What's the Latest and Greatest in Home Emergency/Flash Lights?

Nightstand and dual use


In case you're in another room can grab this.



Outdoor

Archeryrob said:

Don't forget "the grid is down lamps" remember Texas.

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I have a 350cp kerosene pressure lantern I use for cookouts. Prolly too bright for indoor use.

outrider58 said:

Oops! Looks like they got away...

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Here:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z3N9XU2

They make more with more Lumens in the same form factor.

Another feature I forgot to mention is that they have the push button, in back, well recessed so it's damn hard to turn it on by accident in your pocket and drain it.

K31 said:

Here:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z3N9XU2

They make more with more Lumens in the same form factor.

Another feature I forgot to mention is that they have the push button, in back, well recessed so it's damn hard to turn it on by accident in your pocket and drain it.

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Thank you.

outrider58 said:

I'll always have a working Coleman in me gee-rage.

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Make sure to have some extra mantles. I know YOU DO

K31 said:

Here:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z3N9XU2

They make more with more Lumens in the same form factor.

Another feature I forgot to mention is that they have the push button, in back, well recessed so it's damn hard to turn it on by accident in your pocket and drain it.

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Thanks! I ordered one.

I hate rechargeable lights, cause we only use them occasionally and always forget. I'd rather have one of those in the truck console or my hunting pack with some spare batteries.

For work lights, I've been using the magnetic, tilting led ones sold at lowes. They're yellow, maybe stanley brand?

Oh, and we use the oil lamp with a wick for long emergencies. Those last forever.

I have a lamp that uses 8-D batteries , i would not buy one like it again . I like the ones that take AA cheaper to run and smaller and easy to carry in pocket .

Streamlight is a great product

K31 said:

I've been buying these for flashlights:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z3N9XU2

I keep one in each coat or jacket. I buy the disposable battery type because I've got a shit-ton of stuff charging now and if I find the batteries are weak I can just throw in new ones or better yet, replace them beforehand if I think I'm going to need them,

No. They are not "tactical" that is, burn your retinas from 100yards but they are plenty bright with a CREE type LED and so well built I bet I could roll over one with my truck and it would still work. They weigh more because they are steel.

I seem to recall the ones I first got were made in the US but I can't find where they're made on their website. I'll still buy them though.

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I bought a three pack of those from Costco. The switch on the back can be iffy. Sometimes you get light, other times you got to swear and continually shake and press it.

Archeryrob said:

Don't forget "the grid is down lamps" remember Texas.

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I have at least 3 lamps in the house.

Two are oil, the other is kerosene.

The old coleman white gas lantern has been hanging in the corner of the dining room for the last 20 years now. Up and out of the way keeps the mantles from getting jacked up.

Coleman dual fuel lanterns are the way to go, stash a bunch of mantles (they are cheap) and you can run them on white gas or regular gas. Last forever, run about 8 hours a tank of fuel. Actually work in the cold as opposed to propane/butane. And if you get a dual fuel stove you have a way to cook using the same fuel sourceS

I think an issue you are going to run in to, is very few lights are fully made in the US. At best you might find assembled in the US. Even Streamlight and and surefire are Chinese made, though several of their models are American assembled (you can look at each product data sheet to see which is which).

There isn't much in the way of US domestic manufacturing of LED modules. Maglites are all made in the US, but I am 99% sure the LED modules and electronics are still produced in China for them.

And Maglite doesn't produce any laterns.

Full up Chinese, but honestly Olight makes a really great camping lantern that they came out with recently. Fairly small, bright, long lasting and best of all it uses variable output voltage for its dimming function, not PWM. Some people can't notice PWM dimming, but I can usually (sometimes barely noticeable, sometimes very noticeable) and you certainly can if you try to take a picture or video with PWM.

Price is pretty reasonable to get a few and last a long time. Want super long run time and low light, they come with a "candle" LED module that'll run for a few days straight. It uses their proprietary magnetic charger (but not the same one as their regular weapon lights, they are not interchangeable. No worries on using the wrong one though, the magnetic polarity on the charging cable and base are opposite what they are on their weapon lights and chargers. It is because the camp lantern uses higher amperage charging). My only real complaint is it doesn't come with a nice bag to put it in. Especially since it needs its own charging cable. Fortunately I had a nice bag from a set of Walker's in-ear pro and it fits the camping lantern and charging cable perfectly and even has an interior divider pocket that fits the Candle LED module.

Other thought is it would be nice to be able to charge devices off the camp lantern (and probably behind that USB flap, just have a standard micro USB charge port also to charge up the lantern).

Me big like.

I also have several Streamlight siege camp lanterns. Very good. The AA models have a long run time, very rugged, pretty bright. Not very expensive. Through some Lithium batteries in them and you can forget about them for years and still good with tons of run time. I've got a D battery version also. Much bright, ridiculous long run time. Downside is D batteries. All of the streamlight lanterns have a red LED module also with extremely long runtime. The AA versions is usable for a nighttime beacon, but it isn't bright enough to be usable as a night light at all (and I've got "young" late 30s excellent eyesight). Maybe if you hold it right up against a piece of paper you could read what is on it (it is like 1lm, and of course far red). The D version is MUCH brighter and is useful for night time illumination that won't ruin your night vision. I mean, it isn't super bright (I think 8 or 10lm), but it is bright enough you could find things in a tent if you are careful, read a map held near it, etc.

I've been wanting to get one of the Streamlight USB rechargeable ones because of long run time, you can charge devices off of it. But it is expensive and uses PWM dimming, rather than variable voltage. That was one other reason why I was a "meh". Maybe it is missing the red LED module or something like that? I wish I could remember. I am still interested, but only luke warm on it.

I've got a no-name brand camping lantern puck for my hunting pack. Weighs like 2oz, has I think a 2 or 3hr run time on high (200lm IIRC), 3 light levels. USB rechargable. Built in hooks on the back. Whole bottom is the diffuser so it isn't some super bright point light source. It is my "hang over the deer in darkness to field dress it" light (of course I use a headlamp also, but it is nice to have a second light going).

I used to have, and need to look again as it has been a few years, outlet plug in LED (I think Energizer brand?) emergency flashlights. Power goes out, they turn on. I tossed the couple I had years ago. In part because they ran down. Probably used NiCad battery packs in them at a guess. Anyway, they weren't particularly bright, like 10lm, but if it night time and the power went out, good to have. They were the "use it to find a real flashlight, light". There might be something similar to that around that is better these days. I don't need an emergency light like that to be some 1000lm, 24hr run time fits in your pocket, but you could also use it as a baton kind of do everything light. But brighter than a 30yr old AA maglite and more than about a 1hr run time would be nice so it is useful for more than just an emergency nightlight.

TrappedinMD said:

Coleman dual fuel lanterns are the way to go, stash a bunch of mantles (they are cheap) and you can run them on white gas or regular gas. Last forever, run about 8 hours a tank of fuel. Actually work in the cold as opposed to propane/butane. And if you get a dual fuel stove you have a way to cook using the same fuel sourceS

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Sure. Then again a Coleman dual mantel white gas lantern will hit ~800lm for 5.25hrs according to their specs and 13hrs on low (no idea on brightness, having a single mantle propane lantern though and used white gas ones, I'd guess low is probably in the 100lm range, gas lanterns are not very fuel efficient at low brightness, just like incandescent lights aren't). That uses 1.3 pints of gas.

An Olight LED camp lantern will run for 6.5hrs at 360lm, 120lm for 20hrs or 75hrs at 30lm. You can use the candle LED module for 1lm and 80hrs if you just need a dim nightlight. It uses ~28wh of lithium batteries in it. Figure in some conversion losses and that is maybe 35wh to charge it all the way.

I've got a 50w solar panel and a 300w, 296wh power pack. Can output AC, DC 5v and 12v. Had a built in LED, though no idea what it's light output or efficiency is. I'd guess it'll run for a stupid long time. Using it to charge that Olight LED camp lantern, you could get about 8 charges out of it. That's pushing 60hrs of max brightness run time. Or the equivalent of about 1.5 gallons of gas for the gas camp stove. And the flexibility to charge other things. With that solar panel, you can charge it back up in about a day in bright sun giving unlimited runtime.

I've got a white gas camp lantern I've never used and a propane one I have used a few times. But an LED camp lantern would absolutely be my go to for sure. Wayyyyyy lighter and smaller. Plenty bright (and some of the larger USB rechargeable ones can push >1000lm if you really need a stupid bright one).

For about $300 you can get a decent sized and output power pack and portable solar panel that can keep all of your portable devices charged, including charging many LED camp lanterns many times. Hell, I could run my GMRS base station radio on the power pack, periodically recharge some GRMS handhelds, keep a couple of headlamps, a couple of LED camp lanterns, cell phones and periodically recharge weapon lights all off that setup. And I'd likely only need ~3hrs or so of reasonably bright daylight to recharge the power pack per day to run all that stuff fairly hard (or about 2 or 3 days of power if there was heavy overcast and I couldn't charge it at all. In testing very light overcast the solar panel will put out a couple of watts, which of course isn't enough to really do anything).

If you don't mind spend a bit more, get a 100w portable panel and a bit more robust power pack. Mine supposedly can only charge at 60w max, which it'll take off a wall charger. My 50w solar panel I've seen it hit around 42w peak on a sunny day angled just right. Usually upper 30s on a sunny day using the stand pointed roughly at the sun, which is about what I've come to expect, around 80% rated output, from solar panels. So a 100w panel is going to exceed max rating. Not sure if it'll just pull max, or if it'll shut down charging on the DC port (I guess I could have tracked down a 60w portable panel, but the 50w I got was on deep discount and had great reviews and is really compact folded up).

You could even run a minifridge off that, though not for super long (my limited testing in my basement, so best case, the two minifridges I have will yank between .5-.7kwh a day. So you'd need a heck of a power pack to really run a minifridge all the time on it, and recharge it).

I'm definitely in the minority but I really like Maglite. You do have to be careful as fakes are everywhere but the real deal flashlights just work and can take a beating. You can upgrade the older ones with LEDs for cheap. Plus, having the same flashlights around makes battery stocking easy.

For gun mounted lights I prefer Streamlight ProTac Rail Mount 1. I get it, some other options like Surefire are better but I like that in a pinch I can use standard off the shelf batteries.

It is my .50 caliber S&W BFR revolver, In an emergency it makes a big flash of light. Also acts as my security system 7 days a week you pick the days.

When I built my house I installed a commercial emergency light in the hallway outside the bedrooms. Since then I retrofitted to an LED version. Comes on automatically, last at least 6 hours, provides comfort to my children who might otherwise freak out and throws plenty of light to maneuver & gather whatever stuff you might need.

willtill said:

I bought a three pack of those from Costco. The switch on the back can be iffy. Sometimes you get light, other times you got to swear and continually shake and press it.

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Maybe you've got a bad batch, I've never had a problem and I have maybe 5, like I said, one in each coat or jacket.

You might want to contact them. They have a lifetime warranty.

https://coastproducts.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018578514-Is-my-product-covered-by-warranty-

Ryobi One+18 Volt hand flashlights that I swapped out the bulbs with LED's, you get a super bright light, with a tons of spare battery's on hand I can Also use them with the Ryobi Portable Fans if the powers out until I startup my Portable LP Generator. Made in USA good luck with that.