Re: Best \'building disaster\' light
I see there are a couple of issues here:
1) Can you depend on having a routine maint. for the lights?
If so, a D cell light would probably be best. It just has a lot more juice than the AA and C cell lights. However, it appears there are not a lot of good non-Mag D cell lights around. It seems like 3-4 cells would be optimal giving the light enough voltage to run fairly bright lamp assemblies, but not so big as to become awkward.
I haven't noticed if anyone has reviewed them here, but the Streamlight 2D Twin-Task light comes to mind.
The Lightwave 4000 also sounds interesting, but obviously it won't have as much throw.
If you drop down to a C cell based light, the options open up a bit:
Pelican:
Super Saberlight (3C). Sounds pretty good - 3 cells makes it fairly compact, it's waterproof, and comes in orange and yellow. Runtime is listed as 5-6 hrs. Lamp is 3.4W. Maybe not quite as bright as you might like.
M10 Alkaline (4C). A bit longer, but otherwise ok. Listed as 30K CP w/6 hr runtime. Comes in yellow.
Princeton Tech: Tec 400, 4C batteries, 49 lumans, runtime 4-5 hrs. Odd form factor - anyone here have one?
Streamlight:
3C Xenon ProPolymer. Comes in yellow, 12K CP, 5.5 hr runtime.
Twin Tasklight 3C. Sounds excellent for this use. 3LED, 6LED or xenon bulb. Bulb 70 lumens. Runtime 3 hrs bulb, 100 hrs 3LED, 160 hrs 6 LED. Any reviews?
UK:
Sunlight SL4 (4C) - Yellow, 113 lumens (yea), 4-5 hr runtime. Would be my pick except for the doubled up form factor. Anyone here have one and care to comment on the ergonomics?
UK 300 (3C) - Yellow, 52.8 lumens, 4-5 hrs.
2) If you can't depend on routine maint., you probably want a lithium light. The gotcha is as others have pointed out -- they are sorta too small and possibly prone to walking off on their own.
The UK 2L in yellow.
Streamlight Twin Tasklight 2L.
3) I'm surprised more people haven't suggested rechargables. It seems like this wouldn't be a bad option, do a wall mount charger. I did this at my place of work, but only for our group.
Streamlight Stinger HP comes to mind.
Magcharger would work.
4) I would plan on having a personal light by the way of my EDC. This has been hashed to death, but IMO your selections should cover this use.
-john