[Gunner65]

When it comes right down to it if it works then it is useful… That is the basis most people go with. There is nothing wrong with that at all. When I was doing seminars, I compared flashlights all the time. Now let me say that I know cost is a BIG part of what we get, in fact I always told the folks at the seminars to live by this rule… “Get the BEST equipment YOU can afford. “ What I mean by that is simple, really look at what you are going to buy and if your price range is X amount but for another 50.00 you can get a better product, then it might be worth the extra week or two to save the 50 to get the better item.

That is something that each of us will have to limit on our own. Only you know what you can and can’t afford. Now with that being said I would like to bring up a couple of flashlights…

I found out over the years that most people have mag-lites and they are good lights at a very good price. Again, nothing wrong with that. However, think about if it all goes south and you have to go to your planned shelter and things have been stored there for years in some cases. How long do AA and AAA batteries last stored? Yes they will work but not near as long or as strong as they would have if they were brand new. Now figure in since the batteries are weaker your mag-lite will have a weaker beam of light also…

In my opinion and again it is my opinion that a flashlight is one of the most important items to have packed and stored and a few of along with extra batteries. To me it is worth spending the big bucks for a light I would bet my life on..! I have SureFire and Streamlight flashlights both brands use the 123 Lithium battery type that you can buy from SureFire for around $25.00 for a box of 12. Here is the best part they have a 10 YEAR shelf life… and the lights are 30 times brighter then ANY mag-lite you can buy…

Please don’t get me wrong, a flashlight that turns on when you need it is the best one to have, but if it means saving a bit longer for the better one that all the way across the board is a better product it seems to me it is worth saving for…

You can check these out at:
http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/max_segment_listing/disp/strfnbr/6/sesent/00

http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/co_disp/displ/carfnbr/97/sesent/00

http://streamlight.com/product-selector.aspx

 

[kingjames]

While working at the mental hospital I had a stylus pen light made by Stream light. Have had it so long. Its gone to the crapper. I hear they have a lifetime gareante. Havent had a chance to find out yet. I like their products.

 

[Gunner65]

Yes they have that, all you have to do is get the info from their site...

 

[Arkansas_Ranger]

Streamlight and SureFire are the best out there. Streamlight makes a number of rechargeable lights, and I've got several. SureFire makes some nice items too with lithium batteries. I was recently doing some shopping for a SureFire, but I've let that fall by the wayside as I've been distracted with other things. The SureFire was for my ready pack.

Maglites are ok if you want some off the shelf, battery operated products. They now have LED lights that are pretty good. I don't have any like that, but I have a couple of Mags for backup lights around the house for when the power is out, etc.

I also have some hand-crank devices (dynamo).

Obviously, some long-burning candles and oil lamps are nice for home lighting with the power is out if you don't have a generator.

 

[skifast]

Sam's Club has a two pack of 150 Lumen flashlights for $28. I have used mine quite a bit. It is an excellent light.

 

[techo]

I have a Nitecore Defender Infinity I EDC.
It's a great little lite. You don't know what you've been missing untill you carry a quality flashlight for a while.
https://www.4sevens.com/

 

[Gunner65]

"You don't don't know what you've been missing untill you carry a quality flashlight for a while"

Can't agree more... :thumb:

 

[unknownroot]

I have a flashlight made by Smith and Wesson. I swear it's brighter than any maglite I've ever seen. Problem with it is it gets hot after so much use. I keep it in my bag and a set of extra batteries which are special camera batteries that cost over $10. I keep a few "glow" sticks in the bag as well.

 

[Gunner65]

Heat is a problem with Xeon type bulb, if you go LEW there is no heat and a much whiter light...

 

[Cryptkeeper]

call me cheap but ive had this flashlight for over 20 years and it has been through hell and back. back in the day i 1st bought it to go caveing it would get banged hard aginst rocks ALOT, crawling through caves and such and the only thing i have done to it is change the batteries it truely has taken a licken and kept on ticken and all i paid for it was $4 (lol) and i just bought a new one about a month ago just because walmart had them on clearance for $5 and this 1 had a small flashlight to go with it . lol couldnt pass up a good deal lol but the flashlight is http://www.garritylites.com/page57.html mine looks a bit differnt just because this one is a newer model than my old one but its just as good and hey it really has lasted me over 20yrs as my main flashlight. yes those $100++ may be brighter but i think i could buy 5 of these for $5 ea. and i would NEVER need another flashlight as long as I live and i can put the cash i save into more items i could really use more. but i still use the older one as my main flashlight. and all it takes are common D batteries and if ppl are smart they'ed put rechargable batteries in the flashlight and a small solar battery charger in their pack

 

[Macumazahn]

I think these cord lock lights made by https://www.blackcratergear.com/ are a pretty cool idea. Put on on the main draw of your ruck, on your ditty bag, or food pouch, or anything where you need to rummage around in the contents.

 

[Ihatebugs]

However, think about if it all goes south and you have to go to your planned shelter and things have been stored there for years in some cases. How long do AA and AAA batteries last stored?

That's why the serious long-term prepper wouldn't be without a solar flashlight. You can still have another flashlight if you want, but have at least one solar as a backup.

http://www.bogolight.com

 

[ZombieHeadshot]

I've always had a fascination with flashlights. I had a collection of about 4 or 5 nice flash lights but all AAA 15-30 dollar flashlights. I thought they were nice and bright but they were all pretty bulky (uncomfortable in the pocket)

Finally I broke down and bought a SUREFIRE E1B Backup. Definitely one of the best investments I've ever purchased. 110 dollars at my local gun shop. This light goes with me EVERYWHERE, I can't tell you how many times its come in handy lighting a walkway or finding a keyhole in the dark. They are also great in self-defense (yep I said self-defense) When your walking at night and a suspicious fellow is approaching you in the dark, one shine of 80 lumens from a Surefire will totally blind him for up to a minute and let him know hes close enough.

I've never seen such a little light be so powerful. It will throw a beam from my back door 100 yards to the treeline in my back yard and light up whatever I need to see.

Plus the 9-10 year shelf life of the batteries, the fact that its waterproof, mud proof, shock resistant and has got a lifetime warranty from Surefire makes it a must have.

 

[Thedishdoc]

Streamlight and SureFire are the best out there. Streamlight makes a number of rechargeable lights, and I've got several. SureFire makes some nice items too with lithium batteries. I was recently doing some shopping for a SureFire, but I've let that fall by the wayside as I've been distracted with other things. The SureFire was for my ready pack.

Maglites are ok if you want some off the shelf, battery operated products. They now have LED lights that are pretty good. I don't have any like that, but I have a couple of Mags for backup lights around the house for when the power is out, etc.

I also have some hand-crank devices (dynamo).

Obviously, some long-burning candles and oil lamps are nice for home lighting with the power is out if you don't have a generator.

I have used mag lites for years and I have one of the new LED ones and they are really nice. A huge improvment. I recommend everyone have one. Very bright and the LED feature means no bulb replacment. A must have.

 

[Thedishdoc]

Sam's Club has a two pack of 150 Lumen flashlights for $28. I have used mine quite a bit. It is an excellent light.

If you are refering to the small 3 AAA 3 watt LED lights I concur. I have 4 of those I got from SAMs and they are great. I keep one in both vehicle glove boxes as well as around the house in handy places. They are very bright. My neighbor was showing me his new LED light and it had about ten LEDs and I took mine out (1 LED) and it was three times as bright. They are a must have as well.

 

[Thedishdoc]

I also have a couple on iNova lights that use the 123 Lithium batteries. They are pretty good light also.

 

[Wolfen]

Maglite LED's use older less efficent emitters but are pretty much bomb proof and run on standard batteries AAA,AA,C,D,which are widely available and cheap.

i would recommend using NIMH rechargeables such a eneloop as there discharge curve is flat compared to alkline single use cells. i have chosen to standardize my shtf lights on the AA (there are adaptors for c/d cell lights).

i am abit of flashoholic having bought acouple of hundred lights looking for the perfect one, nope not found it yet but i will keep looking . the best i have found sofar is the Fenix L2T v2.0 Q2 $49.50 with free global delivery

Features:
Cree Q2 LED with lifespan of 50,000 hours
Two digitally-regulated output levels, selected by turning the bezel
High level: 152 lumens, 2.4 hours (Ni-HM)
Low level: constant 16 lumens, 32 hours (Ni-HM)
Operates on two 1.5V AA (Alkaline, Ni-MH, Lithium) batteries (not included), inexpensive and widely available
Dimensions: 14.4cm (L) x 2.1cm (D)
Weight: 59g (excluding batteries)
Aircraft-grade aluminum body with durable type-III hard-anodized finish
Toughened ultra-clear glass lens with anti-reflective coating
Textured reflector for a flawless beam
Waterproof to IPX-8 Standards
Included holster, lanyard, spare o-rings, and extra rubber switch boot

for those that preffer cr123 flashlights there are rechargeables for those to, i would recommend joining http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/index.php? wealth of information on there.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=133440 is the sticky with links to the threads about lo-ion safety. personnely i WOULD ONLY USE PROTECTED LO-ION cells to understand why go to above link and learn.

my EDC is the solarforce L2 (surefire clone) using RCR123 cells with an R2 p60 drop-in, backup is the fenix L1T little brother to the L2T.

 

[Thedishdoc]

This light goes with me EVERYWHERE, I can't tell you how many times its come in handy lighting a walkway or finding a keyhole in the dark. They are also great in self-defense (yep I said self-defense) When your walking at night and a suspicious fellow is approaching you in the dark, one shine of 80 lumens from a Surefire will totally blind him for up to a minute and let him know hes close enough.

LOL a flashlight as a weapon. That reminds me of a funny incident. We live in the Florida panhandle not to far from the coast. I came home from work on Friday and decided to surprise the family with a weekend trip to the beach. By the time we got packed up, got to the beach, checked in to the motel and got unloaded in was around 10:00pm. First thing my daughter wanted to do was to go down to the water. (We like to go down at night anyway to look for shells at low tide and to check out the crabs) I always take my Q-Beam, a 300,000 candle power light, very bright. I also had my ASP baton on my belt. So we get down to the water and there is some punk asleep on the rental chairs they have at the surf line. He gets up and starts coming over to us saying his buddies from Birmingham Alabama abandoned him and he needs money to get home. He starts asking me to buy his gold chain. I tell him I am not interested. ( I whispered to my daughter to get behind me and to run back to the room if I have to bash him) He keeps going on about me buying the chain so I aim the Q-BEAM at his face, closed my eyes and shined the Q-Beam directly into his eyes, then I open my eyes and FLICK the ASP open. He’s standing there with both arms outstretched mumbling “Yo man, I don’t want any trouble” So I say “THEN LEAVE US ALONE OR YOU ARE GONNA HAVE SOME” He shuffled on down the beach. I would have wore him out because I knew he couldn’t see squat. Next morning he is still down on the benches asleep so I went and told the manager about the incident and I guess they went and told him to move on because I didn’t see him anymore that weekend. But the old bright light to the eyes defiantly gave me a HUGE advantage. He knew he was getting ready to loose big time if he tried anything with me. If I hadda flicked the baton out without blinding him first I believe it would have been game on, because he was pretty aggressive and insistent right up to the point where he could no longer see. Then he decides he doesn’t want any trouble. So the light actually kept me from having to escalate my level of force. My daughter still laughs about that sometimes as do I.:

 

[Sharpdogs]

When purchasing flashlights I used to always focus on the number of lumens the light had. The more it had the better. I have change my mind over the past year or so. First off all my lights use the same common AA battery. I know the CR123's have a longer shelf life but they are not common or very economical. About 2 years ago I was on vacation in Greece on a little tiny Island. The only batteries to be found, AAs. AAs are the most common and that why I stick with them. Luckily many of today's AA lights can produce 80 or more lumens.

As for what light I carry:

- Gerber Infinity built like a tank, sips battery power and has clip so I make an improvised headlamp with baseball cap. This light is not very bright but the ruggedness and battery longevity makes up for it.
- Photon Proton this one is may favorite, it uses 1xAA battery has mulitiple levels and has a red LED as well. This was my main light for a week long camping trip and it never let me down.
- Sun Eco Twist'rSun Eco Twist'r - I just started carrying this one the site. No batteries required and it is surprisingly bright. I has become my new favorite light when walking the dogs.

 

[z96Cobra]

You can get CR123 batteries for $1 each if you order in bulk online. I get the Titanium brand from www.batteryjunction.com I just keep em stored in my safe. I EDC a SureFire U2 and L4 which both run on CR123s. I almost always have a Fenix P2D as on me as well.

Roger