Stress_Test
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2008
- Messages
- 1,334
Here in north Alabama we have had power restored after approximately four and a half days without power. Power was lost around 5:30pm Wednesday and came back on about 6:30am Monday. This is the longest duration power outage that I can ever remember having, sort of our equivalent to the great north Atlantic coast blackout several years ago.
The outage was a result of the monstrous storms that swept across the southeast, one of which scored a direct hit on the main distribution center for the surrounding area, blacking out virtually all of north Alabama. Estimates were anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 people without power.
That night, after the storms had passed by and the power was out, there were many people coming and driving down the street, probably out to buy flashlights and batteries. I went outside briefly to check out the conditions around the apartment building and make sure that my car didn't have a tree on top of it or anything. This was well after sunset, and with the heavily overcast skies, there was pretty much no ambient light outside except for the occasional car passing by. It changes your thinking process a bit when you're deciding which lights to grab, because you realize that you'll be screwed if you're out there and your light fails, so reliability and backup lights become a big priority over whatever other whizbang features a light may have.
With that in mind, I grabbed my edc Quarks because unlike a shelf queen, I use them relatively frequently and keep tabs on their batteries. (a low voltage, Q3 neutral head on a 17670 battery, and a R5 123 on a Li-ion battery, both tactical versions). I also dropped in a SureFire G2 with an R5, and put my Fenix TK11-R2 in a holster on my belt.
My eyes were already fairly dark-adapted, because inside I'd been using a 2C Maglite with a Nite-Eyes dropin (the low power version) which was about 20 lumens or so. Anyway, I stepped outside and clicked on the TK11 in general (60 lumen) mode, and the result was shocking in the total darkness of the neighborhood. I have used this light before out jogging, but in those cases there were streetlights, house lights, and car headlights to contend with, so even in high mode the TK11 wasn't overwhelmingly bright or anything, but now in a situation with no other light sources, the 60 lumen mode was PLENTY.
I walked around the building for a little bit and checked for damage, but everything was in good shape luckily. The tight beam profile of the TK11 let me see easily to the tops of the surrounding trees. There were a few people with some small led and incan lights outside the other apartment buildings standing around talking, but the conversations seemed to trail off into shocked silence as I went by with my light!
Throughout the event, I was surprised by how many people I saw walking around with no flashlight at all. After the storms passed, there was dim ambient light from the sky, so you could see somewhat to just walk down the sidewalk, but not if you were under trees or in a building. Some people nearby were grilling out at night, and a bunch of them had lights. Somebody had a fairly bright led flashlight that put out a flood beam, and somebody was walking around with a 3 or 4 d cell incan, but I couldn't tell if it was a Maglite or not from where I was. Again, in total dark conditions, even a 30 or 40 lumen Maglite looks pretty bright! The incandescent beam sure looked a lot better than the ghastly blue light coming from the led flashlights that other people had. I'm guess these were the cheap 5mm led cluster variety, based on the tint and beam profile.
I didn't spend too much time outside at night because there was a curfew imposed, but I did get to try out my (relatively) new tactical Quark with the S2 emitter. I was running it off a 2AA body, programmed to medium and maximum. This time I waited a while for my eyes to fully adjust to the outside lighting conditions, and even though there was a thin overcast (no stars visible) there was still a faint glow coming from the sky. I don't know if it was light from other towns miles away or if it was moonlight behind the clouds, or what, but there was enough light you could at least walk down the street or sidewalk with no flashlight, but that's no fun! I clicked the Quark on to medium, and again it was quite impressive how bright even that light level appeared with dark-adapted eyes.
I walked around a little bit, and checked mail, and realized that using the light to read up close like that had shot my night vision, because when I looked up, the parking lot area now looked pitch black. However, a quick twist of the Quark for turbo mode took care of that problem! The XP-G based Quarks may not throw nearly as much as the older XP-E variants, but for relatively short neighborhood distances (50 yards maybe?) the light was pretty awesome: a huge, wide swath of illumination in front of me. As I walked back down the sidewalk, the beam was broad enough and bright enough to fully illuminate the apartment building across the street, its yard, and the street itself. This would make a great light for searching a neighborhood, as it can illuminate large areas at once and you can see everything there at a glance. On a side note, this S2 light does have a pretty bad yellow-green tint, but it's worse indoors than outside. While outside, I didn't really find it objectionable or really even all that noticeable.
As far as indoor lighting, I basically settled on using a 2C Mag with the previously mentioned Nite-eyes dropin. This made a good general area and walking around light. When I needed extra output, I used one (or both) of my 3D MagLeds. One of those was an old LuxIII, the other a newer Rebel version. All these lights provide long run time, and the 2C Mag setup especially. I used that light a lot for the duration of the blackout and probably still haven't even come close to using up the set of batteries in it that I started with (and they weren't fresh to begin with either). I did have to change the batteries in the 3D Rebel Mag, though, because one of the 3 cells crapped out, even though the other two were still holding up okay. These were the "Everready Gold" brand, and I've had this kind of thing happen before, where one cell just completely craters for no apparent reason. Fortunately I had enough Rayovac cells for a reload. The lesson I learned there is: if you're going to use alkalines for anything, at least get good quality alkalines!
Other than those lights, I spend a lot of time using a Quark R4 neutral on moon mode, for those times I wanted to keep my night vision in order to be able to keep an eye on what was happening outside. The moon mode was fantastic for this purpose. I highly recommend that if you don't already have one, you need a Quark or other light that has a very very low mode. It also makes an excellent night light, and each night I left it on and pointed at my bedside table so I wouldn't be completely in the dark if I had to get up at night. (Side note: Fortunately, we didn't have any security issues at my place, though some of the hard hit areas did have burglary and some looting. I kept some .357 insurance handy. However, the looting seemed to be nipped in the bud early on, when a would-be looter broke into a gas station/store at 2am, and discovered the owner was staying there overnight to guard the place. For his efforts, the looter collected three bullets in the chest and expired in the parking lot outside; score one for the good guys. The police chief's only comment was to reaffirm the citizens' right to defend their property. After this, any looting in general seemed to come to a stop for some reason!)
When all was said and done, I realized that I didn't even come anywhere close to depleting my supply of batteries. With a multi C or D cell light, running an efficient led at low power, you can have tons of runtime and not have to worry about running out. In addition to that, I also had a 4-hour charger for 2 AAs that I could've used in my car outside if I'd had the need. Basically I got through 5 nights without even touching my supply of primary batteries (aside from the one that crapped out), and didn't even deplete any of my rechargeables. 'Course, I'm content with a pretty low level of inside light (20 or 30 lumens was fine for the most part), but if you like a higher level of light than that, YMMV. Even so, I probably could've run at 100 lumen level each night, using both my rechargeable AAs and the C/D Mags, and still not had to touch the rest of my primary battery stash. So if you're worried about whether or not you have enough batteries/runtime, rest assured, even a moderate flashaholic probably has light for a continuous month, easily! Lack of food, water, and other factors will come into play long before you run out of light.
And on that note, Sub Umbra, if you're out there still, I owe you a HUGE THANK YOU for all the advice you posted on CPF after your Katrina experiences! Your real-life planning and tips on the wisdom of adequate supplies aided me a great deal. Thanks to your experiences, I've kept an extra stash of water, food, and medicine handy, and the past few days it's really paid off! I didn't have to go out and fight the panicked mobs for supplies in the aftermath of the storms, because I had everything I needed on hand. Everyone should make similar disaster preparations regardless where you live; case in point, no one realized that major damage to a single distribution center to the region would black out the ENTIRE region. I think everyone (myself included) thought there was more redundancy than that). An event that no one even thought of can come along and bite your city/region in its collective butt, and then all the set routines go to hell in a hand basket. Don't think just because it hasn't happened yet that it won't happen where you are. Keeping your cool and laying low is probably one of the best survival strategies, because the roads were swamped with people fighting for gas/food/ATM cash, etc.
To finish off this post, I'd like to post the following two quotes that came to mind during all these events:
Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt – darkness that can be felt'.
-Exodus 10:21
My grandfather... hoped that someday our cities would open up more and let the green and the land and the wilderness in more, to remind people that we're allotted a little space on earth and that we survive in that wilderness that can take back what it has given, as easily as blowing its breath on us or sending the sea to tell us we are not so big. When we forget how close the wilderness is in the night, my grandpa said, someday it will come in and get us, for we will have forgotten how terrible and real it can be.
-Fahrenheit 451
The outage was a result of the monstrous storms that swept across the southeast, one of which scored a direct hit on the main distribution center for the surrounding area, blacking out virtually all of north Alabama. Estimates were anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 people without power.
That night, after the storms had passed by and the power was out, there were many people coming and driving down the street, probably out to buy flashlights and batteries. I went outside briefly to check out the conditions around the apartment building and make sure that my car didn't have a tree on top of it or anything. This was well after sunset, and with the heavily overcast skies, there was pretty much no ambient light outside except for the occasional car passing by. It changes your thinking process a bit when you're deciding which lights to grab, because you realize that you'll be screwed if you're out there and your light fails, so reliability and backup lights become a big priority over whatever other whizbang features a light may have.
With that in mind, I grabbed my edc Quarks because unlike a shelf queen, I use them relatively frequently and keep tabs on their batteries. (a low voltage, Q3 neutral head on a 17670 battery, and a R5 123 on a Li-ion battery, both tactical versions). I also dropped in a SureFire G2 with an R5, and put my Fenix TK11-R2 in a holster on my belt.
My eyes were already fairly dark-adapted, because inside I'd been using a 2C Maglite with a Nite-Eyes dropin (the low power version) which was about 20 lumens or so. Anyway, I stepped outside and clicked on the TK11 in general (60 lumen) mode, and the result was shocking in the total darkness of the neighborhood. I have used this light before out jogging, but in those cases there were streetlights, house lights, and car headlights to contend with, so even in high mode the TK11 wasn't overwhelmingly bright or anything, but now in a situation with no other light sources, the 60 lumen mode was PLENTY.
I walked around the building for a little bit and checked for damage, but everything was in good shape luckily. The tight beam profile of the TK11 let me see easily to the tops of the surrounding trees. There were a few people with some small led and incan lights outside the other apartment buildings standing around talking, but the conversations seemed to trail off into shocked silence as I went by with my light!
Throughout the event, I was surprised by how many people I saw walking around with no flashlight at all. After the storms passed, there was dim ambient light from the sky, so you could see somewhat to just walk down the sidewalk, but not if you were under trees or in a building. Some people nearby were grilling out at night, and a bunch of them had lights. Somebody had a fairly bright led flashlight that put out a flood beam, and somebody was walking around with a 3 or 4 d cell incan, but I couldn't tell if it was a Maglite or not from where I was. Again, in total dark conditions, even a 30 or 40 lumen Maglite looks pretty bright! The incandescent beam sure looked a lot better than the ghastly blue light coming from the led flashlights that other people had. I'm guess these were the cheap 5mm led cluster variety, based on the tint and beam profile.
I didn't spend too much time outside at night because there was a curfew imposed, but I did get to try out my (relatively) new tactical Quark with the S2 emitter. I was running it off a 2AA body, programmed to medium and maximum. This time I waited a while for my eyes to fully adjust to the outside lighting conditions, and even though there was a thin overcast (no stars visible) there was still a faint glow coming from the sky. I don't know if it was light from other towns miles away or if it was moonlight behind the clouds, or what, but there was enough light you could at least walk down the street or sidewalk with no flashlight, but that's no fun! I clicked the Quark on to medium, and again it was quite impressive how bright even that light level appeared with dark-adapted eyes.
I walked around a little bit, and checked mail, and realized that using the light to read up close like that had shot my night vision, because when I looked up, the parking lot area now looked pitch black. However, a quick twist of the Quark for turbo mode took care of that problem! The XP-G based Quarks may not throw nearly as much as the older XP-E variants, but for relatively short neighborhood distances (50 yards maybe?) the light was pretty awesome: a huge, wide swath of illumination in front of me. As I walked back down the sidewalk, the beam was broad enough and bright enough to fully illuminate the apartment building across the street, its yard, and the street itself. This would make a great light for searching a neighborhood, as it can illuminate large areas at once and you can see everything there at a glance. On a side note, this S2 light does have a pretty bad yellow-green tint, but it's worse indoors than outside. While outside, I didn't really find it objectionable or really even all that noticeable.
As far as indoor lighting, I basically settled on using a 2C Mag with the previously mentioned Nite-eyes dropin. This made a good general area and walking around light. When I needed extra output, I used one (or both) of my 3D MagLeds. One of those was an old LuxIII, the other a newer Rebel version. All these lights provide long run time, and the 2C Mag setup especially. I used that light a lot for the duration of the blackout and probably still haven't even come close to using up the set of batteries in it that I started with (and they weren't fresh to begin with either). I did have to change the batteries in the 3D Rebel Mag, though, because one of the 3 cells crapped out, even though the other two were still holding up okay. These were the "Everready Gold" brand, and I've had this kind of thing happen before, where one cell just completely craters for no apparent reason. Fortunately I had enough Rayovac cells for a reload. The lesson I learned there is: if you're going to use alkalines for anything, at least get good quality alkalines!
Other than those lights, I spend a lot of time using a Quark R4 neutral on moon mode, for those times I wanted to keep my night vision in order to be able to keep an eye on what was happening outside. The moon mode was fantastic for this purpose. I highly recommend that if you don't already have one, you need a Quark or other light that has a very very low mode. It also makes an excellent night light, and each night I left it on and pointed at my bedside table so I wouldn't be completely in the dark if I had to get up at night. (Side note: Fortunately, we didn't have any security issues at my place, though some of the hard hit areas did have burglary and some looting. I kept some .357 insurance handy. However, the looting seemed to be nipped in the bud early on, when a would-be looter broke into a gas station/store at 2am, and discovered the owner was staying there overnight to guard the place. For his efforts, the looter collected three bullets in the chest and expired in the parking lot outside; score one for the good guys. The police chief's only comment was to reaffirm the citizens' right to defend their property. After this, any looting in general seemed to come to a stop for some reason!)
When all was said and done, I realized that I didn't even come anywhere close to depleting my supply of batteries. With a multi C or D cell light, running an efficient led at low power, you can have tons of runtime and not have to worry about running out. In addition to that, I also had a 4-hour charger for 2 AAs that I could've used in my car outside if I'd had the need. Basically I got through 5 nights without even touching my supply of primary batteries (aside from the one that crapped out), and didn't even deplete any of my rechargeables. 'Course, I'm content with a pretty low level of inside light (20 or 30 lumens was fine for the most part), but if you like a higher level of light than that, YMMV. Even so, I probably could've run at 100 lumen level each night, using both my rechargeable AAs and the C/D Mags, and still not had to touch the rest of my primary battery stash. So if you're worried about whether or not you have enough batteries/runtime, rest assured, even a moderate flashaholic probably has light for a continuous month, easily! Lack of food, water, and other factors will come into play long before you run out of light.
And on that note, Sub Umbra, if you're out there still, I owe you a HUGE THANK YOU for all the advice you posted on CPF after your Katrina experiences! Your real-life planning and tips on the wisdom of adequate supplies aided me a great deal. Thanks to your experiences, I've kept an extra stash of water, food, and medicine handy, and the past few days it's really paid off! I didn't have to go out and fight the panicked mobs for supplies in the aftermath of the storms, because I had everything I needed on hand. Everyone should make similar disaster preparations regardless where you live; case in point, no one realized that major damage to a single distribution center to the region would black out the ENTIRE region. I think everyone (myself included) thought there was more redundancy than that). An event that no one even thought of can come along and bite your city/region in its collective butt, and then all the set routines go to hell in a hand basket. Don't think just because it hasn't happened yet that it won't happen where you are. Keeping your cool and laying low is probably one of the best survival strategies, because the roads were swamped with people fighting for gas/food/ATM cash, etc.
To finish off this post, I'd like to post the following two quotes that came to mind during all these events:
Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt – darkness that can be felt'.
-Exodus 10:21
My grandfather... hoped that someday our cities would open up more and let the green and the land and the wilderness in more, to remind people that we're allotted a little space on earth and that we survive in that wilderness that can take back what it has given, as easily as blowing its breath on us or sending the sea to tell us we are not so big. When we forget how close the wilderness is in the night, my grandpa said, someday it will come in and get us, for we will have forgotten how terrible and real it can be.
-Fahrenheit 451