MacTech
Enlightened
it's strange, here in Coastal Maine, Central Maine Power (CMP), or as *I* call them, Crappy Moronic Power, has a reputation of being unable to keep the power on during a bright sunny day, let alone inclement weather, little mini-drops are not uncommon, during the week we can have at least 10-20 momentary blips (which my UPS backups handle just fine), and typically one good (over an hour) outage per month....
however, since i've been accumulating lighting tools, we haven't had an outage of substance....
until tonight, that is, about 4 hours ago, we lost power due to a freak windstorm (30-50 MPH gusts), so i finally got to use my lights, YAAAY!!!!
the lights in question that i carried with me were;
Inova X5
SureFire 6P and G2
Fenix L1S
Princeton Tec EOS
other flashlights used;
Minimags (2 Nite Ize, 1 stock incan)
non-flashlight illumination devices used;
Coleman twin-tube flourescent lantern
UCO Candlelier candle lantern
Apple PowerBook G4 1GHz (hey, it has flourescent backlighting tubes in it, it counts
)
lights i used in the car, searching for the branch that caused the outage (and never found);
LuxMag (3D Mag with Sears Luxeon PR bulb)
Mag 6D
here's what i found;
the PT EOS got the most use walking around the house, to the exclusion of all the other lights, it produced enough light on low for me to walk around, lie in bed and read, and generally lighting my way
when the power first went out, i checked my 6D and found the batteries weak, so i drove down to the local Black & Decker outlet store to pick up some cheapo Dorcy D-Cell batteries for it and my Coleman lantern (the Coleman has fresh batteries, but i had no idea how long the power would be out, this *IS* CMP we're dealing with after all....)
before i left the house, i grabbed a pair of my Nite-Ize Minimags and a stock incan MM, brought them downstairs and put them on the coffee table in the kitchen, then put the incan MM in candle mode, my parents had gone out to eat before we lost power and they were bringing me back some Pad Thai (mmmm....Pad Thai....), i wanted them to be able to see the Minimags to grab them
i went to the B&D outlet store, and grabbed the batteries, then went across the street to Kittery Trading Post to pick up a Candlelier lantern, just in case we were dealing with an *extended* power outage, this *IS* CMP we're dealing with after all.... (and because candle lanterns are cool anyway)
i got home, my parents were back, and Dad was using the Nite Ize minimag, Mom had grabbed her minimag (also equipped with N.I.) and they had the oil lamps up and running, i told Dad he could keep the MM, as i have plenty of spares, and i put the other NI MM in the bathroom.....
i went upstairs, and ate dinner by the light of the Candleier, while watching the directors recut of Sin City on the PowerBook (which was still running off the UPS battery backup)
a few minutes ago, the power finally came back on, so i extinguished the Candleier, and put the lights back on the computer table, overall, pretty uneventful, the EOS was definitely the star of the outage, and saved me running down the batteries on my other lights, looks like the EOS will be my go-to light in the event of an outage
while i was outside, i decided to compare my 3 "big guns" for brightness and intensity, the Mag 6D with stock Krypton bulb, the LuxMag, and the SureFire 6P, all lights with fresh batteries, and was absolutely amazed.....
both the LuxMag and 6P had more usable light than the 6D Mag, the 6D was only *marginally* brighter than the LuxMag, however, the LuxMag had a much more usable, less artifacty beam and hotspot, the SureFire 6P was actually *brighter* than the 6D Mag, amazing, and that was on the stock P60 lamp
the only thing the 6D did better than the LuxMag and 6P was throw, the 6D had the longest throw of the 3, followed by the LuxMag, and then the 6P, however, the most *usable* light was the 6P, nicest beam and not a handful like the 6D
however, the 3D LuxMag is impressing me more and more, not only did it hold it's own against the 6D, it actually produced *usable* light out of the weak original batteries from the 6D.....
however, since i've been accumulating lighting tools, we haven't had an outage of substance....
until tonight, that is, about 4 hours ago, we lost power due to a freak windstorm (30-50 MPH gusts), so i finally got to use my lights, YAAAY!!!!
the lights in question that i carried with me were;
Inova X5
SureFire 6P and G2
Fenix L1S
Princeton Tec EOS
other flashlights used;
Minimags (2 Nite Ize, 1 stock incan)
non-flashlight illumination devices used;
Coleman twin-tube flourescent lantern
UCO Candlelier candle lantern
Apple PowerBook G4 1GHz (hey, it has flourescent backlighting tubes in it, it counts
)lights i used in the car, searching for the branch that caused the outage (and never found);
LuxMag (3D Mag with Sears Luxeon PR bulb)
Mag 6D
here's what i found;
the PT EOS got the most use walking around the house, to the exclusion of all the other lights, it produced enough light on low for me to walk around, lie in bed and read, and generally lighting my way
when the power first went out, i checked my 6D and found the batteries weak, so i drove down to the local Black & Decker outlet store to pick up some cheapo Dorcy D-Cell batteries for it and my Coleman lantern (the Coleman has fresh batteries, but i had no idea how long the power would be out, this *IS* CMP we're dealing with after all....)
before i left the house, i grabbed a pair of my Nite-Ize Minimags and a stock incan MM, brought them downstairs and put them on the coffee table in the kitchen, then put the incan MM in candle mode, my parents had gone out to eat before we lost power and they were bringing me back some Pad Thai (mmmm....Pad Thai....), i wanted them to be able to see the Minimags to grab them
i went to the B&D outlet store, and grabbed the batteries, then went across the street to Kittery Trading Post to pick up a Candlelier lantern, just in case we were dealing with an *extended* power outage, this *IS* CMP we're dealing with after all.... (and because candle lanterns are cool anyway)
i got home, my parents were back, and Dad was using the Nite Ize minimag, Mom had grabbed her minimag (also equipped with N.I.) and they had the oil lamps up and running, i told Dad he could keep the MM, as i have plenty of spares, and i put the other NI MM in the bathroom.....
i went upstairs, and ate dinner by the light of the Candleier, while watching the directors recut of Sin City on the PowerBook (which was still running off the UPS battery backup)
a few minutes ago, the power finally came back on, so i extinguished the Candleier, and put the lights back on the computer table, overall, pretty uneventful, the EOS was definitely the star of the outage, and saved me running down the batteries on my other lights, looks like the EOS will be my go-to light in the event of an outage
while i was outside, i decided to compare my 3 "big guns" for brightness and intensity, the Mag 6D with stock Krypton bulb, the LuxMag, and the SureFire 6P, all lights with fresh batteries, and was absolutely amazed.....
both the LuxMag and 6P had more usable light than the 6D Mag, the 6D was only *marginally* brighter than the LuxMag, however, the LuxMag had a much more usable, less artifacty beam and hotspot, the SureFire 6P was actually *brighter* than the 6D Mag, amazing, and that was on the stock P60 lamp
the only thing the 6D did better than the LuxMag and 6P was throw, the 6D had the longest throw of the 3, followed by the LuxMag, and then the 6P, however, the most *usable* light was the 6P, nicest beam and not a handful like the 6D
however, the 3D LuxMag is impressing me more and more, not only did it hold it's own against the 6D, it actually produced *usable* light out of the weak original batteries from the 6D.....
