Outdoor Life.

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.

Source:

Having a weapon mounted light on your self-defense gun is a good idea whether that gun is used for daily carry, home defense, or as a truck gun. And if you’re like many gun owners, you might prefer a weapon-light-only product over one that includes other things, like a laser. By using a light-only platform there’s no battery sharing with other features, reduced bulk, and no zeroing. It doesn’t matter if you have a handgun or a long gun in need of a light, there’s one out there for you.

The Modlite PLHv2-18350 Light Package (Photo credit: Modlite)

Check out our top 5 list of weapon mounted lights, in no particular order. And remember, just because a product lists a particular firearm doesn’t mean the company doesn’t also make it for other platforms, because they usually do.

They discuss long gun and handgun lights. Though convenient, the Crimson Trace RIG (Rapid Illumination Grip) would probably be bothersome to deal with. Surefire claims that the X300U-A is “recoil proof.” I haven’t run any of the lights listed.

And earlier on TCJ, tactical handheld flashlights.

News from Atlanta:

Officials at Georgia’s leading power provider faced tough questions Monday, a day after a massive power outage grounded travel at the world’s busiest airport for nearly 11 hours at the start of one of the biggest travel weeks of the year.

Georgia Power officials said the investigation continues into the cause of the fire-related outage at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. However, they said a piece of the utility’s switchgear in an underground electrical facility may have failed and started the blaze. A switchgear helps to manage the flow of power.

The utility had backup equipment, officials said, but it was in an adjacent room and was also damaged in the fire.

“We are doing what we can to make sure this never happens again,” Georgia Power spokesman Craig Bell said. “We truly apologize for the inconvenience.”

Well, it will happen again, somewhere.  He shouldn’t have promised that.

The outage hit about 1 p.m. Sunday, plunging the airport into darkness, grounding nearly 1,000 flights and leaving 30,000 people stranded. International flights were diverted to other airports. Planes sat on the tarmac for more than six hours.

[ … ]

Videos posted on Twitter showed passengers using the lights on their cellphones to make their way through darkened concourses. Other photos shared on Twitter showed TSA officers carrying wheelchairs up stalled escalators.

[ … ]

“The straight answer to that question is: We absolutely do” have a redundant power supply, Reed said. “But because of the intensity of the fire, the switch that accesses the redundant system was damaged, which caused damage to two systems rather than one.”

Bowers said the utility will work with the airport to prevent a repeat of such an event. Among the strategies the company may consider: encasing the cables in concrete [Ed: dumb idea] or putting the cables in separate areas.

“Our focus is on reliability and making sure this never happens again,” he said.

“Train” separation is a good idea, because it’s not redundancy if the trains aren’t separated.  But here’s the point.  Power outages will happen, darkness comes every day.  If you don’t have light, you’re disabled.

Do you carry a tactical light when you travel?  I do.  Always and everywhere.  I carry a tactical light when I travel through the neighborhood with the dog.