Best Camping Flashlights
BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 5 months ago
A few remarks of my own. First of all, it seems like every company now, in order to compete, has to offer a 1000 lumen flashlight. Whether one needs that or not is a different story. Inside a home for regular tasks, it’s blinding. But blinding would be a good thing for a home invader, so there’s that going for it.
Second, weight matters. In front of me I have two lights, one a very old SureFire, model 6P using two 123 Batteries, and the other a very high lumen Streamlight, ProTac HL3, using three 123 batteries.
For weight shavers and gram counters, it matters which one you choose if you’re hiking 10 miles up 3- or 4-thousand feet in two days. Grams turn into Kg, Kg converts to more water you have to carry to stay hydrated, and on the vicious cycle goes. Carrying more weight because it means more lumens is not a good decision for hikers and backpackers who care about weight.
Third, I won’t have a flashlight that is rechargeable-only. In grid-down, whether more extended or simply for a few days because of storms, that matters more to me than anything else. It can be rechargeable, only as long as it can take batteries too.
Fourth, some of these considerations are malleable depending upon whether you intend on carrying a weapon-mounted light.
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On June 28, 2023 at 4:47 am, jrg said:
“Third, I won’t have a flashlight that is rechargeable-only. In grid-down, whether more extended or simply for a few days because of storms, that matters more to me than anything else. It can be rechargeable, only as long as it can take batteries too.”
Agree for outdoor use (woods loafing – hunting – outdoor work), a rechargeable can peter out at the worst time. But for an EDC flashlight in work environment in an office, the weight of batteries can add some weight to your pocket or belt sheath. I have a Nitecore Tiki LE rechargeable flashlight about 2″ long that is nearly weightless, slightly larger than my pinky finger and is hung onto my trucker’s wallet biner that secures to belt. Very handy – does not make its presence known whatsoever. Where I used to carry a AAA Mag-Lite on belt sheath, it beats it by a long shot. As long as I have my wallet, I have light – and that s a good thing. The Mag-Lite could be stood up as a lantern – that was a handy feature in hands free environment.
Nice topic – Thanks for beginning a discussion about it.
On June 28, 2023 at 1:50 pm, scott s. said:
Hey — I have “Probability and Statistics for Engineers” on my bookshelf too.
On June 28, 2023 at 5:09 pm, Latigo Morgan said:
For me, it’s a head lamp all the way. No easier way to move around camp at night than with a headlamp on, as far as I’m concerned. Light weight, usually have 2-4 different settings for brightness, including a colored lamp on many of them.
Now, a couple years ago, I forgot my lantern on an elk hunt. All I had was my head lamp and my Olight Warrior. The Olight is rechargeable, but has a magnetic base. I was able to stick the flashlight to my vehicle and reflect the light off the bottom of my extended rooftop tent. It lit up my area as well as a lantern would have.
On June 28, 2023 at 8:28 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@scott, I’ve used it many times since school.
@Latigo, oops, I forgot to mention headlamps. I have found Black Diamond to be very good and durable headlamps, and a good replacement for carrying another light. A headlamp and perhaps one more small backup light (along with batteries) and you’re set, esp. if you have a weapon mounted light.
On June 30, 2023 at 9:06 pm, JB said:
All My torches all use throwaway batteries. Charging ports are water ingress points as the little rubber plugs are easily lost. Also few seem to know you can buy single use Lithium Ion batteries in common sizes. They will never leak like Alkaline cells do- wrecking costly gear, have a very long shelf life, and incredible energy density. Amazon has them. I also use them in my home electronics like TV remote controls, scanner radios, etc.