nanoSTRIKER XL® Titanium

The nanoSTRIKER XL Titanium is for people who already know they want the nanoSTRIKER XL and want it in the best material Exotac can machine it from. The design is unchanged: a fully self-contained ferrocerium fire starter that carries its own striking tool, its own replaceable rod, and its own lanyard, and collapses down to something you leave on a keyring as ballast. What changes is the body, which is machined from Grade 5 titanium rather than 6061 aluminum.

Grade 5 titanium is the alloy used for aircraft and implant hardware. Against anodized aluminum it is a meaningful step up on three fronts: it is lighter for the same strength, it is tougher against impact and abrasion, and it is completely immune to corrosion, including from salt water and the sweat and skin oils that eventually dull an anodized finish. For a tool that lives in a pocket or on a keyring for years, that finish life matters.

Everything else carries over from the standard model. The striking tool is stainless steel with a tungsten-carbide insert built to outlast a heavy user. The 1/4-inch ferrocerium rod throws the largest spark of any fire starter this size, works wet or dry, is rated for up to 3,000 strikes, and is replaceable with the 001100 refill kit. A 550 FIRECORD lanyard is included and its inner strand burns as tinder. The tool still lights tinder bundles, gas and alcohol stoves, fuel tablets, and grills.

It is machined in-house in the USA and covered by Exotac's lifetime warranty. Choose it over the aluminum nanoSTRIKER XL when you want the lightest, most durable version and a finish that will still look right in a decade. For a tool this small that you intend to own for the rest of your life, the titanium body is the version that will not show its age, and the price reflects the material rather than any change in how it works.