RE: flashlights

[angelsmom10]

 forestwalker
DH believes only in using Duracell batteries - anything else to him is pretty much what he likes when he has to buy it.

[tlhdoc]

 forestwalker
My best hand held flash light is an underwater light.  It cost around $200.  It has a rechargeable battery that will not hold a charge any more and I can t get a replacement.[:@]  My second best flash light is also an underwater light.  It uses a lantern battery and I can replace when needed.  I found it on the bottom of a lake so it didn t cost me a penny.  The price was right![]

[Ab Diver]

 forestwalker
We have different flashlights purchased over the years for different uses. The brightest of the bunch are dive lights, both D-cell and lantern style, (Some dive lights are so bright that you are not supposed to use them out of the water or the lens will melt [] )  Problem is, they are expensive, eat batteries for breakfast, and the special bulbs can be a PITA to replace.
 
 Then there are the standard Eveready Lantern flashlights scattered all over the house and the pop-up-- cheap, durable enough for almost any punishment, and yet easily replaced if they are dropped off a roof (don t ask).
 
 A new favorite is the Dorcy Focusing Lamp-- a light shaped kind of like R2D2, twist the top (lens) and it goes from floodlight to spotlight, has a built-in adjustable stand for directional lighting that also doubles as a carrying handle, and runs on 4 D-cells. This, right now, is *Daddy s* flashlight, and woe be unto the little girl that plays with it and runs the battery dead. (evil laugh)
 
 Never had enough spare long green handy to cough up for one of those Mag-Lights, but ya gotta love a flashlight that will illuminate the other side of a baseball field and still be tough enough to use in a self-defense class. Those who have them love them.

[Papaso]

 forestwalker
Aside from Maglites or Brinkmans as far as good flashlights go, everytyhing else I ve ever had has been cheapy basically disposable ones. About a year ago I purchased a 1,000,000 candle power halogen spotlight from Northern Tools, it s rechargeable and everyone wants to carry it. So just yesterday they went on sale and I purchased another one. The part #is 163869 if you pick it up at the store it s $10.99 or $12.99 mail order. It really lights the night up and so far it s held up well.

[scpreacherswife]

 forestwalker
Oh to have back all the battery $ spent on flashlights!  And all the flashlights the kids have lost/broken!  We do all now have pet flashlights.  DH has one of those two foot long + Maglights, I have a bright orange Coleman waterproof/floating one that has the pivoting head.  The kids each now have one of those short but bright waterproof ones WITH THEIR NAMES on it!  These seem to have lasted longer than the cheapies we used to get them.  I think it also helped to tell them, you lose/breakit, you replace it![&:].  I ve threatened to get one of those clip ons that go around your head or on a hat-hands free- but I m not sure if they are just more to keep up with!

[Martorious]

My personal favorite is the Maglite 3-D cell flashlight, only around $19.95 and is as durable as all get-out.
 
As for the kids, we have several of the Fisher-Price flashlights, they only stay lit for about 30 seconds after the kids let go of the handle, so we don't go through the batteries nearly as fast! That is until one of them finds my maglite, then I usually find it as the Duracells are giving up the ghost and the last glow can be seen fading as it shines out from under their bed, long forgotten by the kids.
 
Marty
 
*edit:  The kids flashlights are Playskools, not fisher price, in case anyone was looking for one.  older kids would probably balk at carrying it as it looks Playskoolish, but the younger ones will love it without burning up a ton of batteries.

[Wild Wild Qwest]

We have a chessy camo flashlight that uses a 6V battery. They last much longer than 'AA, C, or D' cells.

It was $7 at Wally World and came with a spare battery. It's 2 years old and I have still have the original battery in it.

[Scott Nelson]

Just noticed the posts about flashlights and didn't see any posts abou the new technology......get into the new milennium, people!  LED's are the only way to illuminate!  They produce a whiter light and only use a fraction of the amperage of traditional incandescent bulbs.  

Seriously, though.  I am a police officer by trade and depend on good flashlights every day.  I have bought several of the 'cheapy' LED lights from Wal Mart, etc and have to admit...they are pretty good.  You need to understand a couple of things about LED flashlights to make an informed decision about buying one.  First "Candlepower" is a non-quantifiable figment of some advertising gurus' imagination!  If a light advertises 60,000,000,000 CANDLEPOWER!  that probably means that it is very bright, but we (the manufacturer) don't really know how bright and you (the purchaser) are probably too ignorant to care.  A true measure of a light is a Lumen.  A Lumen is a quantifiable, measurable, unit of illumination.  Manufacturers can be sued for exaggerating the Lumens that their lights advertise, not the candlepower.  A minimum lumen rating most police officers feel really comfortable using is a 60 lumen light.

Second, LED's are graded much like diamonds when manufactured.  Really good ones go into really good (read more expensive) lights.  conversely, you know where the bad ones go....into that $5.00 light.  The manufacturers make up for this by putting three, five, or twenty LED's in a single light.  This also means that these lights uses three, five, or twenty times the energy that a single high quality LED would use, equating to more batteries used over the life of the light.  That being said, the battery life on the average Petzl headlamp (three LED's) is around 100 hours of constant use.  

For general around the camp use, get the cheap headlamps that take AAA batteries.  The batteries are cheap and these little lamps illuminate what you need to see without looking like a navigational aid to other campers.  Not to mention, they are always pointed exactly where you are looking.

If you want a handheld lamp, consider a three cell AAA model made by Brinkman.  The lamp has a single LED, a focused beam (an actual focusing lens) and sells for about $12 at WM.

If you want to really light things up with a hand held, consider something like the Pelican 3 watt LED.  Pelican has a lifetime warranty on all of it's lights and is a great company to deal with.  This light does cost a little more to operate due to using lithium camera batteries, but you can purchase inexpensive lithium batteries at //www.thebatterystation.com in West Plains, Missouri.  This is a light I carry on duty and now retails for about $42.  The batteries will last for two hours of continous use and many more of intermittent use.  This is a 60 Lumen light.  

Another good alternative is the Surefire Nitrolon.  It is a 45 Lumen light and is made of an absolutely indestructible polymer and retails for about $30.  

It should also be noted that these manufacturers make many civillian oriented products and any of these lights may be used with conventional NiMh rechargable batteries.  The rechargable batteries and a charger are an excellent investment.

You can also get a standard size rechargeable Maglight for about $70.  They come with a home charger as well as a second car charger.  You can charge these in your car during the day even while you are camping.  

A little long winded, but hope this post was illuminating.

....Sorry, couldn't resist.

[sacrawf]

I have bought several of the 'cheapy' LED lights from Wal Mart, etc and have to admit...they are pretty good.

I agree.  I have replaced the older square 6-volt lanterns with the "cheapy" WalMart LED lights (Dorcy Brand) that use 3 AAA batteries. They take up a lot less space, fit in a pocket, and have a bright white light with an extremely long battery life. I also use rechargeable batteries and carry a 30-minute battery charger in the camper that also charges AA batteries for the GPS, portable AM/FM radio, and FRS radios.

[jsmorse13]

Has anyone had any luck with those crank type or wind up lights?

[McCampers]

The best flashlights are maglites.  Don't get the bobo knock-offs, spend the extra money and get the real ones.  Always use Energizer batteries.  Energizer makes the best batteries available.  If you use these two in tandem, you can't go wrong.

[ScouterMom]

I bought one of those crank lights to have in my car - the cold in Illinois in winter makes batteries go dead quick, and then the light won't work when I need it.  It's not the brightest flashlight I've ever had, (2 levels of light - OFF/ 1LED / 3LEDs) and it's larger in my hand than I prefer, but it DOES work and works well.

The grandkids really liked it this past weekend - I could not get it away from them.  Good thing about it is that they CANT POSSIBLY run out the batteries.  Actually, that would be a great thing for the little ones - they would never have a dim flashlight, and no one would care if they did leave it on all night! However, you also have to listen to them winding it all the time - they love to do that!  It doesn't NEED all that winding, but everyone who picks it up is compelled to wind it a few times (or more! :p )

We have LOTS of flashlights - for different reasons and uses.

my favorites are small, bright, pocket-sized LED lights.  I have one that was sent to me as a sample for a scout fundraiser - short & fat, it takes 3 AAA's and has 6 LED's, giving it 2 levels of light (3 or 6 at once.)  I believe I have seen the same ones at WalMart recently.  

I have a small 2 AA maglite that I usually pack, too.  but the new one above is my favorite because it fits in my pocket better.

My son and I also have LED headlamps.  These are not for major light either - but they come in handy for LOTS of things, because you can point them exactly where YOU are looking, leaving your hands free.  I've used them to cook at night, assemble S'mores, read a book or follow music while strumming a guitar, to work under the camper or under the kitchen sink, and they're great at home for seeing while trying to clean the dog's ears or down a kid's sore throat!  you can walk a path and hold a child's hand AND the dog's leash, or carry stuff and still see where you are going.  I've especially appreciated them when we have to use Pit toilets while camping.....   Headlamps are never our only flashlight, but they ALWAYS go with us!

For a 'big' flashlight, and lots of light - I found these 9 LED worklights at Farm & Fleet - I've seen them elsewhere, too. - they have a tripod with a bunch of LED's on the top.  Each 'leg' of the tripod holds 3 AA batteries, again, you have different levels of light, using some or all of the batteries and LED's. the head tilts, & you can set the tripod up and aim it wherever you need to see.  It's good for working on the car, spotlighting a work area, or as a bright, long-lasting light. With the legs folded together, it feels like carrying a large maglight.  We've used ours alot in the past year, and I have yet to replace any of the 9 batteries.

I have tried various battery 'lanterns' and found them all disappointing, unless they are really expensive, and therefore, out of my budget.  if we need a LOT of light, we use propane or coleman fuel lanterns. (or get an electric site, and use electric lights)  I do have one coleman battery lantern - it will use 8 regular or rechargeable 'D' cell batteries, or two of those large square lantern batteries.  I bought it years ago when my son was small, (he's 17 now) because it had a yellow 'night lite' feature, and adjustable light levels.  It will last a night or two on the 'nite lite', and gives fairly good general light for a meal or a game of cards, or light to see by and get dressed in the tent or camper.  But I would not try to read the paper with it. It does last longer with the larger batteries, but I generally use the rechargables rather than spend $ on batteries that will probably die before I use them.

Hope that gives you csome more ideas!

Laura

[dkutz]

I bought myself one of the headlight type flashlights that has a head band attached to it for hands free use.  Worked great, and of course then the kids wanted one.

Price was right at $5 at "big Lots"

[AustinBoston]

Just noticed the posts about flashlights and didn't see any posts abou the new technology......get into the new milennium, people!  LED's are the only way to illuminate!

This is only your first or second post, so it's completely excusable, but you replied to a thread that has been dead for three years.  This isn't a crime, but most of us have moved into the new millenium in the meantime.  :sombraro:

To all the old timers who missed that, shame on you!  :p

OTOH, still a valid topic...unless you like stumbling around in the dark!  :yikes:

Austin