Absolute worst place for a flashlight to die

[Burgess]

Excellent, thought-provoking thread !

:twothumbs


Couple years ago, somebody here ( Cave_Dave perhaps ? )
told of going caving with several other (poorly prepared) people.

Slowly, steadily, one-by-one, their 5 flashlights began to fail.

Various reasons -- one was a 2-D cell rechargeable model.

One (or more) had a bad, flakey switch.

At the end, they only had ONE flashlight still working,
and THAT would only stay on if you HELD DOWN on the Switch !

Really an eye-opening story, which i haven't been able to find since then.
Perhaps someone else can provide us a Link ? ? ?


Oh, and of course, (mentioned above) the fellow ( from Germany )
who went ALONE in a cave, and turned his (only) flashlight OFF,
only to find it would NOT turn back ON ! ! ! :eeksign:

Someone please find THAT post, and provide a Link.

Heck, it oughta' be made a Flashlight Story sticky !
Very good reason to ALWAYS carry a backup !

:eek:

Edit to add:

I found the Link from CPF'er antiplex, of Germany.
Every flashlight user should read this ! ! !
Moderators -- perhaps this post oughta' be made a Sticky.
Or, at least, one of our Flashlight Stories !

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3409723&postcount=223

_

 

[red02]

While your showing off, right as your bragging about how much more reliable your light is than anything else.

"... nice, and you paid how much?"

 

[KiwiMark]

I have to agree with you there. I always carry 3 lights on me on duty so I don't worry much about one dying. I can always reach for another light.

Couple weeks ago, I visited the Natural Bridge Caverns in S. Texas. During the tour they said these caverns and network of caves were discovered around 1960. These caves go down hundreds of feet and it got me thinking what it must have been like back then when they didn't have Surefire lights and other high power lights.

I'm certain whatever lights they went caving with didn't have much output, throw, runtime, etc.

I couldn't imagine exploring the unknown down there with a dim light or lantern!!!

I really can't see that you would need much light, once your eyes adapt to darkness then the minimum output from any LED would be more than enough. Like you I always carry 3 lights, they are all just single cell - but on minimum output the run time between them would be at least a couple of days.

If I were going into several miles of dark caves then I would definitely carry 5+ lights to ensure that even if one or two died then I would still have enough light to see by. Some of those lights could be as small as 1 x AAA powered, maybe even a couple of fauxtons to be used in an emergency - they would be bright enough and they actually run for a surprisingly long time.

Since I EDC 3 lights I really don't find myself worried about what to do if a light fails, I would just reach into my pocket and pull another light out. To me a flashlight dying would be no big deal in any situation that I have ever been in.

 

[JonN06]

While your showing off, right as your bragging about how much more reliable your light is than anything else.

"... nice, and you paid how much?"

This reminds me of people talking about how their Glock never jams... No offense to anyone they are nice weapons.

I work in an office tower with some pretty bad wiring. Seems like every 2 to 3 months there is some sort of power issue. I'm always afraid I'm going to be caught in the bathroom or stairwell :ohgeez:. They don't have very good back up lights either.

 

[Locoboy5150]

The worst place that I can think of from my life was back during the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 here in the Bay Area. For those that didn't know about it, it was the largest earthquake that I have been through during my lifetime of living in the South Bay Area. Here's some information on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loma_Prieta_earthquake

I was in high school at that time and like everyone else in the Bay Area, I was listening to the pre-game broadcast of game three of the World Series on KNBR when the quake struck. I was listening to the radio in my garage and I went to a toolbox on the shelf to get some tools when the radio went dead and suddenly the S.F. Giants' announcer, Hank Greenwald, was suddenly cut off. I knew that it was a big one so I ran out of my garage and out into the street since that was an open area where nothing could fall on me. (During a quake, the quake doesn't hurt you - things falling on you from the quake does. So, *always* look up during a quake and spot falling objects!)

Thankfully, everything in my world was OK. A few days later when power was restored, I then learned that in fact that the Bay Area was definitely not OK however.

But, back to the topic of this thread. Late that night after the quake, I had to go to the bathroom. Nobody had power, so I was living by candle light and by the light of my 2 AA Mini-Maglite and a Fulton MX991/U G.I. light, my only two flashlights at that time. I didn't have a lot of batteries and with only incandescent bulbs in those days, whatever batteries that I had sure didn't last very long. So, I went to the bathroom with those only two lights with me.

Now, for those of you that have never experienced an earthquake before, once you've been through a big one like the Loma Prieta quake, you sort of develop a hyperactive reaction to them. Whenever the ground trembles, your heart starts to race a little bit, no matter how big or small they are. You kind of go into a panic mode somewhat from then on. I still do that today whenever a small quake rumbles through the Bay Area, many years after the 1989 quake.

So I was sitting on the toilet that night, Mini-Maglite in hand and the MX991/U on the toilet tank, just doing my thing. Aftershocks were *constantly* rumbling on through the night and day after the quake unpredictably. They weren't big enough to do any property damage, but definitely big enough to rattle everyone's nerves, including my own. The nervous tension of never knowing when they would strike kept me from sleeping very well for quite a few days.

So there I was, alone in my bathroom, my pants down, wimpy and dim Mini-Maglite barely lighting up anything, and aftershocks rumbling by under my feet every few minutes or so. In my mind I was thinking "the E.M.T. crews are going to find me squashed while sitting on the can in the dark with my pants down!"

Thankfully, my lights didn't fail on me that night or any night afterwards, but being in my bathroom that night without a light would for me be the absolute worst place to have a light die.

 

[soli]

I found the Link from CPF'er antiplex, of Germany.
Every flashlight user should read this ! ! !

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3409723&postcount=223

_

:goodjob:
Was driving my mad trying to find it. I was almost starting to believe I imagined the story.

 

[computernut]

This topic reminds me of a neighbour back home who's cows got loose and he was out in the bush rounding them up. It got dark and he wound up spending the night out by himself. When he was found the next day he was pretty shaken up after spending a dark night in the woods with all the noises and animals. When there isn't any moon it can get pretty dark when there isn't any light pollution from a city. Getting lost in a cave with no light is probably the worst, getting lost in the forest with no light is no picnic but at least you know the sun will come up in the morning :help:

 

[yowzer]

Had a headlamp run out of juice on me last week while scrambling up a steep talus (Boulders and smaller loose rock) slope. Nowhere flat enough to take off my pack and grab a new battery, and while I had a flashlight or three handy, I also needed both hands free for balance and climbing. Did I mention it was something like 3:30 in the morning?

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Years ago when I was younger and dumber, my GF, best friend, and I went to see the Giant Redwoods on the coast of California. We got there late in the afternoon and parked at a trail head. We quickly checked out the map at the trailhead and saw two trails, one being a simple 1 mile loop trail.

We figured since it was only one mile we would have plenty of time before dark so we took off completely unprepared. Even left the ray-o-vac flashlight in the car. Turns out it gets dark fast in the deep redwood forest in January. Long story short, we got completely lost and found ourselves freezing cold, wet, and unable to see our hands in front of our faces due to the cloudy moonless night. We had one bic lighter and had to use that to try to navigate the many forks in the trail. Eventually the butane ran out and we were reduced to just flicking the lighter and trying to navigate by the brief spark.

We wondered around and eventually we made it out of the forest to the edge of a river. OF course we could not see how big the river was so we were reduced to cuddling and screaming HELP like lost girlscouts for hours. The next day we realized that we had walked about 13 miles in circles and the wrong direction.

Hope this doesnt offend anyone (and keep in mind this was years ago when i was a stupid kid) but I would be leaving out a HUGE part of the story if I didnt mention the fact we all had heads full of magic mushrooms.

One miserable night. We all actually cried at some point. BIG lesson learned there!

 

[don.gwapo]

For me, it's anywhere coz i'm afraid of the dark. :whistle:.

 

[LuxLoverr]

car dies in the middle of rural texas, chainsaw seems to come closer. what do you do? new moon, woods only, not sure the flashlight you have in the car for years still work. turn it on to see if it still works but then you reveal your location.

 

[dealgrabber2002]

Right before you kick in the door to make a bust.

 

[Sgt. LED]

Pitch black night, heat induced power outage going on. You head over to your mom's to fire up the generator out back in the old shed. You get there and get the keys from her and on the walk out back you notice how quiet and dark it is. You take the old rusty padlock off the hasp and pry the door open. You know how that saggy door drags in the weeds every time. You say to yourself, screw it, and get it open just enough to squeeze through. After you pass the door you see it's only open about a foot but you don't care since you're in there now and it's time to get to work. You spot the generator and grab the tarp that covers it. You yank it off and toss it over your shoulder in one smooth yet juvenile motion that reminds you of all the times you've done this little chore. You start to fiddle with it and transfer the light to your mouth to free both hands. Naturally you manage to scrape the meat off your nuckles about half a minute in, damn! And good Lord is it hot in here......

Just then you hear something. An angry dry rattle a few feet off and that's when the light you stopped paying attention to falls from your mouth. It drops and time slows down and it goes spinning over and over. It lands with a crunch and all goes black, you hear it roll away, somewhere. Then the rattle picks up again sounding even more pissed off and you have no idea now which way you're facing and you can't see that barely cracked door at all.

Your skin comes alive and crawls, your balls shoot right up out of your sack into your stomach, and the only other sound besides that stealthy moving rattle is your heart picking up speed. Good luck sucker. :cool:

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

You're twenty miles from the trailhead alone backpacking. You go to the bathroom in the woods at night. While your pants are down, you spot a large carnivorous animal (bear or mountain lion)that looks hungry. After spotting it with your light alerting the animal to your exact location, your light goes out.

You're a doctor in Haiti after the earthquake. You're in the middle of doing surgery by flashlight when the last of your batteries go dead and more supplies won't arrive until morning.

You're making your way back down the Mountaineer's Route on Mount Whitney after a hard day of climbing. You have thousands of feet of exposure if you fall. The rocks are slick and wet from a thunderstorm earlier that day. You are in a narrow canyon and there is a new moon. It's pitch black and the wet rock absorbs light making flashlights less effective. You accidentally drop your Surefire 6PL off a 1000 foot cliff where it breaks apart at the bottom after hitting the rocks and the pieces sink into a 50 foot deep glacial lake.

 

[DM51]

Completing the job of limb removal in the field after somebody finds a landmine.

... and then having to haul the casualty out of the minefield and 400 ft up a cliff in the dark, strapped into a stretcher that is too short for him, only to have him die 20 ft from the top...

 

[yowzer]

You accidentally drop your Surefire 6PL off a 1000 foot cliff where it breaks apart at the bottom after hitting the rocks and the pieces sink into a 50 foot deep glacial lake.

I call foul on this one. The Surefire would still be running at the bottom of the lake.

 

[sappyg]

... and then having to haul the casualty out of the minefield and 400 ft up a cliff in the dark, strapped into a stretcher that is too short for him, only to have him die 20 ft from the top...

.... and when you get your light working again you realize you've got the wrong guy....

 

[Sgt. LED]

and it's actually the very dessicated corpse of Abraham Lincoln, somehow
:faint:

 

[sappyg]

and it's actually the very dessicated corpse of Abraham Lincoln, somehow
:faint:

oddly, without the beard he looks a lot like mel gibson.... only taller :ohgeez:
but of course... everything looks kinda crappy with a incan mag solitare.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

I call foul on this one. The Surefire would still be running at the bottom of the lake.

If it was 100 feet, I might agree with you. If it fell directly into the lake, there might be a slim chance that it survived a 1,000 foot drop. At 1,000 feet drop onto solid granite, nothing will survive. If it did somehow survive, you'd still die from hypothermia trying to retrieve it from the freezing lake. The absolute worst place for a flashlight to die is in a place where your life depends on it. In that situation, I would always take a reliable light like a Surefire so I don't think that scenario cries foul. In that scenario, I had to think of a way where the Surefire light would either die or be lost for good. I have nothing against Surefire. The 6PL is my favorite light to take climbing because it will survive a drop better than just about any one of my other lights. However, I prefer lightweight lights like Fenix lights for most hiking, backpacking, and e.d.c. use.