Zorro Petrol Lighters Love them or hate them what is it going to be?

 

Zorro, a Chinese brand of petrol lighters, some say are copies of Zippo lighters. When you start to look at the Zorro line up you can of course find lighters which resemble Zippo lighters. This however, is no different to bicycle manufacturer "A" bringing out a bike made from the same material as bicycle manufacturer B's bike but in a different colour and or slightly different parts. For example: bicycle manufacturer B's bike has parts which are CNC manufactured and not cast as in Bicycle manufacturer A's products. Both are built around the "A" frame, both are made from Al alloy. No one in their right mind is going to say bike company A is ripping off bike company B, fact.

The Zorro lighter you see above is nothing like the Zippo. The case in machined from a solid block of brass and the hinge is also machined into the case. The only part not made from brass is the hinge pin. (see below). Such a hinge does not display the hysteresis (sideways play) seen in every Zippo (even brand new ones!).

The outer case feels solid (because it is), the lines are smooth and it feels great in the hand. I can't rip the pocket either financially or physically because of it's smooth lines and reasonable price point.

How about the business end of things? The actual ignition and combustion chamber is of course similar to that of the Zippo. It comprises of the folded piece of metal, either titanium, brass or steel with a striker wheel, also made of steel, a flint made from ferro cerium alloy and a wick. The thickness of the material in the Zippo is approximately 0.49mm whereas the thickness of the Chinese made insert is closer to 0.45mm. Yes, it could be argued that there really is no difference in sheet thickness between the two, but there is and this is the way the Chinese manufacturer can cut costs. Is it less functional the Chinese insert. Absolutely no. What are the other differences? Well the Zippo wick is definitely superior in construction to that of the Zorro lighter. 

One can clearly see the woven nature of a genuine Zippo wick

The Zippo wick is of a woven construction and this helps to maintain the integrity of the wick over time. In order for the gasoline lighter to work efficiently, a wick must not unravel. 

The Zorro wick before I had a chance to cut it back and try and fix it up. The only real fix here is to replace it with a Zippo wick!

Oh by the way, before we get too far away from stuff made in China, the Zippo's butane gas insert is made in CHINA! Yes, of course it is, because of all places China is ranking number one in such manufacturing. 

Here we see the Zorro insert, and yes, it has the same number of holes (8) as a Zippo does, in this case the insert is much narrower than that of the "standard Zippo". The dimensions of the Zorro 538 HK No. 3063 are:

Height: 2.32"

Width:  1.35"

Thickness: 0.55"

The Zippo Slim dimensions

Height: 2.38"

Width: 1.13"

Thickness: 0.38"

I provide these specifications only for interest as the two lighters really can not be compared as they are manufactured with different techniques.

This Zorro model actually incorporates an O-ring seal to prevent unnecessary evaporation of the  Zippo fuel (refined petrol- white gas). There is no such feature on the Zippo lighter. The only problem was that the supplied (X2) O-rings with the Zorro were too small! Ok, I made a custom made silicone seal for this lighter.