The humble carabiner is one of those pieces of gear that pretty much every outdoor enthusiast has laying around the house – often in large numbers. These handy little tools are useful for clipping all kinds of different things to our belt or backpack, and are especially good for keeping important items close at hand or preventing them from being lost while out on the trail. But it turns out the carabiner can do more than just that. A lot more, if the Firebiner – a new product that recently launched on Kickstarter – is to be believed.
The Firebiner comes our way courtesy of a company called Outdoor Element, which also makes a paracord survival bracelet with some similar features called the Kodiak. At first glance, the Firebiner looks like just about any other carabiner you might find in your local gear shop, hardware store, or even big box department store. Made from durable stainless steel coated in titanium, it is small, lightweight, and is capable of holding up to 50 pounds of gear. It also has an easy-open gate that allows you to quickly and easily hang things like car keys or a water bottle from your pack.
But, there are also some nice hidden features on the Firebiner that aren’t necessarily apparent at first. For instance, on one end of the stainless steal body you’ll find a metal wheel not unlike those found on a typical lighter. That wheel creates sparks when it is flicked that can be used to ignite tinder while trying to start a fire in the backcountry. That’s something that none of my other carabiners can do.
The Firebiner also comes equipped with a small utility blade that is durable and sharp enough to cut through paracord, fishing line, string, or small ropes too. And to top things off, there is even an integrated bottle opener for when you’re ready to pop open a few cold ones at the end of the day.
Outdoor Elements is hoping to raise $15,000 through its crowdfunding efforts to get the Firebiner into production. If they reach that goal, the plan is to begin shipping the final product in February of 2017 with a price tag of about $15. Early bird supporters can order one for as little as $9 if they contribute to the Kickstarter campaign now however, which would make this a pretty good bargain for such a handy little tool.
Find out more at OutdoorElement.com or on the Firebiner Kickstarter page.