Europe Trip, EDC flashlight questions

Illum · Jul 21, 2007

I'm planning to visit Barcelona in Spain and the Louvre in France this Christmas and I was wondering is there any regulation on carriage of flashlights

In the past I heard of the strict policies discussed in Great Britain, etc and I was wondering whether these rules apply to the rest of Europe...don't want to risk my light getting confiscated if I would prevent it beforehand:duh2:

proposed EDC:
Fenix L2P 1w [2xAA]
Fenix P1-CE [1x123A]
Surefire A2-WH [2x123A]
6xAA cells
6x123A cells

any advice much appreciated:thumbsup:

Dinan · Jul 21, 2007

Illum_the_nation said:
I'm planning to visit Barcelona in Spain and the Louvre in France this Christmas and I was wondering is there any regulation on carriage of flashlights

In the past I heard of the strict policies discussed in Great Britain, etc and I was wondering whether these rules apply to the rest of Europe...don't want to risk my light getting confiscated if I would prevent it beforehand:duh2:

proposed EDC:
Fenix L2P 1w [2xAA]
Fenix P1-CE [1x123A]
Surefire A2-WH [2x123A]
6xAA cells
6x123A cells

any advice much appreciated:thumbsup:

~~My brother has gone through London Heathrow international a few times with his SF 6P Defender so I don't think you'll have any problems!~~

kelmo · Jul 21, 2007

I've never had a problem. I think you are taking way too many lights and batteries though. I just spent 3 weeks in Turkey. The lights I used were an Arc AAA-P and a E2e. I didn't even go through a set of cells on the E2e and I used it every night mostly with an MN02 lamp.

So my advice would be to take a pocket light like an Arc AAA-P or the equivilent and your SF A2 with a full SC3. Where your going you can get AAA or AA cells easily and its a kick shopping for them if need be.

Enjoy!

Curious_character · Jul 21, 2007

Illum_the_nation said:
I'm planning to visit Barcelona in Spain and the Louvre in France this Christmas and I was wondering is there any regulation on carriage of flashlights

In the past I heard of the strict policies discussed in Great Britain, etc and I was wondering whether these rules apply to the rest of Europe...don't want to risk my light getting confiscated if I would prevent it beforehand:duh2:

proposed EDC:
Fenix L2P 1w [2xAA]
Fenix P1-CE [1x123A]
Surefire A2-WH [2x123A]
6xAA cells
6x123A cells

any advice much appreciated:thumbsup:

I took a recent trip to Germany and back. I had an L0D CE in my pocket (put in the tray for the security check, of course) and a P1D CE in my carryon. No problems at all. Incidentally, I also had a GPS receiver in my carryon.

They're looking for dangerous objects, not flashlights.

The U.K. prohibited carryon items altogether for a while, but I think that's been relieved somewhat. There's plenty of info on the web regarding current restrictions.

c_c

StefanFS · Jul 21, 2007

Illum_the_nation said:
In the past I heard of the strict policies discussed in Great Britain, etc and I was wondering whether these rules apply to the rest of Europe...don't want to risk my light ~~getting confiscated if I would prevent it beforehand:duh2:~~

What are the strict policies in Great Britain? I have never heard of any European contry in which the carrying of lights are regulated. I am aware that parts of Europe and the world are approaching totalitarian levels at appalling speed. But regulation on carrying flashlights? That's just sick. I haven't had any problems when I have travelled inside the EU the past year, I have my lights in the carryon luggage when flying. Never a reaction or question of any kind at security checks at airports.
Stefan

Illum · Jul 21, 2007

StefanFS said:
What are the strict policies in Great Britain?

something about lights being under the category of a weapon...I'm trying to find the thread but it seems to be lost somewhere in the archives...[after the new update of transferring CPF on another server the "google search" became relatively unresponsive...:shakehead]

its a custom to carry more than one light for trips.
I suppose the A2s a bit heavy...
I guess I'll just bring the P1-CE and a 2x123A jil-lite battery tube from lighthound and a Paklite.

well...since the A2s two lights in one...the full SC3 sounds good. the lighter the better.
its a planned trip in December, I still have time to debate the selection =)

Last year I brought 8AAs and 4 cr123as, an inova XO [TIROS] and a SLPP4AA Lux to my distant relatives house in a lesser industrialized part of China for a 1 week trip....I admit I ran out of batteries fairly quickly [having to use it at night since the outhouse is a distance of walking and few lights]...so future trips I rather carry a surplus than to have to buy batteries of unknown quality.

Long John · Jul 21, 2007

Only a suggestion

Carry your P1D-CE to reach Barcelona in Spain.
Then take a look to "Barbolights". He is located up to the north-west, towards France.
There you can get some very nice lights

Best regards

____
Tom

Illum · Jul 21, 2007

mmm...barbolights...

BARBOLIGHTS!? you serious?!

[STUNNED SPEECHLESS]

Esthan · Jul 22, 2007

I had no issues with my HDS or A2 Aviator on German and Polish Airports. So it should be safe to get one on board.

Long John · Jul 22, 2007

Illum_the_nation said:
mmm...barbolights...

BARBOLIGHTS!? you serious?!

[STUNNED SPEECHLESS]

Sure, i.e. the nice U-15:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/167210

Best regards

____
Tom

Windscale · Jul 22, 2007

When travelling, it's better to stick to as few types of batteries as possible. I can remember the days when I travel with 2x 6Ps and tons of spare CR123As. CR123As are difficult to find or expensive to buy (even in bigger towns in Spain).

Now I carry my travel quick chargers with me and only a few primaries as back-ups. So far so good.

Illum · Jul 22, 2007

I usually bring spares on an extended leave because the flashlights I brought tend to gobble the existing cells rather quickly, even when they're only used intermittently.

In the planning I select the lights with the most ideal runtime/output ratio thats usually shifted towards more runtime and less output, something that will seem bright in ambient darkness with long runtime...somewhere around 2 hours is a good benchmark

Surefires products are usually out of the question since the emphasis in design was to have maximum output with relatively short runtime [aside from the Kroma, U2, A2...] Having been using the A2 for quite awhile I found the 3LED beam to be useful 85% of the time and the xenon 10% of the time [I have found that 5% of the time a flashlight is not required :ohgeez:

], but its there just in case I need to use it, wherever that may be:thumbsup:

recently I've been obsessed with the P1-CE...the small size, the huge output, etc.

Long John, thanks for the inform..ahem, temptation...but I don't think I'll bright THAT much money to Spain. I was told to watch my personal belongings carefully since pickpockets are supposedly very common.

lucio · Jul 22, 2007

I'm not giving you a flashlight advise but, hoping to help, a touristic one

. Barcellona is a wonderful city, but is mostly renowned for summer vacations. so if I were you I'd reconsider my destinations looking for some city with more "christmas(winter) atmosphere".

and for what about the flashlight, the priority goes to dimension; than the possibility of chooising a low and very low output(to pack, search in the bag and similar) and maybe not a top-notch one becaues when u travel it's best not having a lot of things which you are too worried about. so the final answer is: Fenix P2D

.

Illum · Jul 22, 2007

lucio said:
Barcellona is a wonderful city

aye, the trip is actually about going to visit my cousin, whose current studies is [who would've guessed

] architecture. My parents visited him about a month ago and returned, I'm still in college so I'm hoping during the Christmas times I can actually go without postponing anything.

I haven't gave much thought to the fenix digital series...for one thing I'm not the only one who uses the lights I carry and the P1[not P1D]-CE being the simplest light you can operate assuming you've been conditioned to use a minimag, some people still have a hard time getting used to it.

Before I bought this fella I was contemplating between a P1D and a P3D, liking the P3D formfactor better...but carrot popped in with the info that the fenix P1-CE is only a few dollars higher than the P1 while at the same time I was reading about the P1D explosion...so I um...spent what I had for 4th of July money on the P1-CE...and so far been very impressed as a shower light to safely burn off any spent cells that can no longer operate a surefire. these Chinese made regulators are outperforming inova regulators nowadays :crazy:

I suppose I'll consider buying a new light

flashgreenie · Jul 23, 2007

Personally, I never had any problems carrying flashlights flying through airports in Europe. I even hand-carry a M3T-CB through swedish, austrian, greek airports. My Ti-PD, Chameleon,HDS has been everywhere in Europe with me including UK.
Since you are coming over during Christmas, make sure to bring lots of batteries since they are expensive here and 123 are hard to find sometimes. If you be visiting some flasholics, they might even buy the excess 123 cells off you.

Come on over to Sweden the flasholic playground where you get almost 24hours darkness during that time:nana::nana::nana:

monkeyboy · Jul 23, 2007

I've travelled recently from UK to US and back with several flashlights without any trouble. It's probably best not to bring anything that could be used as a weapon e.g. the L6 Porcupine.

Hans · Jul 23, 2007

monkeyboy said:
It's probably best not to bring anything that could be used as a weapon e.g. the L6 Porcupine.

I very much agree. Any light that looks like it's designed to be used as a weapon might get you into difficulties at some airports. But other than that ... no problem in my experience.

Hans

Monocrom · Jul 23, 2007

Illum_the_nation said:
any advice much appreciated:thumbsup:

Don't take any lights that would be a huge headache for you to replace if they get lost or confiscated. If I were going on an extended trip, I'd buy another Brinkmann Maxfire LX and carry that; along with a few spare 123A cells. I'd take a Dorcy LED 1AAA model on my key-chain, and a Dorcy LED 4AAA model clipped to my pocket.

If any of those were confiscated, I wouldn't be out much money.

Illum · Jul 23, 2007

Monocrom said:
If any of those were confiscated, I wouldn't be out much money.

I bought another A2 for this purpose:shrug:
I suppose I'll just carry the G2...and order up another P60 just in case

flashgreenie said:
Since you are coming over during Christmas, make sure to bring lots of batteries since they are expensive here and 123 are hard to find sometimes. If you be visiting some flasholics, they might even buy the excess 123 cells off you.

I just hope the F.A.T.A.S.S. guys wont think much of it when he finds Tupperwares of individually wrapped little red cylinders in my carry on :ohgeez:

[F.A.T.A.S.S. as the "Federal Air Transportation Air Security Service personnel...theres a name for it I don't remember]

cernobila · Jul 23, 2007

Another option would be a WE Sniper model with regular bezel, the LED tailcap, a 1x 18650 cell and LF EO-4 lamp up front. Also a spare 18650 cell and a universal charger.......thats it.....

OR.....WE Defender II with regular bezel, (two levels by twisting the bezel) a WE Cree HO 3.7 - 6V lamp, couple of 18650 cells and again the universal charger........

.....and a AA light as backup is always a good idea...

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