UCO Stormproof Matches and Candle Lanterns

What UCO makes for hunters and campers

On this site, UCO covers three product types plus one stray:

• Matches and tinder: Stormproof and Titan matches, plain waterproof safety matches, Sweetfire tinder
• Fire starters: two ferro rod strikers
• Lanterns: candle lanterns in several sizes and two small battery LED lanterns
• One headlamp: the Beta, AAA-powered per its listing

UCO's own site also sells camp cookware, portable grills and knives. This site doesn't list those from UCO. The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go, so I'll write about the product lines and what separates them, not about how many show up this week.

Specs in the grid come mostly from Amazon listings, and the grid marks those. Burn times, weights and run times below come from UCO's own product pages, and I say so each time. Where a listing leaves a blank, the grid shows a dash. A dash I can live with. A made-up number is how you end up with two coolers and no ice.

UCO stormproof matches: the lineup

Stormproof Match Kit

This is the one the brand gets searched for. Per UCO's product page, the kit is a screw-top case that floats, with 25 stormproof matches and extra strikers inside, and room for up to 40 matches. The matches are 2.75 inches long and burn for up to 15 seconds. The maker calls them waterproof, windproof and stormproof, and says they relight after submersion.

That relight claim is the reason people go looking for this kind of match. UCO also says they ignite in high wind, so a gust over the tailgate doesn't end the conversation. The grid has the kit in single colors, a three-color set, and a kit with four refill packs (100 matches per its listing). Same match, different amounts of commitment.

Titan Stormproof Matches

The Titan is the bigger version. UCO lists it at just over 4 inches long, with a burn time of up to 25 seconds. That extra length matters when you're reaching into a wood stove, under a stacked teepee of kindling, or across a gas burner with a cold wind coming over the tailgate. The grid sells them as a 25-count box.

Waterproof Safety Matches

These are the plain ones: a 4-pack of boxes, 160 matches total per the listing, sold as waterproof matches in water-resistant boxes. They're not stormproof. Think kitchen-drawer match that won't turn to mush in a damp cabin, not a match for a sideways rain. I keep a box of these by the camp stove because the stove doesn't need a 25-second hero. It needs a match that lights.

How to strike a stormproof match

UCO's product pages give the same short drill for its matches:

• Close the box first, so the striker sits firm
• Strike away from your body, or downward
• Watch for sparks from the head as it lights
• Dry a wet striker before using it, and use a spare in the meantime
• Run the spent match under water so it can't light anything else

That last one surprises people. A stormproof match is built to survive water, so the maker's advice is to drown it on purpose when you're done. Keep matches out of reach of children.

Sweetfire tinder and fire starters

Matches light tinder. Tinder lights the fire. Sweetfire is UCO's tinder line, and the maker describes it as bagasse (a sugarcane by-product) mixed with vegetable wax. Each strikeable point lights on the box like a match, then burns for up to 7 minutes, per UCO, which is long enough to catch damp kindling.

The grid has a few forms of it:

• Sweetfire Biofuel Fire Starters: strikeable points, 20 per box per the listing
• Sweetfire Tinder Match Points: the same idea in a different pack
• Stormproof Sweetfire: tinder with a stormproof match-style head
• Firestarter Kit: a match case with Sweetfire tinder and 12 hurricane matches, per its listing

The maker says Sweetfire works "even in wind or damp conditions." It doesn't call it waterproof, so neither will I. Fire starters across brands are on the fire starters page, and sticks and tabs on the fire starter sticks page.

Ferro rod strikers

A ferro rod (ferrocerium, a sparking metal) throws hot sparks when you scrape it with a striker. A rated strike count is a lot of fires, which is why it's the backup layer. UCO has two in the grid:

• Titan Fire Striker: UCO lists a rod 4 inches long and ½ inch across, rated for up to 20,000 strikes. The striker doubles as a bottle opener, hex wrench and ruler, and the paracord tether unwinds into tinder, per the maker.
• Survival Fire Striker: the smaller one, with a tether and a multitool striker, rated at 3,000+ strikes per its listing title.

A ferro rod needs tinder that catches a spark: Sweetfire, cotton, dry birch bark. The sparks alone won't light a log. I know this because I once spent a full Turnpike playlist trying. The ferro rod page compares rod sizes across brands.

The UCO lantern lineup

Original Candle Lantern

The UCO lantern most people picture is the Original Candle Lantern. UCO's page lists it at 6.4 ounces with a candle, 4.25 inches tall closed and 6.5 inches open. It runs on a 15-hour candle for up to 15 hours of light, per the maker, and a spring-loaded candle tube keeps the flame at a steady height as the candle burns down. A glass chimney blocks the wind. It comes in aluminum (painted or raw) and brass.

The grid has it in several finishes and in value packs with three candles and a storage bag. The maker says it takes UCO white, beeswax or citronella candles. One candle lantern in the grid lists 9 hours of run time on its listing; read the candle spec of the exact pack.

Candlelier

The Candlelier is the big one: three candles burning at once. UCO says it comes with three 12-hour candles for up to 36 hours of total burn time, and weighs 18 ounces with candles. Its heat shield can warm food or melt snow, the maker says, and the maker is also clear that it's not a replacement for a camp stove. (Renee says that's the first time she's seen a manufacturer manage my expectations.)

Mini Candle Lantern Kit

The mini kits are tealight lanterns with a carry case and a hanging hook, per the listings. Smaller, lighter-duty, good for a picnic table or the shelf by the tent door.

Leschi and Sprout LED lanterns

For light without a flame, UCO has two small battery lanterns:

• Leschi: up to 110 lumens, one AA battery, up to 4 hours, IPX5 water rating (a water resistance level), 1.6 oz without battery. Slide the frosted globe up for a lantern, down for a flashlight. Bright, dim and strobe, per UCO.
• Sprout: up to 100 lumens, three AAA batteries, about 5 hours on high and 60 on low, 64 grams. Low, medium and high plus blue and white moonlight modes, and a magnetic lanyard for hanging, per UCO.

Lumens are light output. Neither is a camp-wide floodlight; both are tent-and-table lights. More options across brands are on the camping lantern page and the battery operated lantern page. The Beta headlamp sits on the headlamps page with the rest of my collection's relatives.

Candle lanterns, tents and carbon monoxide

My one opinion on this page: a candle lantern is for the picnic table, the porch rail and the open vestibule, not for a closed tent while you sleep. The CPSC says people die every year from carbon monoxide from lanterns, heaters and stoves used inside tents, campers and vehicles, and says never to use fuel-burning lanterns while sleeping in enclosed areas. UCO's own pages list carbon monoxide among the combustion by-products and say to keep a burning candle in sight and away from anything flammable.

For light inside a zipped tent, use the Leschi, the Sprout or a headlamp.

How to choose within the UCO lineup

Build the fire kit in layers

The UCO fire products stack, they don't compete:

• Stormproof or Titan matches: the fast flame, wind or rain
• Sweetfire: the slow flame that turns a match into a fire
• A ferro rod: the backup with thousands of strikes in it

Pick the match length by where you light things. Titan's extra length helps at a wood stove or a deep fire ring. The standard Stormproof kit is the one that fits in a pack lid. Guess which one ends up in the truck console. (Both. Plus a box of plain waterproofs.)

Pick a lantern by where it hangs

Candle lantern for warm light outdoors and a steady flame in wind. LED for inside a tent, the truck cab, or anywhere a flame shouldn't be. If you hate buying batteries, note the Leschi runs on a single AA and the Sprout on three AAA, per UCO. Pack spares either way.

Check the count and the pack

Many UCO listings are the same product in different packs: a kit, a kit with refills, a box, a value pack with candles. The grid shows count where the listing gives it. Compare per-match or per-candle by eye before ordering.

Fire safety for any kit

Strike away from yourself, keep matches and lighters away from kids, and put a fire all the way out. Smokey Bear's rule: drown it with water until the hissing stops, stir, drown again, and feel for heat with the back of your hand. If it's too hot to touch, it's too hot to leave. Fire rules vary by state and by burn season, so check your state's rules before you light one.

The kit that works is the one that's still dry in November, in the place you left it. Mine's in the truck. Renee knows where.