I bought this to help when smoking meats. I placed these onto the charcoal I already star had going. These do last long time for a nice and steady heat source.
I would buy again

Yes, this was hard to light. Finally got it started with double load of heavy craft paper dribbled with canola oil in a charcoal chimney. Did burn nicely for a good while in a rocket type folding stove after that. Was it amazing? No. Would not buy again.
Update: putting a layer of regular briquettes above and below in a chimney does light these consistently. (Arrange these vertically as well.) And they do burn hot for a long time once lit. Starting to like them.

The majority of negative reviews on here are from people that have never cooked using a style of charcoal like binchotan, ogatan, etc... Unless you have some sort of knowledge from cooking on a konro grill setup for Robata / Yakitori I don't think you would. This charcoal worked out extremely well for me, and absolutely exceeded the 3hrs advertised on the label in my cheap konro grill. Very comparable to brands like Thaan if you need a cheap Ogatan, or Binchotan alternative.

Compared to lump charcoal, or briquettes, this style of charcoal (ogatan) takes way longer to ignite in a chimney setup. You are definitely going to need to add paper to the bottom of your chimney several times before the bottom layer of coals ignite in the chimney. It is inconvenient, but it definitely works with this method.

The best method for igniting dense, high carbon charcoal like this is by using a portable burner. This is how I've done it in a pro / commercial environment, and how many others do as well.
Load up your charcoal starter, place it on top of a portable burner, then adjust heat from the stove accordingly as the charcoal ignites. Way faster to ignite using this method + won't have a bunch of ash flying around from adding paper to the charcoal chimney.

(Just google "how to ignite binchotan" for a video demonstration)

It takes a little work to get it going but once you do it Cook's for hours.....

First, the manufacturer makes it very clear in the description, THIS IS NOT TRADITIONAL CHARCOAL. This charcoal requires either the proper chimney starter or a lot of time and patience to get it to light. I had the latter and took a few pieces, surrounded it with standard charcoal, and just kept dumping lighter fluid and finally, I was able to get it lit. It raised the temp of my grill several degrees very quickly (small grill).

TL;DR: Be aware that without the proper tool or devotion you will not be able to light this non-traditional charcoal. If you are able to get it lit, it is worth the price.