Classic Electric Charcoal Starter & Fire Lighter

I have been an avid charcoal griller for decades and have used a variety of different products and grills. Lighter fluid pollutes the food. Charcoal starters which require to be lit by a match have been a pain and unreliable. Reviewer must understand that I grill live in SW Michigan and grill outdoors all year. In the winter I start the grill in the garage and then heat it outdoors. Electric starters work but may require monitoring to determine if they ignited the charcoal and can be time consuming. Some of the cords have been damaged by heat ( OK that can be my fault). My wife bought this for me as a Christmas gift. It is amazing. Hardwood charcoal glows in 30 seconds; has flame in a minute and flame is alive and spreading in 2 minutes. 15 minutes later and no trips outdoors in 30 degree weather; the grill is ready for cooking.

Hi, So I was using a loop style electric starter and it was good, but one day I lost track of time and part of the handle melted so it was time to buy something new. So I've used this about 10x already and I really like it. Unlike the loop, once I get the fire going, I don't have to come back and pull out the hot iron and place it on a plate since I have a deck and not a patio. This guy stands by itself but I still put the plate underneath just in case, but it never fell or anything. Now, there are videos and things about how to use this starter. I've found what works best is to build a small mountain like pile of lump charcoal. Then I press and hold the starter on it and after a bit you'll get sparks. I tend to see if the coals are list or not yet and I might hold it there a little longer. After the coals are going, I start to pull away slowly and hold air on to the coal so it gets very Red-Orange. Usually by then it is lit and I let the other coals start to heat up on their own. Another benefit is I can lower the grill quite a bit now and when guests want to make smores, I just remove the top grill (mine has a middle part of the grate that can come off) and blow some hot air on the coals and they get nice and hot and re-light well. I couldn't do this in the past with the iron-loop. One thing I don't like is sometimes the air is so strong it can throw more sparks in the air, so just be careful and aware of that. But not nearly as much as when I had to pull the iron out of bottom of the charcoal. So maybe this one is neutral. Lastly, my coals don't move now. I can set them how I want them and they light and stay in place. With the loop, because it was on the bottom, when I pulled it out, the coals would be displaced and I had to re-arrange them to help even the heat. So it works well. I'm pretty happy with it. I've even used to to re-light unlit coals from a few days ago, but it took a little more time to catch, but it did light. I'd suggest using a few pieces of new charcoal mixed in and you you finish off the stuff from the previous burn. I hope this helps others. Good Luck and Great Grilling!

A family member recommended this Looftlighter for our Kamado Joe Jr. grill. I balked at the price, but after using starter blocks and another brand electric lighter, I decided to give the “real deal” a try. I am not sorry. This is a wonderful product to start a charcoal fire. No chemicals, easy to use and it produces great results. You MUST follow directions in order to get the most out of it. I bought a heavy duty extension cord as our deck does not have an outlet. This lighter fires up around 1500 watts, so if you must use an extension, get a good one that is heavy duty and rated for outdoor use. Place the charcoal to your liking with a bit more at the center of the pile. Touch the Looftlighter directly to the wood and wait for sparks and a glow. Immediately pull the lighter back a few inches concentrating on the same spot. This will allow the fire to come up quickly at a nice burn rate. If you want to speed things up a bit, you can light another section in the same manner. You do not want to keep the lighter touching the wood directly for a long time as you will damage it. The fire will spread on its own. Timing and temperature is up to you according to how you use your grill. On the Joe Jr., I close the lid after it gets going with top and bottom vents fully open until it reaches the desired temperature. Then I adjust the control tower and bottom vent to stabilize. By the way, I am a 74 year old woman completely new at this. If I can do it, so can you. I highly recommend the Looftlighter as a great accessory for grilling. It makes Kamado grilling pure joy!

I think the reviews complaining of melted exteriors must be user error. It's not a fire brick, you don't place this in the coals. You hold it above the coals for a minute or two and they light. No melting the tool involved. My 1st Looft lasted almost 8 years of regular almost weekly use through the year round California grilling season. The fan eventually died, which I read is not unusual, and I'm happy to replace it with the same thing. Huge improvement over MAPP torch, or fire-starter blocks, despite how weird it seems before you've tried it.

Worked well briefly but the over-temperature sensor began to shut off the unit in under 2 minutes after 4-5 uses. It took too long to reset to be able to start the charcoal. I tried several things to work through it but it was not usable. Switched to a butane kitchen torch. Maybe I got a bad one but don't want to pay a premium (again) to find out.

Hubby said it's better than expected! He started lighting the coals at 20 seconds into the accompanying video and by 1.19 there was fire! He is very pleased with the purchase. It has a very sleek look. It is not too heavy. It was super easy to unbox and use it immediately. Compared to other heating elements this is very reasonably priced!

Every now and then a product comes along that not only performs a service but is fun to use. In other words, a tool that's also a toy. That exactly describes the Looftlighter. As other reviewers have noted, the Looftlighter does its job quite well. Starting lump charcoal is fairly quick--maybe a minute or so in a couple of places and your done. But as I said, it's not so much what it does is how it does it. You stick it in the charcoal and turn it on. For the first 20 seconds nothing happens. Then all of a sudden you'll see a few sparks starting to fly. By 45 seconds you're getting a lot of sparks, plus some roaring and glowing at the point of attack. Pull it out slightly and let it stream for a few more seconds to expand the now-burning hot spot. If you like setting off fireworks on the Fourth of July you will love the Looftlighter. Is it possible that the sparks could fly off somewhere and set something on fire? Yeah, I guess. So what. The risk is minimal, unless you've got an open gas leak nearby. My only objection (and why I gave it four stars rather than five)is that the on-off button is a deadman switch. You must hold it down the entire time during use. I know this is a safety feature, but it's a bit annoying. Also, be aware that the Looflighter is a large item that's going to have to be stored somewhere. Yes, it is expensive, but in my opinion it's well worth it. Starting up the BBQ is now something to look forward to rather than a chore.

Failed on first use. It worked for about 45 seconds and then failed. I tried other outlets to make sure it was the unit and not a power issue. Very disappointed. I still believe that this will be a valuable tool for grilling. It appears to be well made and capable of doing what it's supposed to. Lemons happen. I will update this review when the issue is resolved. I contacted Looft customer service to see if I was the cause of the problem by misusing the device somehow. They immediately sent me a new one. Wow! I thought that kind of customer service had long gone out of style. I will update once again after a few uses. Final Post: Looft sent me a replacement. I received it in 2 days. The new one works great!!! Hate that I had to start out with a rare dud but I am delighted with this product.

I own a Pit Boss 24" kamado grill and let me tell you, the Looftlighter is an incredible product. It gets your charcoal burning as fast as advertised, saving you a ton of time compared to using a charcoal chimney or building a pile and lighting some fire starters underneath. I was looking for an alternative to those cheap fire starter cubes after I noticed they created thick smoke with a strong waxy scent to my kamado grill. I definitely don't want to inhale that or taste it in my food, which is when I decided to try the Looftlighter. This product is certainly a game changer for charcoal grillers. It may be expensive, however, in the long-run I think it will be worth every penny. It's an efficient, more natural way to get your charcoal started, and you won't have to keep running back to your local BBQ store to buy more fire starters. If you're serious about grilling and can afford to spend a little extra on one of these you won't regret it after your first cook.

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Bei dem Grillanzünder handelt es sich um ein absolutes TopGerät. Die Grillkohle beginnt nach ca 10-15 Sekunden im heißen Luftstrom zu Glühen. Es handelt sich natürlich um eine Anzündhilfe. D.h. man stellt einige Glutnester her, den Rest erledigt die Physik/Chemie. Ohne große Rauchentwicklung. Natürlich kann man auch jedes Stück Holzkohle / Brikett einzeln anzünden, dass ist aber nicht Sinn dieser Anzündhilfe. Auch logisch dass man das Teil während der Benutzung in der Hand halten muss. Es ist letzlich ein sehr starker Heißluftfön (den legt man auch nicht in ein offens Feuer). Zu der vorherghenden Beurtelung möchte ich nur sagen, wer mit diesem Teil oder einem Weber Anzündkamin(sorry aber der ist absolut idiotensicher) kein Feuer hinbekommt sollte besser die Finger vom Holzkohlegrillen lassen. Also sowohl der LooftLighter als auch derr Weber Anzündkamin sind beides Top Produkte und bei mir seit Jahren im Einsatz.

This is a very efficient way to light bbq charcoals as long as you have access to a mains socket (a battery-powered version is also available but this does come at a substantially higher price - I purchased the mains-powered version). in a matter of minutes, your bbq coals will be lit and 10 minutes later, they will be ready for cooking. In operation, you really do just point the unit at the centre of the coals and in 60 seconds you will see the coals sparking up and lighting. I do have also have a bbq chimney and this is a useful alternative to using the chimney. Two additional points - the unit is slighter bigger than I originally anticipated but this not a problem. Also, the unit comes with a very handy built-in stand to allow the unit to be put down safely whilst cooling after use. I would advise extreme caution after use, do allow the Looftlighter to cool properly before storing but the looftlighter does cool very quickly, even the 'business end' does not stay hot for long. All in all, an excellent purchase and this will be added to my list of 'things that I wished I had bought much earlier'!

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