Another game - lights you'd take into the unknown?

This post asks what lights you would pack for a trip into the unknown. It is a slightly different scenario than JimH's interesting "Lights you'd go to war with – a Game" posting.

I can't be bothered coming up with a comprehensive list right now (it'd be short anyway), but two things I'd be sure to carry would be a dynamo charged light and a solar charged one. Whenever I don't need high brightness I'd use one of those to save on batteries.

Also, whatever other lights I'd bring would run on LiIon cells, and I'd carry a solar charger along. Slow, sure, but far better than nothing.

Lights: SF L1, novatac edc, fenix t1, and nightstar.

Reason: Quick deployment (l1), low output (edc), power house (t1), SHTF backup (nightstar). They all use the same type of battery too.

Arc aaa not listed because it's always on my neck anyway.

jzmtl said:

Lights: SF L1, novatac edc, fenix t1, and nightstar.

Reason: Quick deployment (l1), low output (edc), power house (t1), SHTF backup (nightstar). They all use the same type of battery too.

Arc aaa not listed because it's always on my neck anyway.

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Your radio and GPS too??

In all honesty and seriousness: I would take dozens of various model genuine LRI Photon Freedom micro lights. And I would make sure to have several in UV and IR. These lights would be so lightweight, inexpensive, disposable, and most importantly give-away-able to those who you meet along the way. Many of the white Nichia DS Photons I would take would be using a CR2032 cell for obscene run times.

Why? Incredibly small lightweight and reliable. The obvious advantages of lithium chemistry - shelf life and temperature resilience. The desire to have UV, IR, red, yellow, turquoise and green light sources. Don't need to worry about dropping them. Almost complete freedom from battery replacement requirements. Can give them away to those in need. I'm a low light culture person who doesn't seek to elevate darkness to indoor levels of illumination. A few lumens is ok 98% of the time.

What about a light with throw? MiniMag 2AA(A) with SMJLED. Not exactly a great thrower, but better than the photons. AA cells found in most places globally. I'd skip all rechargeable and solar too.

Almost off topic I would refuse to take a shortwave radio, despite it being stipulated as a mandatory device in your listing, because I wouldn't give a hoot about hearing "back homes" petty politics and tabloid media. And a GPS? No one traveled with one 20 years ago... now we are all lost without one? :thinking: I know you want me to come up with novel battery type combinations and fancy cross compatibility between all the widgets and electronic trinkets I'm being forced to take. Can't we just keep it to lights?

Lights: Surefire E2L {black}, Novatac 120p, Milkyspit Project-M, M3 with M180-K2

Reasons: Long runtime and high output when needed {E2L} Low Low output with extreme runtime {novatac} Great throw, and great runtime for brightness delivered, legendary milkyspit design. {Project-M}

Batterys: 150 batterys {cr123a} crammed into 3 pelican cases {small ones}

Just something i must also add to satisfy the people on glocktalk and the other forums

-Glock 19 with 5 standard mags in another small pelican case
-smith & wesson compact frame .357 with clip draw and 18 rounds of FMJ

Sorry i just had too.
i could be here all day listing EVERY ITEM i would bring even down to what socks i would wear.

The same light that I carry with any outddoor activity that I do.

An Arc AAA

pretty much the same as i listed here.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/189173

Any light i bring anywhere i need light seriously, will have to be reliable.

i will throw in a couple of these now though

Crenshaw

I assume this is some sort of a extended backpacking expedition. So working under that assumption, I think the flashlight usage will be limited to an hour or two max per day. The reason is that I will be travelling when the sun is up, set camp before sunset, and sleep at night. I would carry:

(1) Petzl Myo XP headlamp - for when I need both of my hands

(2) Photon Rex - Small, negligible weight, and rechargable using regular batteries

(3) Novatac 120P - as much as I want to carry my McGizmos, I would opt for Novatac's programmability. It's not a thrower, but it should cast a beam far enough for me to check out spooky rustling noises. I would have preferred a AA flashlight since all my other electronic gears uses those batteries, but I haven't found a AA light that I like.

I've gone backpacking for the past couple of years, majority of the time, I use my headlamp, with my flashlights being backups.

necessity for output/runtime all in small size
1. Fenix Lego L1D & L2D , P2D bodies & tailcaps
2. Fenix LOD
3. Shakelight or Dynamo light if i should find one to my liking, i may have to modify one

maybe
4. Tiablo A9 - multiple level & throw
5. Aspherical 1D w/ext tube and Nitize pr in tailcap for runtime , this allows for compact carrying when broken down and best throw

on the shakelight, i would try some sort of magnet propulsion sytem on a tiny scale to fit in the body and therefore i dont have to shake the light ,just engage the magnet engine :devil: perpetual motion ...though they say it cant be done

I sat there for a few moments perplexed by the question. It should be an easy question right? First I decided only to be able to bring lights I already own "I'm not made of money/ I'd like to see If I had a such light in my arsenal. Right off the bat I said hay the old 6D Mag with spare xenon bulbs never let me down, but at 6 D batteries ever 11 hr. It wouldn't work:tsk:. My task force was up next, again a cheep light but hay that's what I've got, 2 Cs every 6 hr. isn't bad and it's small "even if it's not really water proof" So that would go with me. As for my other lights I really couldn't think of anything that would work…. Until that horrible sensation crept up on me:sweat: and my crazy unrealistic and I'm sure annoying to all of you out there voice yelled out BIGBEAM!, No that wouldn't work in such difficult scenario, the tasks would be to great and, and… crap …. I would probably bring one.. "The crazy voice won again":bow:.. So any way a 266 duel 6 volt lantern would work great, two alkaline 6 volts F batteries would produce over 55,000 mah, and with a .5 amp, par36 bulb I would get 14 nights of solid lights out usage! "if used for 8hr a night" With spare D battery converts I could use 8 Ds from a local hard war store in a pinch. Though carrying 24 batteries would be difficult that's enough to last 6 months on every night. I would think buying some from hardware stores wouldn't be impossible, worst case I could swap out the bulb with my RP base assembly and make use of low drain 6v LEDs which would literally last for months on end with one set of batteries. As for water proof I could easily seal the lip in the battery box with aluminum tap every 14 days, "the switch is already water proof. So there you have it again I resorted to technology outdated nearly 60 years ago to solve problems to day!:shakehead

Aviator and 6P with malkoff, tip-off diffuser, Arc 4 clip, and CombatRing installed backwards on tailcap. Both with lanyards.

Since adventure vacations imply the possibility for large predators, I'd like a Glock .40 with a few mags of hot-loaded Devel modified THV (out of production) ammunition and a Wasp knife for really tense moments and sharks - more generally useful than a bangstick, and potentially more effective (Inflated sharks float to the surface!). Plus, I don't need to worry about carrying a normal fixed-blade plus a boomstick that may or may not be useful. Next best thing to a +1 Icy Burst weapon. (If you get the joke, you earn a Geek Point)

Not sure about radio and other gear that eats 123a cells, but it'd be very good to have.

One last must-have is a satellite emergency beacon to call for beam-out in case none of the standard disaster-prep stuff proves adequate.

Marduke said:

Your radio and GPS too??

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I'm not familiar with them so I left them out completely. But if they use even number of AA I'm sure I can rig them up to use 123a.

i'd try to build around AA's and scavenge them from other equipment as needed. in that case it would be easy for me, L2T rebel.

Let me think. If the backpack could be sitting in storage for a year, that rules out just about any light that takes rechargeables (maybe not eneloops). If I don't know where I'm going, heat and cold need to be taken into account. That leaves lithium batteries, the only batteries good in heat, cold, and long term storage. But in most places in the world, lithium batteries might be hard to find. So I need a light that can take both lithiums and AA alkaline batteries.
I think the Fenix L2D Q5 would be best. 86 hours on low with lithiums and 59 hours on low with alkalines. Brighter levels for when I need them. It wasn't specified whether or not batteries could be purchased along the way. If not, I;d bring a 48 pack brick of Kirkland AAs ($10) and some lithium AAs in case of cold weather. I might even bring the P2D body and tailcap so I could bring cheaper lithiums. The 48 pack would get me about 1,416 hours on low or 472 days with 3 hours of use on low. I'd bring a Jakstrap to use it as a headlight. I'd also bring an E01 for a backup that also fits in the Jakstrap.
Without knowing where I'd be going, I'd want to bring my Ultimate Survival Blastmatch. It's not high tech gear, but if my lights go out, I can make as many fires as I need to stay warm and out of the dark during the trip. With fire, you can stay warm and out of the dark, cook, boil water (for purification), the smoke keeps bugs away, and I can signal for help in case the ton of high tech stuff I have to bring fails. Within a year's time the GPS and radios would become useless if I had to lug around a year's supply of batteries for them. I'd sell them along the way for useful supplies.

Zebralight H50 Q5, Photon Proton Pro, CMG Infinity Ultra (modded with Nichia DS) as backup. 50/50 mix of L91's and Eneloops, along with crank/solar charger combo unit. I'll throw in a E01 for good measure.

I get a geek point and my Frostbrand!

Anyway I'm taking my G2 with all stainless lighthound defender bezel that I filed the teeth nearly off of. In it will be the Malkoff M30 and a 17650. I'd also have a solar or crank charger with 2 extra 17650's and 2 extra RCR123's. The RCR123's are for my Zebralight H30 which is also coming along. I'd want to take a Malkoff M60LL and a 1 cell extender with 2 17500's along just in case I had to move all night.

:shrug:

Marduke said:

Zebralight H50 Q5, Photon Proton Pro, CMG Infinity Ultra (modded with Nichia DS) as backup. 50/50 mix of L91's and Eneloops, along with crank/solar charger combo unit. I'll throw in a E01 for good measure.

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+1 H50

Preparing to geocache? CL1H V4 w/ 3SM Q5 and an H30-Q5. That's it.

Seems to me AA / AAA lights are the most logical, given unknown destinations.

People have posted that they'd take a case or three of CR123s, but things get lost, and with air travel frowning on lithium batteries these days, AA's are probably the best bet. You can find them anywhere, and they will power LEDs well.

I'd take my L1D, L2D, L0D, H50, and E01.