So, we are talking about Atomic Lighter in our current review. What is this device – is it just a useless but fashionable thing or a nice and useful present? How does Atomic Lighter work? What are its pluses and minuses? And the main question – is it worth its money?
Gas and gasoline lighters
Humanity used firestone, tinder, gunpowder and even sunlight to get fire. But all of these were before the invention of a simple lighter.
Most of lighters work on principle of ignition of a special highly flammable substance put inside the lighter. Usually gasoline is used for gasoline lighters and liquefied petroleum gases for gas lighters.
Conceptual difference between these two types is that gas lighters fuel evaporates very quickly. That’s why it is kept in sealed containers under slight pressure created by evaporating gas, while gasoline evaporates relatively slow and that’s why it doesn’t require such a container.
Gas lighters use liquefied mixture of propane and butane as fuel. After passing through the gas-pressure reducer the mixture evaporates forming deflagrating mixture of gas and air.
How does Atomic Lighter function?
Well, if we compare gas and gasoline lighters with a USB-lighter Atomic Lighter – they are not even a relic from the past… this is the same as using an ax against a plasma sword!
Simply said, in this lighter an electric arc is used as an igniter: a strong electro-impulse discharge is created between two contacts and it’s used for fuel ignition. The electric arc consists of ionized electrically quasineutral gas. This state of the matter is called plasma. Here is where the lighter got its name from.
The main and undeniable advantage of this lighter is absence of necessity to fill it with any kind of fuel. USB-lighter is called so because it can be charged by means of ordinary USB-cable (5V/ 1А) just like any other modern device. The unit comes with a cable to plug into any usb port to charge.
The device charging time is approximately 1 hour (at lower intensity of current 0,5А it equals 2 hours), the lighter performance time is enough to light it up for about 100-120 times. At that you don’t depend on weather: no matter if it is freezing or windy outside your “plasma sword” won’t fail you!
No bad smell of gas, smoke and inflammations. Electro-impulse lighter is completely safe, it works on the principle of electric arc and it has extra-strong covering with PVD coating. The main idea of this technology is about metal surface processing using molecules of other metals in vacuum.
This technology allows to obtain extra strong and solid surface. The coating uniformly adjoins the subsurface, it doesn’t have any microcracks and serves as a protection cover. This means that the lighter surface is resistant to rubbing.
At the bottom of the lighter there is on/off button and USB jack to charge it. The jack is closed with a rubber plug to prevent dust or rubbish ingress inside.
How stylish the lighter is! It is decidedly an edgy thing to buy and a very unusual and vivid present, that will definitely be appreciated.
Alternatives
As you see it’s not rocket science and it is simple to make a replica of such an easy device. Considering how popular the Atomic Lighter is, nowadays it has lots of less popular replicas. Therefore, you can choose any other alternative from the list below.
Advantages and disadvantages
This lighter is said to be a multi-purpose one, so it is often bought to be presented as a gift. This is when it is important not to make a mistake.
As any other item you buy, Atomic Lighter is not free from shortcomings as well as it has some advantages. So, the main drawback is that for reasons of safety (to keep fingers safe) the distance between igniting elements is small.
Therefore, when dust from a cigarette gets there, the lighter may stop working. In this case, the manufacturer recommends to clean the lighter with a brush. But you don’t carry the brush with you all the time and the lighter that doesn’t work is quite an annoying issue.
Besides, such a peculiarity makes it rather difficult to light up a cigar, so I don’t recommend buying this ligher to those who smoke only cigars.
Here are some more things we’ve found out while testing the lighter:
Pros
- It doesn’t require any gas or gasoline
- It has reputable appearance
- The lighter deals well with loads
- It looks expensive
- It is heavy, even heavier than you can expect
- Х-shaped form of plasma and the sound it produces
- Wind and rain resistant
Cons
- Women with long nails will find it quite inconvenient to use the lighter
- It works for 7 seconds and then turns off (to avoid overheat of the elements), but not always this time is enough to light up a cigarette
- This lighter won’t do for those who smoke only cigars