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12K views 61 replies 51 participants last post by  gorn5150 
#1 ·
I am going to the Sportsmans guide tomorrow, and one of the items I am picking up is glow stick. I am currious as to how long these things can be stored and still work. I'm not sure how many I should get depending on how long I can keep them in a drawer.
 
#2 ·
I have half a box of military issued glowsticks in plain white rappers. I just broke one the other day and it still works. It's dated 2002 if that gives you any idea...however, I'd bet money that it varies GREATLY from manufacturer to manufacturer and the type you buy. The ones meant for kids at Halloween probably aren't going to have the kind of shelf life you'll want.
 
#3 ·
can we come up with practical uses for them? theyre too dim to really be used as decent light sources or signals. I know the military uses them to make fall back spots, staging areas, ect- i just can't really think of what else to use them for besides maybe marking a trail. would get pricey though
 
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#42 ·
We used them a lot when I was younger and went caving, amazing the amount of light that is put out inside a totally dark cave. Also for signaling you say they are too dim, but they really aren't go out into the country or onto a lake (Lake Amistad is over a million acres or the Great Lakes) on a moonless night and you will be able to spot one for a great distance and if search and rescue is looking for you at night even the dimmest light will be seen especially with night vision. I also worked disaster relief, and we used them to mark stairwells if the emergency lights failed, nothing like taking a step and the floor not being there. Then again there are times when you don't want 10,000 lumens and the soft glow works just fine. Finally as far as price we buy ours ours in small bulk quantities, and it brings the price down to about $10dz, for the 12 hr glow sticks (6dz. min), but for 900hr or about 37 days(74 nights of light) not a bad deal
 
#4 ·
I've had some that didn't last much at all, maybe six months.
These were mostly in my vehicle(s) BOB.
I guess the heat down here does something to them. At any rate, I switch them out fairly often.
As for use, I've used them to mark trails, for someone coming to a remote camping area, after dark, put one on a CB antenna so my wife could keep me in sight, in towns, at night, when convoying across country, and from my real stupid days, to use as guides to get back out of complicated cave/tunnel networks...Gave that up.
 
#5 ·
when camping.. we used them to mark pee area(yellow), one on the outside of each tent or hammok(yellow/blue), n to mark danger areas(red)

once activated, we used syringe to draw out the glowing liquid and put them into drinking straws(cut into 1.5" segments insert cotton wool and seal with heated tweezers).. that way we can cut down alot.. but they dun seem to glow for as long..

but in the dark.. all u need is very little light..
 
#7 ·
Throw one in a tent at night and you will see how much light they throw off.

put a few in a tent and it might be hard to get to sleep, we use them at cub scout camp every year, some of the kids don't want to sleep in the dark, glow sticks do the trick and they last all night.

As far as storage, they are subject to extreme temp changes which will affect their life but they don't cost much so easy to rotate out
 
#9 ·
If I need to hunt a use for something I probably can live without it.

Get a krill light
 
#12 ·
I have had one that was taken out of the original aluminum wrapper for years and still worked. As far as how temperature affects them, high temperatures make the glow bright for a short time and cold makes them glow dim for a long time. I used one two days ago and it is still glowing faintly and it has been kept in my house the whole time.
 
#13 ·
Glow sticks work great. Like anything, if you buy the cheap ones, they wont last as long. Do a search and you will find tons. Cylume sticks can come in a many colors which are used as marking areas and things in the military. They have some that are ultra bright that last for 30 minutes (1.5 hrs really). By from the company if possible, this ensures that you have the most "fresh" ones. Some places keep them and flares on the shelf and sell them way after their life expectancy.

After use if you put them in the freezer for a few days or more you can take them out for half brightness and half longivity. Thaw and then shake. Use in temps under -65 below 0 F. all the way up to 100 F. Always work great.

For night ops we would soak a line in the stuff, shake it off, then we could use it for passing lines over water, when using to set up lines up or down cliffs. As mentioned on one of these videos we were taught to spin them on the end of a string for emergency signaling. Use the dark blue ones for preserving your night vision. They have attachments to use as map lights, to pin on yourself for ID and also for camp light. They even have an IR. type.

Use them to keep the kids occupied (they love em). They can also be used to throw people off your trail at night. Place a few off the trail so they investigate. Cut one open and throw around the woods, come back to camp and tell your friends you just shot an alien and show them the glowing blood!!

I feel that they do have a special place in everyones emergency bag.
 
#16 ·
I use the heck out of them for night fishing. I toss a red one in the bottom of the boat to provide a little light without blowing my night vision. I attach them to the jugs when jug fishing. I can run a line of jugs then just kick back and sip a beverage until I see the glowing jug start to move across the river. I've got a friend who hangs one from his boat to attract fish but I've never had much luck with that.
We also tried placing one inside a plastic coke bottle then placing that in out fish trap before dropping into deeper water. Wanted to see if it would attract the fish. Didn't catch a thing. I think we freaked the fish out.
 
#17 ·
"If it bleeds, we can kill it"

I just had a great idea for a practical joke. use the NRC letterhead to construct a message saying that his home is possibly on the property of an improperly kep low grade nuclear waste site, then a week later sprinkle that fluid before he gets home on the lawn in a circular shape.
 
#19 ·
Have Both

I have both the Krill Light and chem sticks.

I got my chem sticks at Wally World after Halloween. They were REAL cheap then. They glow all nite.

The Krill I have not used for a while. Haven't done much camping lately. But when I did it was great! The military was aparrently using them as well but I haven't hear much about Krill for a while. The place I bought it from doesn't carry them anymore.

The nice thing about a Krill is that you can turn it off.

:upsidedown:
 
#20 ·
I buy a lot of the 30 minute extra bright ones. I have some that are years past their expiration. Some of them work fine, some are dim and some don't work at all. I don't know how well the other versions last, but they seem to last fairly well past their expiration, but the older they get, the less reliable they become.
 
#23 ·
I have some no-brand glow sticks that give off enough light to read from or light up a small area enough to make your way around things. Mine are a couple years old and still work for 12 hours or so. It'd be nice if you could turn them on and off!
Hang them in front of a mirror or reflective surface and they will be even brighter.
They work good for emergency flares too, so I keep them in my car.
 
#24 ·
While looking for bomb builders (the bad guys making the IED's)in Iraq, a group of infantry men would round up a group of Ha gees for interrogation. During the event they would break out several chem lights and announce that if you have been in contact with explosives, then this device will melt the skin off your bones when we touch it to you. They were successful with this technique.
 
#25 ·
Glowsticks!

GREAT Thread! I am a huge fan of glowsticks!

We keep one in every room of the house for power outages- they're perfect for the kids during storms. Our house rule is any drawer a glowstick is in, it's on the left front side. Lights out, just grope till you find a drawer, then feel the left side to see if a glowstick is there.

I love glowsticks because the kids can't burn the house down with them. When I was a kid, my dad had all these great kerosene lamps. But they were on the dangerous side, and not very portable.

We also stock flashlights- but they require batteries, or cranking, and don't put out the same light. Glowsticks are especially useful for the bathroom in a storm.

As for shelf life, I've found the coleman ones lasted over a year- when stored in a cool place. One I had in the glove box of the car got too hot and cracked open when broke, spraying the floor with Predator (1987) blood.

Target frequently sells these for $1, but they tend to go bad within a few months, I learned.

We also use glowsticks at halloween- we put them out instead of candles in our plastic pumpkins. No danger of a kid tipping over a candle, and the blue ones make eery, spectral lighting for the holiday.

I'd like to note one particular subject no one's addressed- toxicity.

My eldest daughter thought bending one back and forth after it had been lit for a few hours would brighten it (she was like 6 at the time). A hairline crack opened up, spraying her face with the contents.

She started screaming as it had got in her eye. We rushed her to the bathroom and started flushing her eye. Problem was it hurt so bad she couldn't open them. I knew glass hadn't escaped, but I was concerned about the chemical.

When we had her calmed down and most of it rinsed out, I called poison control. They didn't know what a cyalume nor glow stick was, and said they'd call back. Similarly, our doctor didn't know either, and suggested we take her to the E.R.

Poison control called back and said it was nontoxic but we needed to fully flush her eye out. Since our Doc had said the E.R., we went there...

And they didn't know what a glowstick was, either. (The ER Doc particularly didn't like me having to explain it to him either).

They ended up putting this contact-lens-like cap in my daughters eye, connected to a tube and flushed her eye out over a half hour period.

Later, I read up on the internet and learned no danger from the chemicals in her eye- she just needed to rinse out, something we had done at home.

Moral of the story is, be careful with these- they can rupture and the contents (apparently) burn like hell in your eye. Also bear in mind that there's a small glass ampule in the stick, containing one chemical. When you bend the stick, the ampule breaks, allowing the two chemicals to mix. Heat and light ensue.

Oh, and glowstick contents do fade away on a beige carpet in only a couple of days.

By the way, a first aid kit we recentyly bought at Target did have a glowstick in it as well.
 
#27 ·
Shipping

The military has a tube like the one on Amazon. Try a surplus store. I never see these in other stores.

You might as well just say $15.00 and free shipping. I think that there is a big scam going on with shipping.

I HATE mail-order anymore with the shipping costing more than the item. Things used to be shipped by weight. Now with everyone going flat rate... I just don't buy online much anymore and when I do I buy several items from the retailer to save on shipping.

A place I worked at a while back had printed foam cups that shipped in a BIG box. That box could be picked up with one hand. But because of its' size FedEx & UPS charge 80lbs shipping. The shipping was more than the product!

It's an upside down world!
:upsidedown:
 
#38 ·
I have some that expired in 2012. I probably brought them home in 2009. I'll try one and see how it does. I am like some others here as I have seldom found a use good enough to justify keeping them or carrying one. In Afghanistan we used them to make construction at night on the blackout FOB.
 
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