Staff pick
This flameless lighter has a slim shape, a long flexible neck, a loop on the end to hang it up, and four indicator lights that tell you when it’s time to recharge the battery.
The Meiruby Electric Candle Lighter is slim and light, weighing just 2 ounces. It’s 11 inches long, and it has a flexible neck and a convenient loop on the end that lets you hang it from a hook. To use it, simply switch it on and hold down a button. It comes in black gray, pink, red, purple, green, blue, silver, or gold. Like the Suprus lighter, it works well with anything smaller than a quarter inch, but it’s impractical for lighting larger objects.
Staff pick
This flameless lighter has a sleek look, comes in either black or gold, and is as reliable and easy to use as any model we’ve tried.
The Paddywax Zapper Electric Candle Lighter is nearly identical to the Suprus lighter except it costs more, is emblazoned with the Paddywax brand name, charges via an included Micro-USB cable, and comes in black or gold. For those reasons, I wouldn’t necessarily pick it over the Suprus model, but if you prefer the way it looks (or if it goes on sale) it’s a solid alternative.
Staff pick
This flameless lighter is compact and lightweight, and it comes in funkier color combinations than most models we’ve tried.
The Botanica DuoTone Flameless Lighter is a bit trickier to use than the Suprus lighter because you have to hold down a button while simultaneously holding the safety switch in place. But it’s just as slim and lightweight, and it also comes in a slew of cute color options, including pink/maroon, white/beige, periwinkle/aqua, green/coral, pink/blue, and tan/orange. We also recommend it in our guides to the best housewarming and host and hostess gifts—and it does look quite nice.
Staff pick
This flameless lighter is the most ruggedly built model we’ve used. It has a grippy exterior, a flip-open cover, a built-in flashlight, and a loop to attach it to an included lanyard.
The Survival Frog Tough Electric Lighter 2.0 has a grippy silicone exterior, a small built-in flashlight, and a protective flip-open cover. It has a small hanging loop so you can attach it to a carabiner or the included lanyard.
It’s less practical for lighting deep candles or grills compared with the long-stemmed lighters we tried, but since its electrical nodes face upwards—and it has four of them, producing two crisscrossed plasma arcs—it more accurately mimics an open flame, making it a better choice for lighting palo santo and other bulky items.
On the downside, it lacks battery-status lights, so it’s difficult to know when you need to recharge.
Staff pick
Though it costs more than any other model we’ve tried, this flameless lighter is a display piece. It’s effortless to use, stands upright, has a sturdy metal shell, and comes in four bold colors.
The Luma Flume Lighter is the most beautiful flameless lighter we’ve tried. It has a matte finish (it comes in white, light green, dusty red, or brown) and a slender cone shape (it’s 10.5 inches tall and has a 1.5-inch base), so it can conveniently stand upright on a mantle. The lighter weighs 8.5 ounces, which is much heavier than the other flameless lighters we tried (and even outweighs an iPhone 16 Pro Max), but it’s sturdily built with a solid metal shell.
The Luma lighter is effortless to use; a switch on the base powers it on, and a switch on the side runs it for 10 seconds before stopping automatically. Unfortunately, it lacks the safeguards most models have, so if you drop it or knock it over while it’s running (within that 10-second window) you could start a fire accidentally. Plus, the price tag is obscene.
I also tried out the Zippo Double Arc Rechargeable Lighter Insert, which is designed to fit inside any Zippo flip-top case, and it’s one of just a couple of models we’ve seen that produces two arcs of plasma instead of one. However, since a raised lip surrounds the electric nodes, it’s difficult to light even the most basic candle wick. Also, the power button requires a short tap before holding it down to use it, which is really annoying. It doesn’t have battery-status lights, either.
The Zippo Rechargeable Candle Lighter is 10.25 inches long, has a flexible neck, and comes in gray, red, or rose gold. However, it’s on the heavier side (3.4 ounces) and since you have to hold down a button and a safety switch simultaneously, it’s deeply uncomfortable to use one-handed. Plus, it lacks battery-status lights.
I haven’t gotten rid of my vast collection of matches and butane lighters—and I plan to keep taking matchbooks from every restaurant and dive bar I visit—but the Suprus Electric Lighter has easily earned its place on my mantle. Other than my phone and laptop, it’s quickly becoming one of my most used electronic devices (up there with my water flosser and electric kettle).
Far surpassing my expectations of being yet another cheap USB-powered gadget, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to use and how well it fits in with my home decor. I hope to use it for years to come.
This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Maxine Builder.
