VOLT : Worlds FIRST most ECO-Friendly ion LIGHTER

[Kalidor]

https://igg.me/at/VOLT/x/10280792
It's not a scam but a ripoff, it costs £19.
"Worlds FIRST" is BS, search for electrical lighter on Aliexpress or Amazon, hundreds of different models. 

And that's what they probably will get
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Electronic-Cigarette-lighter-Windproof-ultra-thin-Metal-pulse-USB-Rechargeable-Flameless-Electric-Arc-Cigar-Cigarette-Lighter/32643213953.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.55.93VSaq&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_0,searchweb201602_1_10017_10005_10006_10034_10021_507_10022_10009_10020_10008_10018_10019,searchweb201603_6&btsid=478ad902-c160-49ee-8f3f-90446131fc91

[chris_leyson]

I didn't bother listening to the video, ECO-Friendly bull shit, and no they're not new. If you want ECO-Friendly rub two pieces of wood together.

Prices range from £16 to £20+ roughly and thats for a lighter with two arcs, I ordered one a few weeks back for £17, it's still on the way.
It probably won't make for an interesting teardown, I expect the HV stuff is hidden in potting compound. I'm curious as to how you get two arcs, two transformers with muxed drives maybe ?

[Kalidor]

I didn't bother listening to the video, ECO-Friendly bull shit, and no they're not new. If you want ECO-Friendly rub two pieces of wood together.

Prices range from £16 to £20+ roughly and thats for a lighter with two arcs, I ordered one a few weeks back for £17, it's still on the way.
It probably won't make for an interesting teardown, I expect the HV stuff is hidden in potting compound. I'm curious as to how you get two arcs, two transformers with muxed drives maybe ?

Cross double arc $11.68
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/cylinder-shape-women-electronic-cigarette-lighter-Multi-purpose-lighter-free-personality-rechargeable-battery-charge-usb-lighter/32304251340.html?spm=2114.13010208.99999999.260.AekApD

[Ian.M]

If you want an eco friendly lighter, use a platinum catalysed alcohol lighter.  Ideally you want fairly pure dry methanol as the fuel but they will run on ethanol/methanol mixtures, so redistill and dehydrate the foreshots from your moonshine still instead of discarding them.

[Kilrah]

Their eco-BS is dreadfully laughable 

[edy]

Can you use this thing as a handheld taser? ... If so, they should have marketed this thing as the first "Taser Lighter" combo. 



http://www.womenonguard.com/keychain-stun-gun-pink


By the way, it doesn't surprise me to see IndieGogo campaigns that just rebadge an existing Chinese product and try to turn it into something "new". This one (which I am still following and has it's own thread here on the EEVBlog) seems to be nothing more than a copy of an Alibaba card GSM phone but they sell it for $100 and so far make an elaborate marketing pitch that it was somehow better and helping to improve your life and give you good Karma and improve your well-being:

The Light Phone:



...compare this to the AEKU-AIEK-M5 Card Mobile Phone....



Images and analysis in the thread on this phone shows the similarities. I'm still waiting to see when they deliver (coming up soon) what you are getting for $100.... a grossly inflated margin as compared to the AEKU AIEK card phone which is found for $15-20 on eBay.

Here's the thread:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/light-phone-on-kickstarter/

[Kilrah]

Frankly the card phone obviously has nothing in common in terms of design (what they put the emphasis on), it is a different product and even if it can still use some of the same cheap components it will be a separate, comparatively low volume production run. Certainly still with good margins if it sells, but isn't that the case for most products anyway?

Anyway it's kinda funny to see everybody go all over the place about rebadges... since most non-major brand products have been nothing else than that for decades now. The only difference is that with the internet it's now easy to find/prove that they are while before you'd have to dig and possibly physically go on site to find the source.

[edy]

Anyway it's kinda funny to see everybody go all over the place about rebadges... since most non-major brand products have been nothing else than that for decades now. The only difference is that with the internet it's now easy to find/prove that they are while before you'd have to dig and possibly physically go on site to find the source.

True, it is easier to find these days and also the prices are more easily determined as are comparisons. Before Chinese were selling directly online, it was almost impossible to know the per unit cost that a wholesaler/importer was getting. Now with a more direct link into the supply chain and OEM's, you can see better what is going on. As well, if you want a custom run (a "rebadge" with your own modified design or some slight modifications in features) you can hire one of these companies to make it for you.

For example, the Light Phone seems to be starting with the same AEKU phone (at least according to the PCB views) or some other OEM version, but they have clearly worked hard to change the design of the phone and display, and make an app to automate their "forwarding" concept. They are also working on a book, and they were giving people T-shirts. So I can see how they are trying to justify being "value-added" as compared to the AEKU... at a hefty markup no doubt, but it's their prerogative. Also, they seem to be part of some "incubator" program in China where creators live there for a year and work with a team to make things happen. It's almost like some kind of internship program. I'm looking forward to seeing what they finally ship for $99 and how much better it is than what is already available though. Backers I assume would have done their homework and made the decision to back this project because they believed the cost was worth it... either that or they had no idea you could buy a similar phone for $15 already, or they knew and felt the extra money for this was justified for the other features, book, T-shirt and "goodwill" they were doing on behalf of the Chinese factory workers that the project also said were being supported.

[macrop]

Their eco-BS is dreadfully laughable 

Isn't it ironical for them to call it eco-friendly when they are simply using it to start a fire on something else that burns anyway and would have a much much larger environmental impact over time.