Emergency Flashlight?

[kev1-1]

I've come home for the easter period, and as my parents live near Portsmouth, which is a naval port, they are worried about some kind of incident. Obviously it is VERY unlikely that any thing will happen, but...
<font color="red">What is the best long runtime, reliable, bright, general lighting flashlight available for under $30?</font>
Incandescent or LED...I don't mind! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Sean]

I would get 2, an LED and an incandescent.

1. Brinkmann Rebel 2D cell 4 LED light (cost: $20). This will run a long time (several days) and is bright enough to be useful in the dark.

2. UKE 2L (about $24). A long running (~3 hours) 2x123 lithium light that is pretty bright and very small. The lithium batteries have a 10 year shelf life and are less likely to leak than alkalines.

PT Surge is also a good low cost light that is brighter than the UKE 2L and runs on 8 AA batteries (cost $22).

 

[N710]

Considering all aspects I would half to say the good old Maglite in a 2D or 3D model, they are bright enough and use cheap bulbs compared to some of the exotic lamp assemblies used on brighter long burn type lights (pelican,UKE), these bulbs for the MAG are also easyer to find. And last but not least the MAG is efficient on batteries with the stock krypton bulbs, and is very,very durable.

 

[dougmccoy]

Kev,

You quoted $30.00 as the bench mark? That equates to approximately £19.00 in Sterling. For that money in the UK you are limited in what is easily available. I personally would suggest that you get them a Infinity Ultra.

Sure it is not the brightest light out there but it will be within your budget and it will use AA's which are easily (and cheaply) available. It works for 6-7 hours on one battery and it provides plenty of light when used in a house. It's reliability is excellent and it is very robust.

Of course if you spend more you have many more options. The ideal light would be a Streamlight 3C Led which can provide a lot of light for almost a week without becoming overly dim.

As a UK resident I have and use many lights but most of them are not easily obtained and are not cheap. IMHO your best bet is a LED light and obtained from one of the recognised UK importers. It should also use common Alkaline or rechargeable batteries which will present less problems being obtained in an emergency.

Doug

 

[x-ray]

Have you considered a Lite-Pro Teknolite ?

4x LED's, 25+ hour runtime, fairly tough, waterproof & includes tritium locator lights.

Runs on easily available & cheap AA batteries.

You can find more details on the Lite-Pro website

Available for £19.99 in the UK from Traser

For an independent review go to Quickbeam's site

 

[onelight]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gifif a headlamp would work bright guy has the aurora for 21.50 with a free pulsar, even with freight it would be in budget /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif Just got my wife one and she really likes it.

 

[JustAGuy]

I'd suggest a Streamlight 3C 10-LED. The "throw" won't exactly knock your socks off, but it is surprisingly bright and rated for something like 350 hours (though the brightness declines, somewhat quickly, over that period). I think it is just over $30.

 

[pedalinbob]

all great answers.


there are a lot of great lights. the tough part is maximizing long runtime, reliability and brightness while keeping the tab under $30.

for long runtime and reliability, i suggest LED's. just a side-note: if you can swing Li bats (darn things are expensive), you can have an incredibly reliable power source.

i have a few suggestions. PT attitude ~$18. PT Aurora ~$22. Inretech adapter ~$30 with minimag(throw some Li bats in it and enjoy a VERY long running and fairly bright light--with a shelf life of a decade!). Streamlight Clipmate (~$15?). PAL light ~$15 (not very bright, but has a constant glow that makes it easy to find). streamlight 4AA 7LED ~$24.

for close to $30, you could get into an Opalec Newbeam: minimag form with 9 hours of continuous runtime!

by all means, if you can afford to go just a bit above $30, get the Streamlight 3C 10 LED.


good luck!
Bob

 

[paulr]

I agree, stay away from exotic stuff. Mags are good, they're big enough that they don't get misplaced and they have a spare bulb inside and the runtime of the D-cell models is something like 15 hours. You do get something (long runtime) in return for that relative lack of brightness.

 

[onelight]

sorry kev1-1 when I refered you to bright guy I forgot you were overseas. I checked cheers & jeers & brightguy is not listed as one who ships overseas. Let me do this for ya /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif

 

[kev1-1]

Thanks every one! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Some good food for thought there. Thanks again for taking the time to help out...and onelight, it was above and beyond to take the time to /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif for me! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif