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Looftlighter... way cool!! er... way hot!!!

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abundell
abundell Posts: 62
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I bought a Looftlighter on Ebay and tried it out for the first time on Turkey Day (on a Mad Max 21 pounder which was a-w-e-s-o-m-e).

The Looftlighter looks sort of like a mini lightsaber and is more or less a hair dryer on steroids. The idea is simple. Hold the heating element to the charcoal and within a minute, the coals are glowing.

Here are a few links that show it in operation.

http://www.thecowshed.biz/page----looftlighter.html

I was skeptical, however, it worked perfectly. I'm totally hooked. Highly recommend it.

Looftlighters are from Sweden and a little hard to find over here. But... I got mine on eBay for $9.99 plus about $10 shipping. It's 110V. I didn't see any on there just now, but they're around from time to time. If you see one, grab it. No more starter cubes, newspaper, electric starters. The Looftlighter probably draws some current, but no lights dimmed, etc.
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  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
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    I didn't see any currently on eBay, but a UK site I found it at was charging £40 for them. If you got it for $10, that was a steal.

    Update: I just found it at Hammacher-Schlemmer for $80. Ouch.
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  • FlaPoolman
    FlaPoolman Posts: 11,677
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    I have a weedburner. Wanna duel???
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  • Luvs to shoot clay
    Luvs to shoot clay Posts: 774
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    Weedburners Rule!! I am even thinking about trying it on some weeds. Who ever said it impresses was right! My neighbors look over the fence when I get er going!
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  • FlaPoolman
    FlaPoolman Posts: 11,677
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    Don't I tried that one time and set 6 different fires. Learned that it wasn't really made for weeds. Man,, wish I had some ice to try it on :whistle::whistle:
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  • Willie Lump Lump
    Willie Lump Lump Posts: 229
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    The words ‘hair dryer on steroids” rung a bell. I got out my paint stripper gun, it worked just like the video. It was going like blazes in under a minute.
    Thanks for the idea.
    WLL
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  • Woody69
    Woody69 Posts: 360
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    Willie Lump Lump wrote:
    The words ‘hair dryer on steroids” rung a bell. I got out my paint stripper gun, it worked just like the video. It was going like blazes in under a minute.
    Thanks for the idea.
    WLL

    Hmmmm....I'l have to try my Mac Tools heat gun also...Interesting.
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  • Don Marco
    Don Marco Posts: 287
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    I also love my looftlighter. Its a really fast, convenient and clean way to light the charcoal - and it has a build in bottle opener :evil:

    Heres a video i made when i was lighting some lup on my char griller. It works even better in the egg.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plYHPHSIBT4


    Cheers,

    DM
    www.don-marcos-bbq.de
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  • abundell
    abundell Posts: 62
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    I don't think it's worth $80. If you're a little patient, I think one will show up on ebay. Also, be sure it's 110v. The guy I bought it from is called depotvalue. The listing said that the unit was good for parts and untested. I emailed him and he said that was wrong... the units were new. And mine was.
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  • James MB
    James MB Posts: 359
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    I picked one up here in the UK (240V) and tried it last night. I was pretty sceptical as my cousin had something similar to light his coal fire dating from the 70's.

    The Looftlighter is damn good, assuming you can reach a cable to your egg. I did one minute in two spots in my Med.I got a nice stable fire straight away and left the vents open to establish a larger fire, I could have buzzed it with the Looftlighter a bit more if I wanted a faster start. To be honest I was expecting to prove that a one minute burst wouldn’t be nearly enough but I was wrong! Five minutes later I had 250 dome and I set the vents.
    After another ten minutes I still had 250 dome but the ceramic had warmed through. It was below freezing with a breeze.

    Overall it seemd a very nice controlled start, but then usually I go for a half chimney of coals, dump them on, set the vents and wait for the smoke to clear – a bit more of a roller coaster route to temp.

    I did have to laugh though, thinking about the (Swedish?) design team:
    “So we’ve designed a handy grill lighter that you hold to the charcoal for a minute or two”
    “Hmmmm – a minute or two standing there with your finger on the button - it’ll need a bottle opener…..”

    (Just don’t try opening a bottle after you’ve been lighting something!)

    Worked well on the woodburning stove in the house too, though I prefer the satisfaction of newspaper/ kindling.

    I think it’s a keeper.
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