Suprus Electric Lighters

What Suprus makes for hunters and campers

On this site, Suprus covers one product type: electric lighters. Every Suprus lighter in the grid lists electric (arc or plasma) ignition and a rechargeable battery. There's no butane model among them.

Inside that one type, the listings sort into four groups:

• Flexible-neck candle lighters: long wands with a neck you can bend
• Straight candle lighters: long wands with a fixed shaft, some with a steel shell and hanging hook
• Arc lighters with a safety lock: sold for candles, grills and camping
• Dual-arc lighters with a flashlight: two arcs, a light with three modes and an emergency whistle

The grid changes as listings come and go, and Suprus sells many colorways of the same design. So I'll write about the groups and the features that separate them, not about what's listed this week.

Most of what the grid shows comes from Amazon listings, and the grid marks those values. Where a listing doesn't give a length or a weight, the grid shows nothing for it. I won't fill those blanks from a hunch.

How an arc lighter works, in two paragraphs

An electric lighter stores energy in a small rechargeable battery and turns it into a high-voltage arc between two metal tips, the electrodes. The air in that gap carries current and glows. Hold a wick in it and the wick lights. Nothing burns inside the lighter.

That gives you two facts that decide everything else. The arc doesn't throw a flame, so whatever you light has to touch it. And the battery is the whole fuel system, so a dead battery means no fire. (I'm an electrician. A tool that works only when it's charged is, for me, a normal Tuesday.) The electric lighter page covers the type across brands.

Lineup notes: Suprus candle lighters

Flexible-neck candle lighters

The flexible-neck models are long wands with a bendable shaft. The listings describe:

• 360° flexible neck: on the steel-shell model with a hanging hook, and on the safety-switch models
• LED battery display: on the long flexible-neck model offered in red and other colors
• Expandable flexible neck with USB-C: on the plasma model sold for outdoor, camping and kitchen use

A bendable neck reaches down into a jar candle without tipping the jar, and around the side of a lantern globe without burning your knuckles on a hot chimney. It also reaches into a grill. At deer camp it's the stove and lantern tool, not the pocket one.

Renee keeps a long candle lighter in the kitchen drawer. Every November one like it migrates to Hemlock Run in my duffel, which she has noticed.

Straight candle lighters

The straight wands do the same job with a fixed shaft. The listings describe:

• Plasma candle lighter with LED battery display and safety switch: sold for cooking as well as candles
• Arc candle lighter with an LED light: in black-and-champagne finishes
• Triple Safety arc lighter: a stainless steel shell and hanging hook
• Arc candle lighter with safety switch: offered in a gift box

A straight wand is simpler to aim. A flexible one is easier to get into tight places. That's the whole decision, and both put your hand at the far end from the arc.

Lineup notes: Suprus pocket and pack lighters

Arc lighters with a safety lock

A smaller group of Suprus listings describes arc lighters with a safety lock, sold for candles, grills, camping and kitchens, in black and champagne gold. The listings don't give a length in the data, so check the listing photos and dimensions for the exact size before you count on it riding in a shirt pocket.

The safety lock matters more on an arc lighter than on a flip-lid flame lighter. There's no lid closing over a flame, only a button. More on that in the safety section.

Dual-arc lighters with a flashlight and whistle

This is the group sold for the pack. The listings describe dual-arc plasma lighters with:

• A flashlight with three modes
• An emergency whistle
• A luminous version, sold as Luminous, for finding it in the dark

Two arcs crossed over each other make a wider hot spot, so it's easier to push a twist of birch bark or a cotton ball into the right place. A small light on the same tool helps when you're lighting a stove at 5 a.m. with your headlamp still in the truck. A whistle is a signaling tool you hope to carry for nothing.

That's why I like a light on my lighter: I've lit a stove by the glow of my phone more than once.

How to choose within the Suprus lineup

Pick the shape for the job

• Candles, lanterns, grills and stoves: a long candle lighter, flexible or straight
• Pack, blind bag or truck console: a dual-arc lighter or one of the compact arc lighters
• Both: one of each, since a long wand doesn't fit a pocket and a pocket lighter puts your fingers near a hot stove

The torch lighter page and the refillable butane lighter page cover the fuel side of the same jobs.

Look for a battery display or an indicator light

Several Suprus listings name an LED battery display. That beats guessing. Zippo's instructions for its own rechargeable candle lighter describe a different system, a light that's on while charging and off when full. Whatever your lighter shows, learn its signals at the kitchen table, not at the fire ring.

Check the lock

Most Suprus listings in the grid name a safety lock, safety switch or "Triple Safety." Locks differ in how you work them. Zippo's candle lighter, for comparison, wants a lock button pressed and then a sliding switch within about two seconds, and cuts the arc after 10 seconds. Read your lighter's own instructions and practice the sequence with the lights on.

Know what the listing doesn't say

The data for these lighters gives fuel type, arc or plasma, and rechargeable. It doesn't hold an IPX rating (the scale that says how much water a device takes) or a weight from the maker for any of them. So plan to keep any of them dry and out of the rain. Zippo, for its own rechargeable candle lighter, says not to expose it to moisture or submerge it.

Where an arc lighter fits in a camp fire kit

An arc lights tinder, not logs. Smokey Bear's campfire steps go tinder first (dry leaves, grass, needles, small twigs), then kindling under about 1 inch thick, then larger wood once the fire is going. An electric lighter belongs at step one.

Here's my one opinion on this page: carry a backup that needs no battery, like matches or a ferro rod, next to any electric lighter. The reason is checkable. Zippo rates its own rechargeable lighter's battery for use and storage between -4°F and 120°F, and says batteries self-discharge over time, especially in heat. A lighter that sat in a cold truck all week, or a hot one all summer, may not have the charge you think. The ferro rod page and fire starters page cover the no-battery side.

For comparison, butane has its own cold-weather limit. NOAA's chemical datasheet puts butane's boiling point at 31.1°F, which is why gas lighters get sluggish on a frosty morning. Each fuel system has a weak spot. Pack for both.

NPS campfire guidance: keep tents and gear at least 15 feet from the fire, keep water nearby, never leave a fire unattended, and drown the coals before bed. Check local fire rules and burn bans before you strike anything.

Charging and battery care

These are lithium-ion batteries, and they want plain care. The U.S. Fire Administration says:

• Charge between 32°F and 105°F, not in a freezing truck or a hot one
• Stop using a battery that smells odd, changes color, gets hot, swells, leaks or makes noise
• Store it at room temperature, away from things that burn, out of direct sun and hot cars
• Recycle dead lithium-ion batteries at a battery drop-off, not in the trash

Zippo adds advice for its own rechargeable lighters that applies to any of them: use only the cable that came with it, don't charge with a damaged cable, fully charge it before long storage and top it up at least every three months.

To keep the arc connecting, Zippo suggests cleaning debris from the electrodes gently with a non-metallic item such as a toothpick. Don't scrape the tips with a knife.

Safety around an arc lighter

An arc lighter can start a fire and can shock you. Keep it locked when it's not in your hand, and keep the arc away from skin, hair and anything you don't mean to light.

Keep lighters out of children's reach. The U.S. Fire Administration says never to leave lighters or matches where children can reach them. CPSC's child-resistance rule for multi-purpose lighters is written for fuel-operated lighters, so treat an arc lighter's lock as a convenience, not a child guard, and store it up high.

Candles at camp come with their own rules. The U.S. Fire Administration says to use stable holders, keep candles at least 12 inches from anything that burns, blow them out when you leave or go to bed, and use flashlights rather than candles in a power outage. It also says not to use lit candles in sleeping areas. A tent is a sleeping area.

Suprus and butane torch lighters

An electric lighter and a butane torch lighter do overlapping jobs in different ways. The facts side by side:

• Suprus lighters on this site: electric arc or plasma, rechargeable, no fuel, no flame; the arc has to touch what it lights
• Butane torch lighters: a jet flame that reaches past the head and can light kindling, refilled from a can, sluggish below butane's 31.1°F boiling point

They also travel differently. TSA allows arc and electronic lighters in carry-on bags under conditions (accidental activation prevented, battery 100 Wh or less, no recharging on board) and not in checked bags. Torch lighters are allowed in neither.

Charge it Sunday night, lock it, and put it where you'll find it. Ice in the cooler, charge in the lighter, matches in the kit. That's my whole system.