Sun Joe 24V-BBQ-CT 24-Volt IONMAX Cordless Electric Fire Starter, Green

In all honesty, it took me a few tries to figure this out...i never read the instructions. There's a switch for heat (to start a flame) and fan (yes to fan the flame). In heat mode you should be able to get a flame going in under a minute...a couple of minutes tops...just get it as close to the materials as possible. I literally have it touching the coals. Then switch to fan mode to feed the flames. When used in full heat mode, the battery will last around 15mins if that. In fan mode, i've been able to go 20+mins and use 30% battery (1 LED on the battery).I mainly use this for getting charcoal going when smoking meats.

IMPORTANT if this is a gift! It ships in the retail box, no generic box. UPS driver pulled up as my was pulling out of the garage. Of course it was a Christmas gift for her. Anyway, we just went ahead and used the unit.The unit has/had a defective on/off switch. Had to jiggle it back and forth for proper function. Contacted Sun Joe support and they are exchanging the unit. In this case Sun Joe wanted the defective unit back prior to shipping a replacement. Not an issue in the case. Could have exchanged via Amazon, but chose not to. Sun Joe support team is prompt, personable, professional.Takes a couple attempts to learn when to shift from heat to just fan. The fire was up and roaring in less than 5 minutes. Would recommend!

I was interested in this for lighting BBQ and fireplace. After a full battery charge, I started with the latter. It managed to get the paper under the kindling sort of ignited though it quickly went out. Used on the kindling which pretty much just laughed at me. While the tip of the device did get pretty glowy red, there wasn't enough heat to even elicit smoke from the kindling. I spent about 20 minutes trying different settings and positions without success. I started the fireplace in the normal manner with no issues. Next day I tried to start hardwood charcoal in the BBQ. I discovered that my 20 minutes of effort the previous day had thoroughly exhausted the battery... resulting in starting the BBQ the traditional way... Neat idea... but not well executed. Going back today.

I thought my life was perfectly complete, what with matches available cheaply and sometimes for free. Granted they don't have the paleo man-cred of flint but they're light, portable, and come in convenient books where you can scribble phone numbers and notes and stuff. And who doesn't like watching lighter-fluid flame up on top of charcoal?Boy was I wrong. With this Li-ion powered lighter I get to light fires with something weighing as much as 4000 matchbooks. No more wondering how matches are powered -- with the 2 amp battery I know I'll never have a full charge when I need it. I still miss the lighter-fluid drama but can't wait until the battery explodes!

When I first got the unit and tried it, I wasn't able to get the charcoal lit. I thought, this is garbage and I'm going to return it. Then, I decided to re-read the directions. Duh! I wasn't holding the unit close enough to my lump charcoal for it to catch. However, I tried it again with the tip actually touching my coals and they lit just fine. However, the battery basically needs to be fully recharged after each individual use, so if you're starting multiple fires, you're going to be waiting for a while.Overall, I'd recommend this unit if, like me, your grill is too far away from an outlet for corded model.

OMG I love this thing. Can get my Big Green Egg started and never have to buy starters again. Yes, its basically one fire then done but that is fine with me, I just charge it after the fire is ready. DON'T WALK AWAY like I did the first time, it will melt the alumium outer cone. With that said, mine looks wonky but it works like a charm, would totally recommend as a gift!

At 1st I thought this was a great product but within weeks I started notice that metal around the heat source was missing and by 6 months it was completely melted off. I sent pictures to the manufacturer and got ignored. Wouldn't recommend to anyone!

l like it , it's really fast , but battery doesn't last much , i still recommend it though