Flashlight used by those with frequent hotel stays

Recently a colleague of mine was traveling and ended up in a city hit with several severe thunderstorms. When she arrived at her hotel, there was no electricity. The power outage was fairly widespread, so she didn't consider relocating to a new hotel.

The hotel staff offered her a few glowsticks, she worked on her laptop until the battery died, then went to sleep.

I usually have a Sam's Club Element stashed in my suitcase for just such an emergency. In ten years of traveling for work, I've never actually been in a hotel when the power went out, though.

My question(s)for you: for those that travel frequently, what flashlight do you have with you in your hotel room? Do you keep anything that could be used as a small lantern for ambient lighting?

Thanks!

Just what I always carry, although I throw my Pal light in the suitcase and set it on the nightstand sometimes.

I should start carrying an HID

Welcome to CPF. I know better answers will follow. But I always have a couple Mini-Mags one with led drop in & my Pelican Myte-Lite. If I'm driving I carry my Surefire 6P & one of my Maglites.

HDS set to 1 lm. I make a 4am bathroom trip almost every night, I have a dim motion activated light at home, but its nice to see what I am doing in a strange location.

I've also used keychain lights (arc, fenix, etc) for this pupose.

I'll use one of my EDC lights, which is either an Arc-AAA or Proton, since being replaced with a Proton Pro. Whatever you do, DO NOT us a UV light in a hotel room. Trust me on this.

:welcome: PharmerMike!

I carry at least 2 lights on a daily basis, and that doesn't change when I travel. Actually, I'll usually drop an extra CMG Infinity Task light (now sold by Gerber as an Infinity Ultra light) in my bag of toiletries. It's enough light to navigate with and the battery lasts a long time.

I've never thought of toting an "area" light. If I were to do that, I'd probably take a Glo-Toob along. Again, small, bright enough and the battery lasts a long time.

It's always a good idea to bring extra batteries.

this_is_nascar said:

Whatever you do, DO NOT us a UV light in a hotel room. Trust me on this.

Click to expand...

haha

Man, that could be a bad night, there...

My travel light is usually a Sure-Fire E2E HA nat in a holster with an SC3 spares carrier and a spare MN03. I've been thinking about getting a Pelican case for it or one of those Sure-Fire zippered pouches. Can't decide whether or not to do that, but it should allow me to carry more extra batteries.

this_is_nascar said:

Whatever you do, DO NOT us a UV light in a hotel room. Trust me on this.

Click to expand...

I don't want to know, I don't want to know, I don't want to know...

Thanks for that visual. I'm bringing my own linens from now on. Bleah.

I've been carrying an L1 on me whenever I travel for years, and an A2 in my briefcase. Well, the L1 is on me just about always anyway.

I've had to use them on more occasions than I've cared for, but then again, when in South Florida during the wrong times and in Mexico, it's to be expected.

I remember one time I was in Hermosillo, Mexico in a hotel conference room with about 75 people when the power went out. I was up front at the podium, whipped out the A2 and kept on talking. Yes, I think people were surprised.

Another time I was out in the middle of nowhere in the Yucatan Peninsula on a fishing trip. The room we were staying in (really, it was just a room built on a vacant lot) suddenly lost power for the rest of the night. The next day I came to find out that this small town received its power from a truck on blocks that was idled to run a generator from 8pm to midninght only. The rest of the time, the town had no electricity. If the truck broke down, no power at all until it was fixed.

I usually have a few flashlights with me. The beauty of most flashlights it the nice little trick called ceiling bounce. Set the flashlight on its end pointed up at the ceiling. This will produce enough ambient light to get by with. A simple 1 CR123 or 1 AA light nowadays can light up your hotel room. There are many, many options.
I think for travel a AA light would be very practical.

In my travel bag, I have a Streamlight Pro-poly 4aa, Inova X5, Inova X1, and Surefire G2--plus an old Arc AAA Premium on my keychain. I seem to use the X1 and the Streamlight Pro-poly 4aa the most.

If I stayed in high rise buildings, I would add a light for cutting through smoke(Pelican Supersabre Light 3C?), and would then hope that it was never needed.

I use a Pak-lite or a Pal-light, good night light for strange hotel rooms.

In addition to whichever EDC I have with me, I always make sure to take my EtrenaLight. I just make sure to turn on the internal locator beacon before I even leave on the trip, so I can find it in my bag, or on the nightstand.

When traveling Novatac 120T and Fenix L0D are always on my person.

Surefire E2d is kept in drawer next to the bed for defense as well as I like an incan for smoke filled rooms (hope that never happens).

Now have added Nautilus to the suitcase, it has amazing capabilities for such low power consumption. Already used it at work during a power outage as a "ceiling bounce candle", it lit up a large room very well for almost three hours before switching to low mode. :thumbsup:

Of course spare 123's are a must while traveling, always try to have at least 8 to 10 with me.

Hello PharmerMike,

I usually carry a small light and would plan on using that... However, I have just discovered the FireFly. Now, when you go through security, you have to make sure your bottle is empty, but there is no issues with carrying an empty bottle.

It gives a nice glow of light that is adjustable in intensity. If your eyes are good, it gives just enough light to read by, but it is probably better used as an area light. It fills a room with a nice glow.

I haven't had mine long enough yet to determine the run time. It runs off of 3 AAA cells.

Tom

+1 for the Eternalight. They last for more than a thousand hours at the lowest output on 3 simple, cheap alkaline AA batteries. They start around $40 or so.

http://www.techass.com/el/el1.php

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Go for the Fenix P3D and the Fenix diffuser Tip.
https://www.fenix-store.com/product_info.php?products_id=339

A 'hotel' stay light doesn't really need to be anything special. If you travel a lot, I would simply recommend something that is portable with various output levels so that you can have just enough light to get done what needs to be done. Other than that, I can't say that one particular light is the best light for the job because so many lights work fine as "power outtage" lights. A Fenix model should fit the bill at a great price.

No travel and no Hotel without my EDC 120P. May be I will exchange it in the near future with the Twisty 70TR.

Rainer