery capacity, no charge time and no ignition count in anything the supplier publishes, and we are not going to invent figures for a product people take bush. Charge it before you leave and carry a power bank if you are out for more than a couple of days.

Which of the three should I buy?
If you light fire pits, camp stoves and candles, take the F37 — the flexible hose keeps your hand away from where the fire starts. If you want one thing that lights a fire and also gives you a bit of light, take the F33 with the LED panel. If you just want the cheapest sealed arc lighter that will not fire in your pocket, take the F17 with the locking lid.

Can I put one in my survival kit and forget about it?
No, and that is the honest answer. Anything battery powered goes flat sitting in a kit, and there is no fuel to top up. Keep matches or a ferro rod as the method that always works, and carry this as the one that makes the job easy when it has charge in it.

Will it light a gas stove or a camp heater?
It lights gas fine. Reaching the gas is the question. On the F33 and F17 the arc sits at the top of the body, so a recessed burner well means putting your fingers close in. The F37's gooseneck is the one built for that job.

What comes in the box?
The lighter, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable, a lanyard and an instruction sheet, in a plain kraft box. The three F37 "With Box" options are the same lighter in a retail presentation box instead, with the cable and lanyard under the tray.

Specs