MP3 player lights rescuers' way to missing skiers

[light_emitting_dude]

Well its not a flashlight but it just goes to show that any light is useful in emergency situations!

Article here!

Imagine if they had a real flashlight!

 

[NotRegulated]

Many people post questions about why you need a strobe or SOS function. This is it!

I personally know a person who got stuck off trail at a ski resort and lie there for hours as big snow grooming cats drove by all night. No one knew he was there as the cat's loud engines drowned out his shouts for help. He was slightly hurt and had lost a glove and his hat. The ski patrol found him around midnight after they searched the mountain for six hours. Carrying a simple small light such as a Fenix P1D would really be a lifesaver.

 

[light_emitting_dude]

I wonder how many lumens their MP3 players put out? I would guess in the vicinity of 5-10 lumens?

 

[NotRegulated]

I also hear stories of people using their cell phones to light the way out of pitch black environments.

 

[jzmtl]

Many people post questions about why you need a strobe or SOS function. This is it!

I personally know a person who got stuck off trail at a ski resort and lie there for hours as big snow grooming cats drove by all night. No one knew he was there as the cat's loud engines drowned out his shouts for help. He was slightly hurt and had lost a glove and his hat. The ski patrol found him around midnight after they searched the mountain for six hours. Carrying a simple small light such as a Fenix P1D would really be a lifesaver.

I duno, would sos really help over a simple flashlight?

I wonder how many lumens their MP3 players put out? I would guess in the vicinity of 5-10 lumens?

They don't illuminate well at all, 1 lumen tops.

 

[choaticwhisper]

I also hear stories of people using their cell phones to light the way out of pitch black environments.

I had a program on my cell, Called "toolbox" or something, It had a flashlight program in it. It would light the whole screen in a color of your choosing.

 

[Jarl]

I duno, would sos really help over a simple flashlight?


They don't illuminate well at all, 1 lumen tops.

Some of the worse screens can easily get to 10 lumens, which IMO is just annoying. "now, 50x brighter backlight!", and it just distracts you and hurts your eyes at night.

And IMO SOS is fairly pointless, but strobe would have been handy.

 

[GregWormald]

I suspect that the flashing would draw attention--no matter what the frequency or pattern. Humans are instinctively drawn to movement.

I'd certainly want more that a MP3 player with me though. And imagine taking an MP3 player skiing instead of a light. It's as if entertainment while skiing was more important than survival.

Very lucky, they were.

Greg

 

[Kestrel]

They don't illuminate well at all

And their throw really stinks...:sick2:

 

[csshih]

but they have flood. 😀

now.. beamshots? color temp?

 

[ozner1991]

I wonder how many lumens their MP3 players put out? I would guess in the vicinity of 5-10 lumens?

i know mine sure as hell doesnt spit out anything near that. 2 lumens tops. its less then my zebra light on low

im amazed someone acutaly found them. every flashlight is better then an mp3 player to light up anything

 

[kaichu dento]

I duno, would sos really help over a simple flashlight?

In a word, yes. Either strobe or sos would use much less power and being more noticeable, without having to be so worried about battery power running out.

 

[MarNav1]

If only the Sandwich Shoppe would make reflector's for MP3 players.

 

[taiji]

color rendition sucks

but they have flood. 😀

now.. beamshots? color temp?

 

[ZMZ67]

Seems to reason that a small light with strobe can be very usefull if you are lost or stranded in a remote area.

 

[lightcacher]

One late afternoon, my ladyfriend and I were out hiking and overestimated the amount of daylight we had left. We ended up stuck out on a trail in the dark, about a half mile from our car. This was before I became a "flashaholic" and the only source of light we had was the flash on our digital camera. Luckily, the camera had a good set of batteries in it and we were able to fire the flash when we got to an area of the trail we couldn't figure out. We made it back to our car safely and I vowed never to be without some kind of light again. The scary part of this was, later, out of curiosity, I downloaded the pictures to my computer just to check them out. There were about 32 shots in all and in several of them, there were some large, glowing eyes in the bushes that we couldn't see. There's no telling what we walked past in the dark. Hopefully, they were just deer but maybe they weren't. Just glad we got back to the car in one piece.

 

[dudemar]

Your story makes for a great plot in a scary story... 😀

...got home safe, but upon inspection of the pictures a shadowy figure is seen in many frames...


I know this is about an MP3 player, but there are a lot of cell phone cameras with an LED flash. I believe it has a constant on function, I always see dumb@$$3$ at my college leaving it on in broad daylight...