Pocket Flashlight

[wgiles]

I have had few LED mini flashlights that didn't have switch problems or problems with the connection on the battery cap. Until recently, the LED Mini Mag-Lites were the most reliable, but I almost always had to loosen and then tighten the battery end cap to get them to work. I now carry a mini flash lite by Coast that uses a single AA cell or an AA size Lithium Ion rechargeable cell. I know it's not an AAA cell, but they haven't failed me yet and they are very bright when used with the Lithium Ion cell. The 14500 Lithium Ion cells are 3.7V instead of 1.5V, but the flash lite will use either one. I carry one of these Coast lites on my belt all of the time. Around here, I get them at Menard's, but they should be available elsewhere. The one that I use is an HX5. I have yet to have any problems with Coast flash lites or headlamps and I have several. I have a couple of inspection lites labeled Snap-On that use two AAA cells and work very well, but don't seem to be available any more. I think that they were special marketing deals.

For more than ten years, I have carried a Petzl Zipka headlamp in my pack. It uses three AAA cells, is very reliable and very compact. The Zipka is not like most headlamps and you really have to see one to appreciate it. There is no adjusting or fumbling with the straps, just pull it apart and put it on. Altogether, I think that I have three of them. One in the pack, one in the truck and one in the drawer upstairs in case the power goes out.

 

[Guest]

Little late to this party but I carry one of these every day. It has the rubber bite protection and a clip so it could be clipped to the bill of a hat and point in the right direction. AAA batteries, and small. Not the brightest light but saved the day and and possibly a life more than once.

https://outbackflashlights.com/shop/flashlights/ripper/

Jim, if I were still employed I would be tempted to buy yet another flashlight. I carried a cheap little pocket penlight in worklife every day. A light, and sometimes a mirror, were necessities for reading serial numbers or information on equipment, usually on the back, against the wall or in some inaccessible place.

I am resisting another order of flashlights, and should not have shown the new ones to my wife, who is usually disinterested in gear stuff. I did the windowless mudroom demonstration for her, comparing the illumination between the stocking stuffers, the Anker Bolders and the little UltraFires.

It wasn’t a deliberate set up; I turned on one of the stocking stuffer LEDs first and she remarked “Yeah, those are bright”. Then I turned on the Ankers and the little Ultra-fire. She wants one, or maybe one of each. If nothing else I may have convinced her to stop impulse buying end of counter LEDs every Christmas.

LC40 refers to the model you purchased, interesting that the Amazon page show a "newer model available LC30", about the same price but lower Lumen output. Looks like the LC40 is discontinued and is being sold off cheap, the "new model" actually seems to mean "what you can now buy for the same price but get a lesser light".

Greatttt, I am trying to resist the urge to buy more flashlights, and that isn’t helping.

Another three pack of UltraFires and I would have proper illumination stocking stuffers for the boys. And I kinda doubt the 2-pack deal on the Anker Bolders will be around come December.

Must. Resist. Urge. And leave the family in the dim.

 

[Seeker]

After 11 years of military service and the training leading up to it, all involving red-lens covered hand-held D cell flashlights, I swore I'd never use a red lens again (and mostly didn't, though they have a role in hunting.) Tried the small 2xAA battery mini maglites for a couple years. they're ok, but kept corroding on me and I finally got tired of it. They do fit in the nite-ize headband, but are heavy for what you get. So I found a cheap Energizer headlamp (more area beam, less spotlight beam) and was happy for awhile... Then I had a bear encounter without a spotlight which bothered me for awhile, until I realized I'd done just fine with just a wide-angle headlamp and went back to using just that. My current headlamp is a Black Diamond, Ion model I think... one of the smaller, featureless cheaper ones regardless. I also like to bring along a solar powered Luci Lite for canoe trips (good area lighting while cooking), and a Photon squeeze light (only 1/3 of an oz) is sometimes my only light for hard backpacking trips where I'm just too tired to do anything but sleep after dark.

 

[Sturgeon]

I'm with the guy who says, "no lights!". I love my night vision, and I love sitting in the dark as twilight fades to pitch black.

Sometimes you need a little light, though. no need for the monster lumens. The Princeton Tec Impulse light clips on the brim of my cap. Weighs very little. 17 grams, about half an ounce.

I carry three of them: one in my zipper pocket, one in my first aid kit, and one in my "small stuff" bag. That last one lives in my hammock overnight. It's a red LED for nighttime plant-watering, for walking to the lakeshore for stargazing, etc. The other two are white LEDs.

The maximum output is 10 lumens, but i usually keep it on low. It's enough to do everything you need to do around camp, and read a book if you're so inclined. Clipped on top of my hat brim, not hanging under it, it illuminates without being annoying. 2 coin-size "2016" batteries. Hat Clip can be swapped out for a tiny carabiner o hang from a ridgeline. $10 USD.

I do not work for Princeton!

https://princetontec.com/product/impulse/

 

[Guest]

I love my night vision, and I love sitting in the dark as twilight fades to pitch black.

Sometimes you need a little light, though. no need for the monster lumens. The Princeton Tec Impulse light clips on the brim of my cap. Weighs very little. 17 grams, about half an ounce.

I knew there were still flashlights to find. I have something similar to that Impulse that has been clipped to the brim of a little used hat for several years. Surprisingly it still works, probably because I rarely wear a hat, especially at night.

My old and beloved amber Apache Fingerlight has plumb vanished. Again. It’ll turn up; those things are so teeny it is easy to lose them in a jacket pocket to be discovered months later. Like this (there are cheaper versions, this one twists to turn on. Beware the ones with the exposed switch button in pocket storage).

https://www.cejayengineering.com/cockpit-aviation/finger-light-mk10-detail

I found a couple more weirdo stocking stuffer lights as well. A Tech Light LED, similar to a MagLite in design, but with an extendable magnet wand for picking up hard to reach errant nuts or bolts. It was dead and promisingly looked like it took AA batteries. Bum luck, that sucker required 4 coin batteries. Nope, I’m done with the specialty coin battery stuff. I’ll keep it as a shop tool just for the magnetic wand.

A thumb sized Nebco Highbeam LED in the glove box that recharges via the power ports in the truck (2 hours to full charge, 6 hours run time, 35 Lumens dim.) Also dead, I’ll have to run a charge through it. 35 lumens is adequate for reading a road map at night without being blinding, and it is dim white; I can’t use an amber light for roadmap navigation, blue highways are no longer blue.