Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashlights!

I was just reading about what is going on back east with Hurricane Isabel. Naturally, hardware stores are selling out of flashlights (of course) and batteries (duh again) as people hunker down and prepare for the worst.

Then it hit me...I am sure that they sold out of C's, D's AA's but what about 123s? Only CPF'rs are going to go after these! And I bet we are spread out enough that we could just stroll on in pretty much anywhere and find 123 batts in such a situation. I mean, the average person is not going out to get batteries for their camera when preparing for an emergency (oh wait, that's wrong. Pictures for insurance purposes, and cool hurricane pics I guess. But camera batteries need to be changed seldom).

Of course, I always have at least 12 fresh 123's in a surefire box, not to mention a ton of AAAs for my Arcs but anyway...

Am I that slow that I just realized this availability advantage when using 123 battery powered flashlights in a widespread pending emergency? Has everyone else here already had this thought a million times?

Just curious.

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

Yeah, the standard ones will go fast. Of course, I wouldn't buy 123s in a local store. I think most CPFers have good supplies of them stashed away.

I get them straight from SureFire. And being the frugal guy I am, I buy seven boxes at a time in order to save shipping. Thus, I always have enough to last me through a very long storm.

Paul

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

Yes, good point. I currently have three sealed boxes of Kodak 123's (12 in each) a box of 8 in a closet somewhere, one tucked away in my dresser, 5 brand new DP's in a closet with the Kodak's, and thats at home Right now, I have 4 Kodak's and 2 DP's in a case from ( www.inanycase.com ) sealed in a ziploc bag to make it weather resistant (also have 4 AA's and 2AAA's just in case.)

Going on a rant, I left my Pelican M6 on the LIRR last Friday. I almost cried on the inside. I hope it shows up in lost and found. Its still on its first set of batteries.....

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

I think the availability issue goes the other way. During the last blackout D's were somewhat scarce, but AA's and AAA's were plentiful. I'd have had no idea where to get 123's. Stores that were open were small corner grocery stores, not camera shops. Also, there are always gadgets around (Walkman, quartz clock) that you can cannibalize a few AA's from. 123's are nowhere near as common. Even cameras these days are more likely to use AA's.

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

These days I've been trying to get away from buying 123's. I've gone rechargeable li-ion, but I do have a 123 stash. I have a dozen Energizer 123's, a dozen Surefire 123's and 50+ DP 123's. I'm with Jason on the way he gets Surefires. That's how I got my last batteries from them. I'm almost out because all of my LEO friends have been getting them from me. Gonna have to get more. They're a good deal if you can afford to get more than $99 worth at a time.

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

Yikes, have you ever priced 123's a your local grocer or drugstore? They are $6-$8 each!

The only thought I ever had was thank god for County Comm and now Surefire!


GregR

P.S. I've got six dozen in storage

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

I have 24 Surefire 123a batteries currently. Locally, I believe 123a batteries are $4.99 each at radioshack! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

I keep quite a few on hand at a time myself. I just got another case from Dan at TW. But in an emergency, if I had to pay too much... well, it's an emergency. If I am flat out of power, (which means I have also exhausted my stocks of AA, AAA, C, and D cells) I have a crank up light/radio combo from Radio Shack as well.

David <><

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

[ QUOTE ]
PaulW said:
I get them straight from SureFire. And being the frugal guy I am, I buy seven boxes at a time in order to save shipping. Thus, I always have enough to last me through a very long storm.

Paul

[/ QUOTE ]

Me to. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

oldgrandpajack

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

ONLY $4.99 each at R.S.???? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif They used to be $10+ each!

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

For everyone here, such as myself, that keeps a pretty big stockpile of Lithium batteries on hand, you may want to read this thread, in case you have not noticed it yet.

The various state governments in the U.S. are beginning to pass laws that make it illegal to own an "unspecified" number of lithium batteries in conjunction with "unspecified" quantities of some very common household chemicals.

Since my original thread that I started on the subject in the Batteries Included section got moved to the Café so quickly, there are probably still a lot of people here that missed seeing this very important message because of the few number of people that actually read any of the post in the Café section. That's why I thought I should make mention of it.

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

Having tons of lithium batteries at home isn't going to help you if you're somewhere else when the power goes out... in my case I was at someone else's home and ended up staying there through the blackout. I had a UKE 2L whose 123's I could have transplanted into my Arc LS, but my spare unused 123 stash was elsewhere.

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

paulr-

I came to the same conclusion as you. That is why my primary kit's are in my truck, not in my home.

Bottom line is.... my truck goes where ever I am, on the road, at work, at the store, in my driveway if I'm at home.

Your emergency supplies at home are no good, if your at the shopping mall, or worse 60 miles away at work.

GregR

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

Household 6 and I were watching the coverage of the hurricane an she was kind of laughing. She says "Look at all those people trying to get preapred at the last minute, I can't believe it!" It's because she knows we have a crap load of batteries, including 5 bricks of SF 123's.
She rest easy at night knowing we all fully prepared for just about everything and anything... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepy.gif

We also have no less than a dozen in each car, plus the 2 Spare carriers we both keep in our daypacks we use for work.

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

I have so many sources of light (at home) that I could run each one to death, and do that for a couple weeks at least!

In my truck, I can use a 2D light for 3 sets of batts, my SL StingerHP as long as I have diesel, and of course my ARC AAA (with a spare batt carried in my pager), and whatever Main EDC light I'm carrying (which is either all LED or LED/Xenon for long runtimes!

So for light purposes, I'm covered baby!

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

Hmm. It's an interesting point about emergency demand for/supply of 123s, but I would have guessed that for emergency purposes, run time would be a big consideration.

If I was facing a prolonged power outage, I think I'd rather have, for example, 3 sets of 8-hour batteries (like AAs for a Nicha-based light) than 24 sets of 1-hour batteries (like for a tactical-style 123-based xenon light).

Naturally, we hopeless obsessives will be prepared either way, I'm sure. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

[ QUOTE ]
paulr said:
Having tons of lithium batteries at home isn't going to help you if you're somewhere else when the power goes out...

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why I always EDC extra batteries:


BATT-------WT-------LIGHT--------RUNTIME
4x123------2.3oz-----L4 or E2E------3hrs
2xAAlith----1oz-------LSH-P---------10hrs reg +
2xaaa------.8oz-------ARC AAA------15hrs+
________________________________________
Total wt 4.1oz....Total runtime 28-30hrs +

Runtimes include batteries already in lights. I can substitute two more AA liths for two of the 123's for 5 more regulated hrs from the LSH-P , a total of 15hrs regulated runtime.

Factoring in moonmode and dim light the total functional constant-on light could be 40hrs or more, probably equal to a week or more of actual use. Of course Mag/Inretech with 4 extra lith AA's would extend that significantly, but this chart is based on my actual EDC.

Brightnorm

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

More and more people are using 123s, and more are discovering the good prices from certain internet sources, such as SureFire. I believe that the competition and the increased volume will continue to lower prices everywhere.

Paul

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

I think this 123 issue should mostly be relevant for EDC. For a home emergency light with spare cells on hand, I'd rather have a nice big D powered light. Currently I have a 3D Mag but might get a 6D (or equivalent from another manufacturer) sometime.

Re: Great Reason for 123 battery powered Flashligh

For a home emergency light I'd rather have a nice d-cell powered fluorescent lantern.

Your right paulr, 123's are mostly relevant for tactical and EDC lights.

GregR