Fire is an important element to have outdoors as it helps you keep warm and tends to motivate a person when he is down. It can also be used for cooking and heating up beverages. Hence when starting a wood fire, its important to have a reliable source to start a fire with.

Regular Matches

This is actually the best source to start fires with as they tend to be cheap and reliable. Good matches tend to be strong (not so easily snapped) and should readily ignite when struck rather than needing having to strike it a few times although often this is the fault of the box and not the match. I recommend buying 2 boxes and filling one up to the brim with sticks so that you can get the most mileage out of a single box. You should keep the box water-proof so that its reliable in all weather.

Waterproof and Windproof Matches

Usually more expensive than regular matches and supposedly more expensive due to the quality of lighting despite being wet, waterproof matches are often not required. If you can afford them, it may however be good to carry a box as they are more reliable in wet conditions.

Windproof matches are supposed to not be blown out by wind, which is also a useful feature but it does come at an extra cost.

Safety Matches

Safety matches simply imply that you cannot ignite them except when you use the side of the match box they come in, This safety feature prevents them from being accidentally ignited when struck on other surfaces. Other than this safety feature, they are the same as regular matches.

Lighters

While lighters have the distinct advantage of being able to sustain a flame far longer than any match could, they are prone to mechanical failure. Once that happens, they are pretty much useless. Hence matches are preferred over lighters (even wet matches can be dried).

Flint and Striker

A flint and striker is considered by some to be the best fire lighting tool. While it does have several distinct advantages such as having a long-life (good new ones can light you over 100 fires) and being water-proof. The only draw back is that you do not have a flame to start with and sparks instead so you must have good kinder for it to fully work. Often, that requires experience, practice and dry kinder to get your fire going.