I head into the deep woods alone for days at a time on a regular basis. I am equally at home starting a fire by primitive or modern methods. I CAN start a fire in almost any circumstance. When I first ran across this product my reaction was "That would be nice to have, but not necessary. Blowing or fanning with my hat works just fine." Then I watched a youtube video where a guy used one and saw just how well it worked and had to have one. Long story short, I was right in my initial assessment, but I didn't realize just HOW NICE it was to have one of these. Besides the fact that I don't get smoke/ash in my eyes and don't feel like I'm going to singe my eyebrows this thing just WORKS. Seriously, you almost can't lose a fire as long as you have this. Every time I've shown this to someone the process is exactly the same. First skepticism mixed with poking minor fun at "the outdoorsman who needs a modern gimmick to start a fire" but all I have to do is use it on one fire and the immediate response is "I want one, where can I get it?" I have a fixation with quality gear because I have to rely solely on that and my own intuition in the woods and this is one purchase that I don't regret in the slightest. It goes with me on every trip.