What did you use your flashlight for today?

[sim1tti]

I walked for a few kilometres in a moonless night once and I agree, it's a spectacular, introspective experience. Back then I had no flashlight on me, so I relied entirely on starlight; thankfully it was a farm road on a massive field, so no trees to obstruct any of it. I keep thinking back to it and wondering how amazingly a torch with moonlight mode would fit in the scenario.

Good post, and thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Nothing but the stars....How quickly we are to write off our own eyes!

I love a good moonwalk, and full moons happen every month! The next is the "wolf moon" on the 13th. On a tangent, I'll briefly share my favorite moonwalk ever, still a fresh memory. Perhaps inappropriate for this thread since I did not use a flashlight at all, but oh well.

In July of '23 after a record winter, the Sierra Nevada was still blanketed with snow at elevation. I spent a few days backpacking on and around the crest. The "buck moon" arrived in concert with a heat wave. I had a magical time hiking at >9,000' until midnight. It was 70°F, no wind, and 90% snow coverage. I wore crampons, shorts, and a t-shirt. Ten miles from the closest road with no light pollution. Aside from the the crunching under my feet, the snow absorbed most any trace of ambient sound.

I felt like a child. One of the most blissful experiences I can recall. (Those are sun cups below, not foot prints)

 

[sim1tti]

Aren't coyotes night pack hunters? There's no concern?

Yes, they are night pack hunters. Maybe a tiny bit of danger, but I don't feel like it's enough to alter course or change plans, knock on wood. Perhaps if I were with a small child, but still probably not. I'm frankly much, much more concerned about dogs (rationally), boars (half-rationally), and moutain lions (irrationally).

Having been around them my whole life, they just don't come across as intimidating. They're sometimes tall and lanky, though never terribly large. 35 lbs is considered big. They hunt small mamals and rarely anthing larger than themselves. I lost two childhood cats to them. They'll snatch a toy dog right off a leash and leave the human handler alone. While curious, they're also pretty skittish. I'm a real idiot, but I fell like I could take several of them on.

I believe they've only killed two people in the last 50 years (USA). They do occasionally attack people, but it's rarely severe and usually because the human was trying to feed them or herass them. A few years ago, we had a rouge coyote biting people rather brazenly in our area. DNA analysis of the wounds showed one specific animal was responsible for all attacks. A real aberration. Even then, the attacks were not horribly serious and more menacing than anything else. Fish and game hunted down the rouge animal and killed it. A few other non-offending coyotes got caught in the dragnet.

They're beautiful up close. Yellow eyes, like wolves.

 

[Monocrom]

The above is why I always carry not just a very bright primary light, but a sizeable canister of pepper-spray each time I'm out and about at night (and daylight hours). Though in my case, the predators I look out for are the 2-legged variety. And, usually too stupid not to mess with those bigger than they are. I think I'd prefer to deal with coyotes. At least they know the rules.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I used my PD36R the other day to read some small screen printing on a circuit board in a controller.

A co-worker has seen me using my light around the workplace, and he's decided that he also wants a quality light with some throw. He's just ordered the same light because he likes the features and performance.

 

[OddestMouse]

I used my Husky CL1500HD to de-ice a couple of mailbox locks that were frozen solid after all the rain we had over the weekend. It was the only light I had charged at the time.

It's been a reliable 70 CRI work light for years, before being relegated to power outages.

They're made by a third party company for Husky.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

I'm on the road working with this load out. I use the Wurkkos TS10 as my low light/night light. It's easy to find with the auxiliary lights.

 

[sween1911]

Shoveling out last night after the snowfall, my trusty Fenix PD35 on duty....

(Must be a weird white-balance thing from my phone, because that was not in fact yellow snow!)

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

Heh, fried egg on the ice

M21H (FC40 5000K) came in handy to check the wheels of my hatchback before I left for work. All good.
Had there been any problems, I'd have fetched either my Convoy H4 or Sofirn SP40 headlamps.

 

[Monocrom]

Shoveling out last night after the snowfall, my trusty Fenix PD35 on duty....

(Must be a weird white-balance thing from my phone, because that was not in fact yellow snow!)

Must've taken you all night and into the morning using that as a snow shovel.

 

[tech25]

Last night after work I used my ZL H51fw to first find my snow brush in the trunk and then to see what I was doing while clearing the snow off of my car.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I take some prescription eye drops. They come in a small, opaque white bottle. It's really difficult to tell when they're about to run out, so I tried holding my PD36R up to the bottle to se if I can determine the liquid level inside. I wasn't very successful though.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

I take some prescription eye drops. They come in a small, opaque white bottle. It's really difficult to tell when they're about to run out, so I tried holding my PD36R up to the bottle to se if I can determine the liquid level inside. I wasn't very successful though.

I usually need a 14500 or 10440 sized torch to get success when I do this. It's not a matter of brightness as much as sealing the bezel against the bottom of the bottle so no light spills out and ruins the contrast.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I usually need a 14500 or 10440 sized torch to get success when I do this. It's not a matter of brightness as much as sealing the bezel against the bottom of the bottle so no light spills out and ruins the contrast.

Thanks. The bottom of the bottle fits neatly in the barrel of my light, but if I illuminate it this way, my only chance at gauging the fluid level is to tip it so the fluid moves to the neck of the bottle. There oughta be a better way to do this. Shaking the bottle and listening to the sound only works for larger volumes of liquid.

 

[AMD64Brunette]

Ow. Tried to blind myself,with my Emisar D3AA on Turbo.

(Testing it for the first time with a Vapcell flat-top 14500, normally running Eneloops).

How can such a tiny light be so stupid bright?

 

[Monocrom]

Ow. Tried to blind myself,with my Emisar D3AA on Turbo.

(Testing it for the first time with a Vapcell flat-top 14500, normally running Eneloops).

How can such a tiny light be so stupid bright?

Next time, test it out by pointing the bezel at the wall; instead.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I used my PD36R yesterday to lok inside a controller cabinet to inspect for signs of bulging capacitors and to inspect some ribbon cables.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

S21E B35AM came in handy to look into my stationery case for a pencil and an eraser. I dropped it into my bag with one of the 3 zippers open and was sure they'd fallen out and into the bag proper's pocket.

Turns out I'd just put them on the wrong case pocket.

 

[Kitchen Panda]

I take some prescription eye drops. They come in a small, opaque white bottle. It's really difficult to tell when they're about to run out, so I tried holding my PD36R up to the bottle to se if I can determine the liquid level inside. I wasn't very successful though.

Uggh...tell me about it. Shaking the bottle and listening doesn't tell you much. A rule of thumb I have is 20 drops to a millilitre - from this and the number of drops per day I can work out how many days/weeks a bottle should last. I mark the date on the bottle when it starts and know that when I get to the estimated 2, 3 or 7 weeks for the bottle that it's time to visit the pharmacy. I also keep a light in the medicine cabinet for confirming the contents of a bottle without disturbing the better half with light. All pharmacy bottles look alike in the dark.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Uggh...tell me about it. Shaking the bottle and listening doesn't tell you much. A rule of thumb I have is 20 drops to a millilitre - from this and the number of drops per day I can work out how many days/weeks a bottle should last. I mark the date on the bottle when it starts and know that when I get to the estimated 2, 3 or 7 weeks for the bottle that it's time to visit the pharmacy. I also keep a light in the medicine cabinet for confirming the contents of a bottle without disturbing the better half with light. All pharmacy bottles look alike in the dark.

Thank you for the 20 drops/ml tip. I will see if this works for me. I'm assuming there will be small variations depending on the viscosity of the solution, etc, but anything that can get me into the ballpark will help.

 

[aznsx]

@PhotonWrangler

Been meaning to ask: What 'backup' light do you carry on the job on your person (or in tool pouch / bag)?