Posts Tagged flashlights
Light after teotwawki
Some kind of SHTF/teotwawki situation has happened, society has broken down, and the power has finally gone off. Or, some kind of natural disaster has happened, power has been cut off and my not be restored for several days to several weeks. After Hurricane Rita, my family and I spent 18 days without power. So…
Survival Gear Salt Flashlights and Seeds
A couple of weeks ago I posted a video on youtube talking about spreading your survival gear purchases out over time. Instead of forking out $400, $500 or even $600 at a time, just spend $40, $50 or $60 at a time. After a few trips to the store, your probably going to be surprised at the amount of gear that can be stockpiled.
A couple of weeks ago my kids and I went to the camp for 2 days. While we were there we decided to walk around the property at night. The following is what I like to call the “can opener” effect – its were you get so involved with the bigger things that you overlook the small stuff.
During the rush to get packed, all three of us forgot to grab a good flashlight. After looking through the flashlights that we have stockpiled at the camp, I realized that we had several hand crank flashlights, but no good quality LED flashlights. Hand crank lights are fine for inside the house, but when you need to secure the property, you need a good quality light. The only good quality light my kids and I had was the Surefire 6PX Tactical on my Ar-15. My daughter and my son were able to find some cheap led lights that were barley bright enough to see the ground. We walked around the property, looked at some stuff and then went back to the trailer. While my kids and I were walking around in the middle of the night, I made up my mind that some good LED lights would be in my next purchase.
Purchases for March 6 2011 include:
6 – 1 pound 10 ounce containers of salt
100 rounds Winchester 9mm 115grain round nose
4 pack energizer AAA Lithium batteries
1 – Coleman 90 lumen LED flashlight
1 pound regular pinto beans (for the garden)
1 pound yellow dent field corn (for the garden)
$1 worth giant noble spinach (for the garden)
20 pounds seed potatoes – hopefully to get planted next week
Surefire G2X Pro Flashlight Review
Long story short, I like the Surefire G2X Pro.
Now for the rest of the story. The other day I received a Surefire G2X Pro test sample. Even though Surefire supplied the test flashlight, it in no way influenced my opinion on the light. Mainly because I was not the one testing the light, it was my 14 year old daughter, I was just an observer in the test. My daughter needed a compact flashlight for finding her way to the deer stand and camping trips anyway, so things worked out well there.
I’am a firm believer in testing your equipment before you need it. So what better way to test a flashlight then to use it to find our way back to the truck after getting out of the deer stand.
Before my daughter and I set out on our journey, we took the Surefire G2X Pro flashlight out of package, and made sure t worked before w headed to the woods.
On the topic of handcrank flashlights
Lets talk about handcrank flashlights for a little bit. This topic might have been discussed a lot, but its good to have a refresher.
Over the past few years I have been trying to stock up on those hand crank flashlights and lanterns. But instead of having a bunch of them at my home (which I do), I have been bringing some of them to “the camp”.
When my family and I go to the camp, sometimes its after dark when we get there. After we arrive, I will grab a flashlight to go turn on the propane. I do not want to have to worry about dead batteries in the flashlight.
There have been a few time that thunder storms have knocked out power at the camp. I do not like looking around for extra batteries in the dark – especially when we have mouse traps set out.
Its very convent to grab a flashlight, shake or give it a couple of twist, and you have instant light.
Here is one of the issues, it might be 2 – 4 months between trips to the camp. That gives the batteries in the flashlights a long time to go dead.
Also, if you leave those cheap batteries in your flashlights -the ones that leak acid – your gear can be ruined before you know it. Just the other day I found an AM/FM radio that the batteries had leaked in and ruined the device. The radio was a cheap one, so its not a lot of money lost, but it is a piece of equipment that will need to be replaced.
I have heard of long term storage batteries, ones that you can keep stored for decades,,,, but why? I see no real reason to invest in stuff like that. They are going to go dead after you put them in the flashlight anyway.
The crank flashlights make good hand outs to the kids. If the light gets set down and the batteries go dead, just give it a few shakes or twist. This past weekend while on a camping trip with my daughter, I gave her a twist flashlight to keep in her tent with her. I told her to twist the end to charge it up, and she was like “ok, no problem.”
Hybrid Shake Flashlight Review
One thing about a shake flashlight – you do not have to worry about the batteries going out. A few days ago I was watching one of those TV shows about survival. The guy in the show was talking about urban survival in a post apocalyptic world.
While scavenging through a building, the star of the show was talking about his flashlight, which was a maglight that used D sized batteries. There was a mention of looking out for batteries for the flashlight. My thought was – why not use a shake flashlight? That way your not dependent on batteries.
Instead of having to rely on disposable batteries, look into getting a few hand crank – shake flashlights. That way you do not have to worry about scavenging batteries.
Please post your comments in the Hybrid Shake Flashlight Review thread of the forums. Special thanks goes to ReadyPro.org for supplying the flashlight for this review.
Flashlights sold out before the storm
As Hurricane Ike was approaching Texas in September of 2008, one of the first items to sell out was flashlights. The cheaper the flashlight, the faster it sold out. And it was not just regular flashlights that sold out, it was also the hand crank kind. This picture was taken about 2 days before Hurricane…
Solar powered sidewalk lights instead of candles
Most people do not realize that they have a renewable light source right at their feet. And that is those solar powered lights along the walkway. If you do not have any solar powered sidewalk lights, take a look at a local hardware store, or big box mart – such as wal-mart, lowes and k-mart. They are usually in the garden section.
When shopping for a solar powered light, do not get the cheapest ones on the shelf. But then again, dont go overboard on the price either. There are usually 2 different colored lights – clear and amber. Do not get the amber colored lens, they do not put out as much light as the ones with the clear lens. Be sure to get the lights that use an LED and not a regular bulb.
The way those lights work, during the day the solar cell recharges 2 AA batteries. As the sun starts to go down, a light sensor tells the unit when to turn on. Depending on how much sun light the solar cell got, that defines how much light the unit can provide. The more sun light the cell is exposed to during the day, the longer the burn time at night.
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