The weather, my desk job, and a bad knee have conspired to keep me close to the office this week. So I’ll take this opportunity to tell you about two products I’ve been trying out for a few weeks. One’s a new lighter from the Zippo people and the other’s a CD-ROM from Topics Entertainment entitled “1,001 Hikes in North America” that will enable you to sample various areas of the country to plan your next great adventure.

First the lighter: How many times have you done this? You’re buzzing through the aisles of your favorite big box store and there’s a display full of cheapo grill lighters. You know the ones. They’re about $3 and look to be worth about $1. But they’ve got a snout on them and they look like they’d be just the thing to light the gas grill or the pilot light on the gas hot water heater.

So you shell out $6 or so and pick up a couple of ’em – one to have by the grill, the other as a backup. If your lighters are anything like the ones I’ve had, forget about it. They’ll work for the first few times, then they’ll fail, leaving you to search the kitchen cabinets for that box of wooden matches you know you should have gone for in the first place.

So it was with curiosity recently that I contacted the Zippo folks to ask them about a new product they’ve just begun to market. It’s called the Zippo Multi-Purpose Lighter.

It’s a different-looking lighter than you’ve come to expect from the folks who’ve provided a reliable pocket fire source for the past 70 years. What makes it a big departure from past Zippos is its fuel source – butane. It’s also shaped much differently in that it’s 8 inches long, a half-inch thick, and an inch wide. It has an adjustment knob to give you a flame anywhere from a quarter of an inch high to just over 2 inches. It has a bail you can use to hang the lighter in a handy place, and there’s a clear window near the base to show you the fuel level. When it’s getting low, simply refill it with butane.

The one I received to try out has a black enamel body and a chromed tip. And it has a feel and heft to it, one that imparts quality.

I’ve used it now, on and off, for a month. I even took it on a kayak camping trip. Overall I’d say it’s a quality product, but it’s not without a couple of shortcomings. The most annoying is that it hates wind – won’t light in the wind, won’t stay lit in the wind. And it doesn’t take much of a breeze to shut this baby down. You must give it shelter. I found that if I turned the flame down I had a better chance of getting it lit.

The only other nit-pick I have with it, and this applies only to the minimalist in some of us, is the size. If you’re looking to shave ounces on a backpacking trip, or space in your camping kit, this lighter takes up a lot of room, not to mention its heft. It’s not designed as an all-weather lighter either, so I wouldn’t recommend it for your survival kit.

But for most of us looking for a reliable fire source around the house or camper, this critter is just the ticket. I found myself flicking it on and off frequently, just for the fun of it. If you’ve got a grill, candles, fireplace, a gas stove, or camping stove or lantern, this lighter will get you going. Just give it a flick.

Doing so, by the way, is not for the uncoordinated. You have to hold in a button on the back before you can push the ignition button upward for the torch to fire. It takes more than a light touch, too, but that’ll keep the little ones from igniting the kitchen curtains should they snag it from its favorite hanging place.

Best of all is the company’s lifetime guarantee: “It works or we fix it free.” You are responsible for shipping the Zippo lighter to the Zippo Repair Clinic. Zippo returns the lighter to you at their expense. The mailing address is: Zippo Manufacturing Co., Attention: Repair Clinic, 1932 Zippo Drive Bradford, PA, 16701.

The price? Suggested retail is about $15 for the black-bodied unit, about $20 for the all-chrome model. That’s just five of those cheapos you’ve thrown away since last year. Check out www.zippo.com for more information on this new product.

“1001 Hikes in North America,” is a CD-ROM compilation of hikes around the United States. It has an index on the opening page which lists hikes in northern California, California’s Sierra and coastal regions, Colorado, Virginia, New Mexico, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, and a list of family hikes in Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Click on the area you want and explore. There’s an optional method as well, a map of the U.S. All you do is click on the area you want to explore.

When you do, an area map with numbered hikes appears. Another click and you’ve got a small map of the trail and a detailed description of your intended hike. You’ll be advised to “Read the trip description thoroughly before selecting a hike. Each entry includes enough information for you to make an appropriate choice.”

There are day hikes and overnight designations and difficulty ratings for those trails appropriate for young ones all the way to difficult. But don’t reject a hike “based on a difficult rating, however, before noting the turnaround point or reading about an optional shortcut” the program advises. You get distance and hiking times, high-point elevations in feet, elevation gain over the course of the hike, and the preferred seasons to make the hike.

And you are told which U.S. Geological Survey map to use with the caveat that the topo maps frequently are not up to date in showing trail routes and locations since topos are not updated all that often.

You’ll also get traveling directions on how to get to the trailhead.

You will find advice about camping tailored to each state. In Maine, for example, you’ll find this advice: “… hikers planning to stay overnight on the trail should camp in designated areas or obtain the owner’s permission if on private land. Portable stoves are preferred in Maine (as in most areas of New England) because often there is not enough dead or downed wood available to use as fuel near the campsites. Fire permits are required if you’re outside a designated fire area.”

And I was happy that the basics of Leave No Trace were included for the general section on Maine.

The one beef I have is the trail maps. They are not very detailed, even when enlarged. And when they are enlarged, they sit in a window that’s too small, leaving you only little surrounding area for context. It’s too bad they couldn’t be displayed in a topo map format, particularly since there are several good mapping programs out there.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 9900-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.