Glow Sticks

RiverRatMatt

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 24, 2010
Messages
59
Anybody into these? They seem like a cool way to have some reliable, battery free lighting.

I was thinking about getting some of the four or six inch white glow sticks from GlowStickFactory.com. Anyone have any experience with these?

Thanks :)
 

dc38

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
2,086
Location
On the east coast of the yoosah. In the place wher
Anybody into these? They seem like a cool way to have some reliable, battery free lighting.

I was thinking about getting some of the four or six inch white glow sticks from GlowStickFactory.com. Anyone have any experience with these?

Thanks :)


They're usually good to have around JUST IN CASE you do happen to run out of batteries or spare power...i went camping a few years ago and had about 20 of these things. there were also little kids with us, and i handed them out at around 10 p.m....you can imagine the chaos that ensued lol. At least we could easily keep track of them as they ran around like fireflies. The only real drawbacks are that they are single use, go dimmer after about 30 min, and are little more use than trackers after they are near depleted. If you spend a little more though, you could have some tritium. They usually stay lit MUCH (muchmuchmuchmuch) longer than regular snap glowsticks, and gives you a little more to talk about :p. Also you can fit them into your flashlights, so your flashlight will still be a flashlight even after the cells are dead :D
 

buds224

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 3, 2012
Messages
837
Location
Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
At those prices, I would consider getting some. Retail store bought glow-sticks are not competitively priced against the price of a set of batteries for my lights. This is a good source, nice find!
 

StarHalo

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 4, 2007
Messages
10,927
Location
California Republic
Glow sticks are best used as locators when you've got a group moving through a dark area, or to keep kids occupied during power outages. Other than that, they're pretty much useless; stick to actual lights and lanterns for emergency lighting.
 

buds224

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 3, 2012
Messages
837
Location
Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
In a situation where power is not available for unknown periods of time, it would be nice to have a few just to save your batteries from being eaten from long runs. Especially if there are kids in the home. Keeping a light source running for hours via glow stick will extend the life of the batteries in your lights for more specific uses.
 

Burgess

Flashaholic
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
6,545
Location
USA
Gotta' agree with StarHalo . . . .

Best thing about chemical Glow Sticks:

Keeps children occupied, and they won't shine any BRIGHT LIGHTS in yer' FACE ! ! !

:cool:
_
 

RiverRatMatt

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 24, 2010
Messages
59
The glow sticks I linked are claiming 18-24 hour run times, so they seem like they could be useful :p

The only tritium stuff I'm finding is very dim and intended as a key fob, are there brighter options available in the US?
 

StarHalo

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 4, 2007
Messages
10,927
Location
California Republic
You'll only need the cheap glow sticks for kids; they're awake but for a short amount of time without their electronic toys.

Tritium is indeed used for locating individual pieces of gear - no matter how dark your entire town/county/state is, if there's a trit on your flashlight, you'll see it in a pitch black room plainly.
 

fyrstormer

Banned
Joined
Jul 24, 2009
Messages
6,617
Location
Maryland, Near DC, USA
The glow sticks I linked are claiming 18-24 hour run times, so they seem like they could be useful :p

The only tritium stuff I'm finding is very dim and intended as a key fob, are there brighter options available in the US?
You're never going to get tritium that rivals a glowstick for brightness, much less a flashlight. While it is theoretically possible to make tritium vials the size of glowsticks, the fact that it contains radioactive gas gets exponentially more problematic the bigger the vial gets. Even tritium vials less than an inch long need to be heavily armored to ensure they don't crack and leak in real-world use.

Practically speaking, even though tritium only emits electrons and neutrinos, you want to carry around the smallest vial that gets the job done -- which just happens to be a 5mm vial (or a few of them) mounted on a flashlight.
 

dc38

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
2,086
Location
On the east coast of the yoosah. In the place wher
You're never going to get tritium that rivals a glowstick for brightness, much less a flashlight. While it is theoretically possible to make tritium vials the size of glowsticks, the fact that it contains radioactive gas gets exponentially more problematic the bigger the vial gets. Even tritium vials less than an inch long need to be heavily armored to ensure they don't crack and leak in real-world use.

Practically speaking, even though tritium only emits electrons and neutrinos, you want to carry around the smallest vial that gets the job done -- which just happens to be a 5mm vial (or a few of them) mounted on a flashlight.

Right, i forgot to mention that you'd have to read a document character by character, and too much would turn you into Doc Octopus...the best bet would probably to get a flashlight with a dyno and a huge capacitor.. because this may take quite a while to power up enough to do anything with, you could just get your (or others' ) kids to play ring around the rosy for an hour and strap them all to the dyno lever :D
 

indychris

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
50
When I was regularly involved in youth ministry, we ordered from sureglow.com on several occasions. Their products were always reliable and very well priced. It seems like they have even more on their site now than they did back then.
 

tacdrivrnc

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 24, 2012
Messages
4
Walmart has 10-packs of 4" glow for $3. They are decent and last all night. The packs are multicolor so you get green, yellow, red, blue, and purple, 2 of each. I'd rather have the option of choosing colors, but at .30cent each, it's not a bad deal. They also have the glow bracelets 5-pack for $1, in green, yellow, red, blue, and maybe a couple other colors. I found the green to be the brightest and longest lasting. I just leave it as straight wand and drop one in my bag to help me dig stuff out, use as a camp marker or in my tent gear-loft, or leave in a cargo pocket to use as a small light source. It's bright enough to read stuff by.
Who knows, they may go on sale after Halloween in over.
 

broadgage

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 23, 2007
Messages
445
Location
Somerset UK
One merit of glowsticks is that they work by a cold chemical reaction and can not possibly be a source of ignition. Therefore safe near gasoline, natural gas leaks, and near explosives.
Unlikely to be a consideration normaly but worth remembering in case of earthqauke, flood, tornado or other distaster.
Most flashlights are not certified for use in such conditions and could be a source of danger.
(flashlights suitable for use in hazardous suroundings do exist, but tend to be expensive and not much used domesticly)

I allways keep glowsticks to hand, last used for handling petrol in the dark.

Very bright glowsticks exist, that will light a large room, but these have only a few minutes duration. They are used as distress signals in places where regular flares would be unsafe such as in lifeboats aboard oil tankers. If attached to a cord and whirled round they can be seen for miles.

It should be noted that glowsticks are temperature sensitive. At low temperatures they will be dimmer but last longer. At high temperatures they are brighter but more quickly expended.
 

Ac7ss

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 8, 2012
Messages
10
Location
Pacific NorthWet
I like them as fun for the g-kids and general camping use. I try to find 8 hour ones, as they still have enough light most of the way through the night (your eyes get dark adjusted and more efficient) If using them for play, I drop them in the freezer when they are done for the evening and they can use them the next night.

For emergency use they are great for markers but very few are worth it for illumination. (There are a few however.) I use a "Life Gear" battery powered one for my work gear. A blue flasher works better than constant in my case.
 
Top