will mobile phone flashlight apps stop the need to edc a flashlight

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Blue72

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phones and flashlight apps are very bright now and the runtimes are fantastic. Do we still need to edc a flashlight?

Sure its not 100 lumens bright, but bright enough for most tasks
 

nbp

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Till you drop it and it shatters.

Or you run out of juice in the woods and have no way to replace the cell quickly and easily.

Or it gets wet and dies.

Or you want to light something up and talk on the phone at the same time.

Or you need to light something up more than 3 feet away.

Or you want to use light something up in an area where phones are prohibited.

Or any number of other good reasons why a phone does not replace a flashlight. I don't have a flashlight app on my iPhone, nor do I care to get one. I have flashlights for flashlights.
 

edpmis02

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Anything is better than nothing in an emergency.

My phone has a 4.3 inch screen with heavy rubber bumpers.. I have a screen lighting app as well as an app that lights the camera flash's LEDs.

No throw whatsoever and dont want to risk a $500 phone when a small keychain light will do the job.
 

SCEMan

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Good thread. My smart phone is always with me and plenty bright to illuminate the stairs or bedroom for trips between rooms. No need to grab the NDI for bathroom calls. Outside is another story, and here my high CRI Maratac Cu gets the nod.
 

Divine_Madcat

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As said, anything is better than nothing, but in no way could a phone ever replace more than a basic key chain light. There is so much more to a good edc light, than just outputting light.. Form factor, power source, weather resistance, output modes, durability, etc.

As it is, if i find myself in an emergency, the last thing I want to be doing is burning the battery on my one lifeline to the outside world...
 

yliu

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Although I have an iPhone, I still use my Olight i3.

It's the same reason why people don't use Swiss army knives in their kitchens.
 

Illum

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As said, anything is better than nothing, but in no way could a phone ever replace more than a basic key chain light.

Heh, funny you should mention that. my cellphone replaced the keychain light on my keys, of course... thats one of two keychain lights I carry on top of my primary EDC and its backup :whistle:
 

tam17

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Although I have dedicated flashlight built into my basic Nokia phone, I'm always EDCing one of my small Fenixes or a Jetbeam, plus a spare battery. I'm not sure if any of poorly heatsinked smartphone flash LEDs can deliver what average quality small flashlight can (with ease). Regarding modern omnifunctional gadgets, I'd stick to the old saying - "The more functions a device has, the worse it performs each of them."

Cheers
 

reppans

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The apps that use the screen seem pretty limited, but the apps that use the smartphone's LED camera flash seem pretty good.

No question that a dedicated device is will always be better than a smartphone that tries to do it all, but for the minimalist, I think it really can replace a lot of things. I understand that something like the iPhone is putting a serious dent in the sales of point and shoot cameras, video cameras, GPSs, Nintendos, etc, etc...
 

Cataract

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I can't imagine myself walking through the woods with a phone strapped to my forehead
 

LGT

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I guess that would depend on what you EDC and use it for. As SCEMan said, it's sufficient for a trip from room to room. But I really can't see it replacing an EDC for outdoor use. I'd also rather use a flashlight when needed just to save the battery life on my phone. You never know when you might be stuck in a situation where you're unable to recharge your phone for some time, while you're EDC and back up(s) should provide many hours of usable light.
 

BobEvans

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The camera flash on my phone was never that great. However, after using it as a flashlight it washes my photos in a more noticeably blue light.

Also, a rapidly dying cell battery and the unplanned need for street-level GPS and light across several blocks of poorly-lit, uneven sidewalk construction prompted me to start EDC'ing flashlights.
 

Blue72

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I can't imagine myself walking through the woods with a phone strapped to my forehead


Im not talking about replacing flashlights for more important task, especially being in the great outdoors

Im just talking about maybe replacing your keychain light
 

scout24

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Not a chance, for me... If I even have to consider my phone as a light source, I'd be in way too deep... 8th string backup? Maybe? Maybe not even then.
 

TEEJ

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Im not talking about replacing flashlights for more important task, especially being in the great outdoors

Im just talking about maybe replacing your keychain light

I have a key chain light on my key chain...as, if I need to find a key hole, I don't ALSO want to have to aim my PHONE too, etc.

:D

I edc a Klarus XT11 which for what I USE it for, would not be replaceable by my cell phone...in any way or shape.

If all someone uses their light for is to find key holes, or if they dropped their keys, or their glasses, etc, and just needed a little lighting right by their feet...almost anything works of course, even a candle.

I DO have (More than one actually, I do experiment) flashlight apps on my phone...and, I have used the phone as a light...BUT - ONLY if I already had the phone OUT, and, it was handy to use it that way...or I was just playing with it.

Generally, by the time you hit the couple of buttons to get to the app, and light it up...you could have simply turned on a flashlight.

:D


Now, I might just go and program a flashlight so I can make calls from it and surf the web, get email, etc.....
 

Machete God

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My phone isn't a smart one, so it can't do apps. But it does have a flashlight built-in, 5 lumens... at most. I still have a flashlight on my key ring and another two on me, almost all the time.

Mobile phone flashlight apps may be good enough for Joe Public, but we aren't Joe Public, are we? :D
 

TEEJ

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One of my sons was in the broadcast booth during a soccer tournament where he worked when a freak storm came in, and high winds and thrown branches crashed through the booth windows and knocked out the power to the area, so the entire facility was plunged into darkness, bleachers and walkways down to the lot and field, etc, were blocked by branches, stumbling people trying to escape, etc...in heavy wind and rain.

He calmly opened his phone (Not even a flashlight app, just the light from the SCREEN, and lead every one out to safety by setting people at the exit routes to direct the lost in the right direction, and then going to find the next route, etc.

His boss told me the story when I had asked him WTH had HAPPENED later that night when I showed up to pick my son up...not knowing the place had gotten trashed.

So, the moral of the story is that a phone CAN be useful if its that, or pitch blackness.

:D
 

Dr. Strangelove

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I can't imagine myself walking through the woods with a phone strapped to my forehead

I can! (only kidding!)

I have a flashlight app that uses either the screen (moonlight mode?) or the flash. However, it's really a second level backup to my primary and backup EDC. Since I've never had a double flashlight failure (thank goodness), I've never used it except to play with.
 

Blue72

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but why as a backup

I have used the flashlight app for hours straight (which made me start this thread). Especially for those who like simplicity.

Almost like ditching the point and shoot camera's, why bother when the latest phones are good enough. Matter of fact taking rapid pictures on a iphone is better than most point and shoot cameras

Personally I cant let my keychain light go. But if I was not a flashaholic, I probably do it in a heartbeat!!
 

TEEJ

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Its about what your life is like.

Mine would not work with a phone as my light.....at all.


As for the point and hoot, again, it depends on what your life is like. A digital zoom is useless to me, I need optical, and control of exposures and things phones have trouble with.

Other people, sure, they could use a shoe box with a pin hole for the camera and a candle for the light and it would be adequate.


So, its not WRONG to use a phone for a light, any port in a storm, etc, is fine...but, if edc means what it does to me, its not an option for me at least.

My phone IS an edc, just not an edc light per se.

:D
 
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