Sparkie Fire Starter

I thought this would be my answer to fire starting when needed. The Sparkie is light weight and relatively easy to use. Yet, when I tried to start a fire with using tinder found outdoors, I ran into some problems. 1. you will need a solid foundation to place the sparkie onto in order for it to work. The ground/dirt wasn't working for me. The sparkie would dig into ground and it would not spark and work properly. 2. I had plenty unsuccessful strikes 3. You have to use the sparkie directly over your tinder, and the pressure of you striking down messes up your tinder and you have to be quick to replace the tinder after you get a spark/flame. As a result, I was unsuccessful to start a fire in the field. Yet, at home with better conditions, I was able. Still not a bad buy, just not solid answer to a fire starter.