Gear Review: Flashlights or Light & Bright

TBC asked me this question last night:

Oh, and I have been looking for a good LED flashlight. What should I be looking for in terms of brightness, how do I even know? I am looking for something for work to look into crawl spaces, attics and such. I am also wanting something for camping and general use

I felt it only responsible to answer with a full post on flashlights.

First I would like to express my love for headlamps. A previous gear review post lists my favorites and why. Since I also know what TBC does for a living I think that a good headlamp might be a wise investment as the hands-free aspect would benefit his crawling around. But the lights in my gear review are not strong enough for some of his work and if going with a head lamp I would recommend something with a strong battery pack and wattage, such the Princeton Tec Apex Pro with a 3 watt LED and 4 smaller LEDs.

Hands free does have its price though and for about half the money you can invest in decent torch style flashlights.

When discussing brightness there is so many ways to go. I did a small rant in the middle of a post last year on the subject of watt v. lumen v. arbitrary wording. The bottom line is that the brighter the output of light, the faster the batteries will drain. I have very impressive lights that drain $10 in batteries in 20 minutes. Its not a light I would use in an emergency situation or outdoors for camping.

The cheapest and what has been found to be very nice is a replacement LED bulb for the standard bulb 2AA mag-lite flashlights that almost every household has. Walmart sells the LED replacement kit for around $5 and and a bit more for a kit that has a tail switch for on/off. The LED is not blinding level but its a serviceable and cheap fix.

I work on the thought any light is better than no light when you need it and highly recommend the little LED key lights made by Photon or other quality manufacturers. Some of these put out impressive amounts of light for their size.

When moving into the $20 range and above for flashlights you begin working the cost to benefit analysis of size versus power output.

For everyday use and enjoyment, I follow the principle of size and then power. I am much more likely to carry something small and have what I need than something long and bulky that always sits at home.

I mentioned yesterday that I just purchased the Gerber Infinity Ultra. I bought this for my EDC (Everyday Carry). So far this light has been great in that when I needed a light in a hurry it was already on me. This is a service light which will throw a beam about 20 feet but lets be honest most of this work will be from a couple feet away looking for things that have fallen or to maneuver around objects in close proximity to me in a darkened area. The battery output on this 1 LED bulb is around ten hours till 50% brightness. I am sacrificing brightness for size and longevity. Also it takes on AA battery which can be replaced cheaply anywhere.

My favorite set of lights lately and I own just about one of each level is Inova. Inova has created a series of lights from micro to modest size that are beautifully crafted and exceptionally well built. The XO series is not one I have tried yet but based on word of mouth the word is good and at 4 or 5 watts of output is impressive. That is enough to blind some across the room or easily illuminate a wide outdoor area. These lights do not have a tremendous amount of 'spill' off the sides which means its a very focused and tight beam. What Inova did in their marketing was pretty slick. They started packaging their lights so you could turn them on and see how bright they are through an angled mirror. The middle of the round X5 is probably a 2 watt light or around 50 lumens.

The greatest recommendation for a light is one I would buy for someone as a gift. I would say the flashlight I have purchased the most for my friends the last few years is the Inova X5. I personally one two versions of this light in blue and white beams and constantly have to stop myself from buying more. For me they are perfect combination of fit, form and function.

Moving up the cost ladder is the SureFire and Fenix series lights. There is surely more but these are two I am interested in. I own a couple of SureFire lights and the 6P is truly a gentlemen's flashlight. It's spendy at around $60 but with the 125 lumen LED bulb I can completely illuminate the tops of 100 foot trees and hit cars and objects 200 feet away. As I said the burn rate on batteries is pretty high with this light so it is not so much an emergency light as it is something I take with me for formal affairs and get the OMG factor out of people.

I have never used Fenix lights but the reviews have been building and all have been favorable. I wouldn't mind trying one out but they do not seem to be widely sold in the outdoor stores and gun shops I frequent.

Lastly and its not sexy but I highly recommend it, Walmart and Target sell a large battery (6 volt) work lantern for around $6. At Walmart you can find them in the checkout aisles. These are awesome home lights especially if you need something for emergencies or doing some late walking around the neighborhood. They last several hours and for the price can be tossed when done. I have several around the house and in vehicles. If you do not have a true lantern, gas or battery operated, this is the light to have for camping and urban group use.

To get slightly specific I would be remiss I didn't mention another of my latest favorites. The firefly bottle lamp. This nifty little guy replaces the standard lid to a nalogene bottle with a very bright LED waterproof flashlight. For adding just a bit more weight to the bottle you now have a superb lantern that also holds your water. The light also dims so that you can adjust the light down when sharing a tent or all the way up for glowing up a larger area. I generally have one of these lights with me as well since I always carry water with me and I generally enjoy carrying it in my green nalogene bottle.

In summary, to answer TBC I would say, "For work and general purpose start with the Inova X5 and go up from there in price and brightness." I generally recommend everyone have a little microlight from Inova, Photon or Princeton Tec on their keychain or in their purse.

You can't figure that out?

One of my clubs was bitching that their printer for client files did not work. "Help us. Help us."

I tell my partner I'll go up there since I have some work to do there myself. I go up to the club and I am working on a really sensitive legal matter and time starts to slip away. I get a call at 4pm, "Hey you look at that printer yet, I'm getting calls."

"No. I'm here though, let me drop everything I'm doing to help them out." I respond sarcastically.

I call back at 4:02pm. "Yeah somebody tried to force the square USB head into the port and they broke the USB connection inside the printer. Unless someone has a LPT1 cable in their drawer, we need to buy that cable or buy a new printer."

Now that wasn't that big a deal but I wish someone had the huevo's to say, "Um yeah we broke the printer can someone fix it." It would have cost me or someone a good drive to and from this place if I wasn't coming here. Plus the clubs (maybe) misdirection and (obvious) lack of personal investigation has cost some people the ability to access a print out of their files.

I was telling a manager what the problem was and an employee said, "Oh you need a LPT pin connector." Well Duh! If you knew the term you could have diagnosed the problem.

Well at least I got to use my brand new Gerber Infinity Ultra flashlight I bought today at REI to shine into the port to figure all this out.

So lets use this posts comment area as a crap box for your most recent dose of idiocy from people around you.

Yawn..it sure is bright out there.

I woke up this morning feeling a bit sheepish regarding the weekend. Even being off formal training the last two months, (it feels longer), I still get out and do a little sum'em sum'em on the weekends.

This weekend was spent on the couch with Mo or playing in the backyard with Mo or taking it easy myself. Mistress spent most of the weekend sleeping, which you know what, good for her.

I feel good about this week and have planned a two mile run and one mile swim for today. Its baby steps back into consistent base training.

My one foray into society was Sunday when I went grocery shopping at WalMart. They had Halloween stuff up already in the crafts section. Its July. I really don't need to see Harvest this or that or little ghosts and witches already. I didn't even register it till writing this post but they had Christmas stocking projects hanging up too. I suppose I won't begrudge that because my mom hand stitches beautiful stockings and it takes her six months to get them done.

But c'mon do we need the foam Halloween stuff up already?

Ground Zero Part II

Mistress got back from the doc's with Mo. He has a double ear, double sinus and a throat infection. Add his ongoing colitis problem that affects his bum aaaaaand basically every orifice on the tyke is causing him a problem.

Training going to be on hiatus with the team this weekend.

I think I might pick up some cranberry juice when I get his scripts at the pharmacy. Cover that last base while were at it.

This is also the new Mo Avatar.

Rescue 911

I had to rearrange training due to the illness in the house and missed the usual OW swim with the guys Thursday. Jeff called me around 8pm and told me an amazing story with the sincere wish that I was there.

Apparently a father had clambered around the inside of the canyon till he was in the very rear of the slot by the back buoy we normally swim too in our circuit. The buoy is at the edge of the shadow and the water in the picture, right.

Jeff and Glen were swimming away from the buoy but Jeff kept looking over his shoulder because this man was maybe 50 feet up on the wall and look stuck. Jeff heard a yell and the man had fallen into the lake.

Jeff swam to the man whom had deep cuts in his knee and scalp while at least one of the kids, not a strong swimmer tried to assist. Glen went to waive down a sheriff truck or call 911 and then came back. The two of them eventually helped the rescue people get him in the boat, to the marina and he was medevac'd to a hospital.

Speaking with Glen last night, who promised a post on his site sometime today, he was grateful for being there to help the man but wished I had been there to at least help him, since he generally feels safer around me the desert because of my background in outdoor lore and my propensity for studying and preparing for survival situations.

I took that as a deep compliment. I get a ration of crap from people, (including Nytro) for having a pack with me but usually in that pack along with my daily gear is a compass, flash light, means to start a fire, a bandanna, plus more all in case there is some emergency. What I really want is a PLB which up at the lake where there is no phones or cell service for a 20 minute drive, could be faster than hunting down a first responder or park ranger.

Congratulations to Jeff and Glen for most probably helping an idiot save his life and I mean idiot only in that the situation was entirely preventable. Their quick thinking, swimming endurance to tread water for so long and help get him on the boat, will allow a family to merely count their blessings and not mourn a passing.

Some more musings....

1. Personal note: I'm trying to get the crank moving on my training. I think we can all imagine our training as a bike crank and when we are in a peak block of training or very consistent the crank is spinning at a high cadence with a good stroke, road speed is high and heart rate low. The converse is also true when you're just getting started from the stop, the front wheel is wobbling, your looking down and up a few times trying to clip in your shoe and eventually your peddling slowly and not very efficiently trying to pick up speed. I'm trying hard right now to get through that intersection and in a good spot.

2. Who do you feel more compassion for, Lindsey Lohan or Brittany Spears? I know most of you don't care but I have point here. Lohan just got out of rehab for the second time this year and she obviously lied about recovery and returned to coke and booze and she had friends that enabled her up till her arrest. All the pundits are mentioning this and saying, "Why didn't a friend do something?" Now with Spears there is obviously a problem with this mother and yet the pundits in this case are saying, "Well I hope for the best and hope she gets help." Hello! Why does someone have to wait for her to really have a bad incident like Lohan before people start pointing fingers. Someone needs to take her down a peg. Punch that chick in the head, wait, no we can't hit women; grab her and shake the sh*t out of her. (Little Chris Rock humor there). In all seriousness, no one is telling her she is a trainwreck. I'll tell you what, just a phone call to Child Protective Services alleging such behavior would begin an investigation on any other person yet all her foibles are on video and in pictures and nothing, nothing is happening to arrest her fall.

3. I have not really followed the Tour de France this year but the overwhelming fallout of more banned drug use has finally started to punch through to the mainstream media. What I have not heard anyone talk about is Floyd Landis. While he is still due his day in court, (please hurry up) all this latest stuff is surely starting to test my belief of his innocence in the matter. If he truly is "The Only One" who has been striped of his title and booted and he is innocent, then so much the better for the sport, but man it looking like a long shot to me.

4. Sheriff Joe Arapaio, the toughest sheriff in the country, started a hotline in Phoenix to turn in illegal aliens, sort of a silent witness program. But now a county supervisor wants to start another hotline where, I guess, illegals can call and turn in people they think have turned them in. For what reason I do not know.

5. Oh, I want to be the first to thank President Bush for only paying $2.77 a gallon. Because, you know, he sets all those prices himself. Yup. Calls all the gas stations himself. Heard he actually changes the numbers at some places in Crawford, Texas. I figure since he personally gets all the grief for prices going up, I might as well thank him when they go down.

Ah cheer up folks, its a pretty good day.

Random musings

I have read so many posts the last 24 hours trying to catch up with everyone that I can't write a post today without thinking I just read this. So here is some of my current musings.

1. Why is it that a 8 year old can't use his finger and thumb as a gun on the school playground without being suspended for a week for the 'zero-tolerance' the school has on weapons; but someone trying to clear airport security with wire coils wrapped around an electrical switch with batteries, three tubes and two blocks of hard cheese imitating plastic explosives in their carry on bag only gets detained for a few hours and released to fly?

2. How can the democratic presidential debate held this week, not have a single question asked by moderator or guest about immigration or border enforcement after it was just the biggest single issue of communication between the public and congress, shutting down the senate switchboard for several hours?

3. Michael Vick is a repulsive man. This week, the high paid NFL quarterback has been charged with among other things the killing of eight dogs using brutal methods while running a dog fighting club on his property. My problem is not with the troubled man, he is scum, but does the public really think this type of behavior from super aggressive athletes is all that surprising? The atmosphere of football, from the fans to the players, coaches and money is breed for people to be brutal. Its not easy or simple for players to shut this off once the season is over and their energy has no channel on the field. Thats like saying cops never become cynical. Thats like being surprised when boxers get in fights outside the ring. Thats like a soldier being in combat for six months then expected to decompress on R&R without having to seriously watch what they say or do for the first few days. Vick doesn't deserve a quarter of the conversation he is getting in the press.

4. I just read an article on Pam Anderson on her life in photos. Do you remembers when a big bust in Hollywood didn't include a DUI and a coke seizure at the same time?

5. One more on this presidential debate this week. How can the American public really get any substantive answers from candidates when theres 13 contenders and only 90 minutes? Just ask show of hands to questions? I don't understand when we are trying to find the best candidates that wants to separate from the pack they are asked if 'they are black enough, woman enough or will work for minimum wage if elected.' I'd kinda like to know their positions on things that matter.

6. If I have to hear another politician use the term 'Comprehensive Plan' again to get something done in government, I might throw up.

7. The NBA commissioner David Stern, said that the gambling referee fiasco is the worst situation that has happened to basketball in his forty years of involvement with the organization. Really? You mean when Ron Artest decided to jump into the stands and beat the hell out of rowdy spectator that wasn't worse? Or are you just forgetting the thoery that not long ago it was discovered that there may be more illegitimate bastard babies by NBA players than actual NBA players. Shawn Kemp, unwed, has seven kids by six woman. Just for example.

Well thats a lot to think about during my swim this afternoon.