Life Raft Flashlight

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and I'm hoping the collective wisdom of this forum can help me narrow down some flashlight choices.

I'm looking for suitable flashlight candidates to be included in a life raft's survival equipment.

Basic Requirements:

Basics:
- waterproof
- preferably uses CR123A lithium batteries (AA lithium OK)
- can attach a lanyard
- momentary switch to facilitiate Morse Code signalling
- at least a few hours of 65+ lumens on a set of batteries

Performance: The light would be initially used to help locate survivors in the water and tend to any casualties on board. It would then be used to find and use any of the other survival equipment. The life raft does have an internal light with a 12 hour duration. Other uses would be as a back-up signal for rescue.

I really like the light of the Surefire G2, but the relatively short duration (1 hour) is problematic. I don't want anyone to have to change batteries that early in an abandon ship survival scenario. So it looks like an LED might be the best course. The brightest light will be necessary for the first 3-4 hours then a diminished output is OK. It needs to be an off-the-shelf light without any special modification needed.

Also a purchase cost below $50 - $60 MSRP would be preferred. GSA availability a plus.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Regards,

Tom "12Bravo"

Might it be worthwhile to add "floating" to your list of requirements? I know that will narrow the field of available lights dramatically, but in that type of scenario I would think that the ability to float of dropped accidentally would be a huge plus.

GreySave said:

Might it be worthwhile to add "floating" to your list of requirements? I know that will narrow the field of available lights dramatically, but in that type of scenario I would think that the ability to float of dropped accidentally would be a huge plus.

Click to expand...

It would be beneficial, but as you already noted, it severely narrows the field down. A good lanyard arrangement is considered the next best alternative.

12B

A floating lanyard could be added to it if you cant find a floating light?

I like the old Underwater Kinetics eLed 4AA for something like this. It's not 65 lumens, but would run for 20 hours on a set of AA batteries, waterproof and with a lanyard attachment point. The newer eLed series don't quite have the runtime, but are still good solid lights.

I would get an Eternalight Marine for use on the liferaft. It floats, uses AA lithium batteries, has 13 adjustable light levels, lasts forever (50 hours on high and 2800 hours on low, according to the manufacturer), has a strobe mode, an SOS mode, etc.

It is a great light for the money. Just put a Want to Buy in the Marketplace and you can probably pick up one in new condition for cheap.

The Eternalight would not be much of a light for searching for survivors, so I would get a second high power light for that. Something with good throw and 100 lumens or more. There are lots of new Cree lights would probably meet your needs.

And :welcome:.

on a related topic, i think 2 or more table tennis balls tied with stockings would act nicely floatation device on any waterproof flashlight.

sorry i don't have any good lights to recommend. only tt idea above. :sweat:

Hello Tom,

You might also want to check out the new improved Heliotek.

I believe it runs for 5 - 6 hours, has both momentary and constant on, is waterproof, floats bezel up, and uses AA lithium primary cells. It also comes with a lanyard, and if you don't like it, it is easy to modify it.

Tom

Streamligh ProPolymer Luxon should also work - 4AA batteries, 3.5 hours of good regulated light with good throw, Poly body so no corrosion, lanyard hole, rugged - should take a fair amount of abuse - LED - $ 30 or so online. The switch is in the end and somewhat protected but the prudent mariner would be extra careful with the packing - does not float but some foam attached to it as well as a long lanyard attached to the raft should do the trick.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/streamlight_propolyluxeon.htm

mike

Pulled of the net......so I don't know anything about this light.

I don't think it will hit the 65+ in brightness......but seems close to what you are looking for.



http://www.discountmarinesupplies.c...s-ACR_1916_FIREFLY_PERSONAL_MARKER_LIGHT.html


That and a Streamlight ProPolymer Luxon - 4AA battery.......you should be good to go.


Bill

Each crew member should have something like the ACR 1916 on their person if you are out after dark - NO EXCEPTIONS - - I use the ACR Firefly II on my PFD's ( lifevest ) and I have a separate flashlight tied to the PFD and in a pocket - I also have a signal mirror in a pocket - ACR also makes some strobes and lights that turn on automatically if you go in the water -

ACR makes good equipment - read the fine print closely about the type of batteries when you change them - the Lithium are required for SOLAS ratings in I think all of their stuff - gets an 8 hour strobe rating at freezing -

mike

The Heliotek HTE-1A (the Cree version) seems to meet all of your requirements, except price. It looks like it's been designed for offshore SAR operations.

If you're liking the G2, just get the G2L, they updated it with a high efficience LED and gave it WAY more runtime, just became available a week or so ago, but should be plenty of stock around.

You might like to visit the following links which are evaluations of LED lights for aviation survival by Doug Ritter.

The second link is an extensive article by Ritter on preparing a solo raft for a Hughes 500 air race entrant which you may find helpful.

http://www.equipped.com/led_lights7.htm

http://www.equipped.com/simon_t.htm

The 'Simon' article is particularly good at showing how to use retractable lanyards for critical gear at sea.

I would suggest that you stick with items that meet the IXP-7 or better waterproofing standard---or with dive-qualified gear. Anything with a morse type switch will also have problematic waterproofing.

Finally, the bicycling world has produced a number of AA and AAA LED white lights that have a constant on and useful strobe function, that are waterproof---Cat Eye makes one which has a waterproof case and magnetic reed switch---and it can be fixed to a helmet easily.

http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/341


Again, Doug Ritter is the real pro on this, as he has worked out most of the angles. From my experience, you won't need a tonne of light inside the raft, there are tiny LED lights that let you get around inside and do stuff---I use an EDC ARC AAA light in this role. The Guardian is a raft LED canopy light which Ritter uses and reccommends as it can be velcro'd on and off for multiple uses...smaller and lighter is better for this stuff, as you are more likely to have it when you need it. Looking outside the raft for PIW (people in the water) you need something with more throw than an ARC, but an ARC will almost do if everybody has reflective white Scotchlite tape on their gear/helmets.

enlightenment!

Interesting point on the subject --


Just watched Survivorman (Les Stroud) on Discovery Channel.


He was on an inflatable life-raft, afloat on the ocean.


When he checked the life-raft's storage container,
everything in it was flooded.


He then displayed the (supplied) "emergency flashlight"
(which looked like a 2-D cell plastic Bright-Star "waterproof" model)


The flashlight DIDN'T WORK !


___ ___

_

auroreboreale said:

...Anything with a morse type switch will also have problematic waterproofing.

Click to expand...

Morse code signalling is still somewhat of a desired feature for this purpose.

Again, Doug Ritter is the real pro on this, as he has worked out most of the angles. From my experience, you won't need a tonne of light inside the raft, there are tiny LED lights that let you get around inside and do stuff---I use an EDC ARC AAA light in this role. The Guardian is a raft LED canopy light which Ritter uses and reccommends as it can be velcro'd on and off for multiple uses...

Click to expand...

I actually had about a three hour chat with Doug not long ago. He's full of good ideas and has an expansive knowledge of various products. He gave me some good leads on other stuff. The life rafts are equipped with an internal light and external beacon that are automatically switched on as the life raft inflates. They can be switched off during the day. I also have a Guardian light. It's a neat little deal.

I'm getting a G2L soon (hopefully this week) to evaluate.

The Heliotek flashlight looks very good, but it's priced a bit too high to be practical. The G2L is a tad too much ($65 msrp), but I'm hoping a large quantity purchase could knock that down some.

The Streamlight ProPolymer Luxon, look very nice too. The only thing I don't like is it's about $10 per set of four lithium AA's plus another $10 for spares. I was hoping to find a CR123A powered light for that reason. Plus other electronic signals in the raft will be using the CR123A's.

The EternaLight Marine is interesting, but I'm not sure it would be bright enough, and changing batteries looks like a pain.

I have to look at things like battery and light costs because these will be used to outfit a lot of life rafts.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Please keep them coming.

BTW, Les Stroud could have done a lot better job on life raft survival. There were so many things he either didn't mention or didn't know. I noticed they went out of their way to conceal the mfr. of that life raft.


Regards,

Tom, 12Bravo

auroreboreale said:

Finally, the bicycling world has produced a number of AA and AAA LED white lights that have a constant on and useful strobe function, that are waterproof---Cat Eye makes one which has a waterproof case and magnetic reed switch---and it can be fixed to a helmet easily.

http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/341

Click to expand...

I have one of these as backup on my bike (to the 10W halogen...) and its a good little light. Run on lithium AAA and you have 50hours of light or 100 hours strobe. It has the advantage of a 360 light collar so when on it can be seen from all directions - not just from the direction the beam is pointing.

Or the propoly is a good one in yellow - attach it to a couple of those cork floats designed for boat keys.

Do you want a light that has SOS or strobe built in--or one that can do manual morse code? Does anybody know morse code any more?
Greg

Another vote for the Heliotek HTE-1A. This is a truely remarkable light and fits your criteria very well.

I know you consider it over your budget but for a big sale you might be able to negotiate something.

IMHO you won't find a better light for this task than an HTE-1A.