Ok, I have had a turboflame, impressive with it's twin jets, but two months down the line, it broke. Then came a Silva Helios, a birthday gift, it was better than the turboflame, but again it broke. The problems always started when the purging of air was to be performed, but bit by bit the things broke. So, now the only reliabale lighter I have found, is the Zippo, it being so simple and well built, never once a problem with it, and I have'nt stuck to the Zippo spares for, wicks, fuel, flints etc, I have enen burned unleaded in it, it is fine, if a little smokey.
I have just taken delivery of an IMCO Triplex super 6700, another petrol lighter, for a fraction of the Zippo price, but it seems not as well built as the Zippo, but I can get on with it, as it has abilities the zippo does not have, like toolless flint replacement and adjustable wind guard. I am also told the fuel does not evaporate as fast as the zippo, something I will wait and see with, as I am a rollie smoker.
I think that is the difference between the gas lighters, turboflame, helios etc and the petrol, flammable spirit lighters, is the use factor, use one every day, and the limitations become apparent. I have found, the simpler a thing is, the more likely it is to be dependable, so for me, as a heavy user of lighters, in future I am sticking with the simple flammable spirit devices, pressurised gas,butane etc, no thanks, my experience confirms my conclusions.
But, if you are an occaisional user of a lighter, maybe use it once in a while, for a repair or such, then I suppose they do well, but if it were me who needed to repair a puncture in a plastic Canoe, I would just create a fire and then heat whatever to melt and spatula the plastic over the puncture.
Interestingly though, comparing the Zippo with the IMCO, the former being American, the latter being Austrian, the action of the two, the Zippo is a veritable bonfire of a flame, the IMCO so precise and controllable, the two suggestive to me, of the seperate nations ethos, American, big brash and do the job, Austrian, small, technically correct and precise, even the loading of the flints to me, is suggestive of the loading of a bolt action rifle, and can't help but wonder if the initial idea came from this.