Another thing to maybe consider is the old standard Mag Lite. While not known for being a very bright light or a light that has a quality beam, it DOES have some advantages:
- Low cost
- Very well built
- Shock mounted bulb
- Metal collar on bulb to prevent it from falling out
- Standard extra bulb
- Long run time.
- Available anywhere
The thing that I do not like about any round flashlight, is that it rolls too easily.
During the flood in Houston, my instutiton (a Hospital) where I work lost all power. I mean ALL power, all emergency power, everything. I had only a mag (actually 3) a 8-AA cell Energizer double barrell, and an Energizer Arc White light.
After a couple of days, the power was still out, but they did restore the power to one elevator, but the "buttons" did not work. I had to bang on the elevator door in order for the dedicated elevator operator to hear me. When I did this with the Energizer bi-pin bulb 8 aa-cell flashlight, the bulb fell out. The Mag-Lite took it like a champaion.
Also, I DID have a bulb blow out when I was on the 25 floor, and had to replace the bulb (luckly I had more than one light). It was a snap to find the standard spare bulb in the mag-light and replace it.
Not saying that it is a perfect light, but it DID hold up well during very heavy useage.
I don't know what your requirements are for the hurricane emergency kit, but I think in general, I would think that 3 lights would be appropiate:
- Long Life LED Light
- Area Light
- High Intensity Light
I would pick the Surge as the High Intensity light, The Arc White as the area light, and an LED light as the long life light, or change the bulb to a pr based LED light in the Arc White.
In the Flourecent mode, the Arc White has a 7-10 hour run time.
Yes you could spend more, and if you were developing this for one family, you could put whatever you wanted to in this kit. If you were going to build hundreds of kits, cost would become a factor.
Let us know what you decide on.