My interest in flashlights - or winter storms

Reading the thread regarding EDC change after the blackout got me thinking. I started a new thread as I did not want to drag that one off its particular topic.

Anyways, if any of you live in Oklahoma, then you know our winter storms can be brutal. Yes, many places have moe snow than we do, and plenty of places get colder. However I think Oklahoma (and surrounding areas) are becoming famous for ice storms. We dont just get a little sleet, or snow that freezes, we will literally get get several inches of solid ice. It will coat anything. powerlines,homes, cars or whatever with huge thick layers. You almost have to see it to beleive it.

Ok, onto my point. Last winter we had a nasty storm (actually some snow in with the ice) that was on Christmas eve and Christmas day. Out where we live the transformers were blowing up and power lines were collapsing like toothpicks. We called the power company for periodic updates and were told a few times that power would be on in a 'few hours'. As the morning power outage ran into that evening we called my wifes father to come get the kids in his jeep with studded snow/ice tires. My wife and I kept our faith in the power company and figured power would come on at any time, so we stayed. Needless to say that our power was out for about 30 hours. So that night we broke out the Mini-Mags (2 of them) and used them. One lost its bulb which we replaced, then the batteries finally died. The other one lasted another hour and its batteries died. We robbed everything, tv/vcr/dvd remote batteries, sons gameboy, digital cameras and anything else we could find. None of them were fresh of course.

After finding and reading CPF a few months ago, memories of that time kept popping up which sparked my interest in LED lights. This winter I will be prepared. We have plenty of LED flashlights, and spare batteries for all.

Some of the lights are a Streamlight 3c 10 led, a CMG Ultra, PT Attitude, Streamlight 4aa 7 led. I also look for batteries sales whenever I am at Wally-World. I have 12 C batts, 18 AAA and 60 AA batts. Im sure I will be old and in a home before I could ever use all those in the lights /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Anyways, I am prepared lightwise for this winter, plus will definately stock up on canned food and plenty of bottled water (in case of frozen pipes). Let the ice storms come /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Im sure after our next round of storms this winter I will be forever grateful to CPF.

Glad you finally "saw the light" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

There are lots of threads on what is best for various types of power outages. You already have a good selection of flashlights. If the purpose is to have some additional power options around the house, where size and portability aren't big issues, you might want to consider Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries and an inverter--you can power bigger lights or run a small TV, for example. For an example, take a look at XPower Powerpacks

I had a lot of power outages in the summer 2 and 3 years ago. I mostly used a PT Matrix headlamp with 3 leds. I also used a REI candle lantern, no batteries needed. The candles will burn for many hours, before needing to be replaced.

You might want to consider the 12 LED lantern. Available here.
A review can be found here.

Just curious what part Ok you live in? I had a friend who lived in Tulsa, and he said the winters were fairly mild.

Raven

Just a thought here, there's no snow in my part of the world, so I'm curious... When using white LED lights outdoors in snow, would it help visibility much, cos everything's so white as it is already, and wouldn't the white light off the LEDs reflect off the snow much more, hence causing a glaring effect? Would incans be more suited for snow in this case? Or maybe a coloured LED would do the job?

During a snow storm when the snow is falling or blowing with the wind, glare is only a problem when driving. Low beams are usually better, since the reflected high-beam glare can blind your forward vision.

If no snow is falling, the reflection from the snow is much greater, obviously, than from grass, foliage or earth/sand/gravel. This never causes a problem and is usually helpful.

I don't think incandescents would be any worse or better than LEDs.

I don't think a colored LED would offer an advantage.

A colored LED, especially red, might help others find you more easily if you're lost on your snowmobile or skis. If it were blinking, it would be even more effective.

Raven, I am north of Tulsa. Your friend is somewhat correct. We have days in the middle of January and such where you can sometimes not even wear a coat. There are times when we have our nasty storms and 3 days later its sunny and in the 40s. Its not that we freeze all winter, its the fact that we will have 3 or 4 days where the temp drops, and the storm moves in.

Probably the worst thing about the storms is the fact that when they get here it is not particularly cold. If the temps were above freezing we would have rain. If they were in the teens and 20s we would have snow. But when they hover around freezing, 30 - 33 then you get rain which freezes before it hits the groung, hence you get solid ice. Has your friend lives here in the past few years?

The only thing I see missing in your compliment of lights is LED HEADLAMPS! After having power out for 60+ hours my wife and I found that headlamps were invaluable for completing day-to-day tasks.

http://flashlightreviews.home.att.net/storm.htm

Get a couple Zipkas, Tikkas, or PT Auroras. You won't regret it during a long outage.

I second the headlamp suggestion. Area lights are nearly useless except for their calming effect. Headlamps are much more "effecient" because half the time I need a light, I need both hands free, and I only put light where I need it.

I would also suggest aquiring one or two ultra-long runtime AA lights, like the CMG Infinities to eat up used cells. The blue-green and white (non-Ultra) lights are quite handy in the woods at night. More than sufficient for 90% of flashlight use.

Long runtime is very important in these situations. When this sort of thing happens, you simply do not know how long it will be, before power is restored. The greater the damage, the longer the the power is out. Reference the Quebec Ice Storm some years ago: it was a month or more, as the grid towers collapsed like wet noodles under the load of ice! Granted this is a more extreme event, than is usual for ice storms.

Of course, there is a point when Evacuation is called for (even wise).

While headlamps are useful in most conditions that require handsfree operations, but as far as I know there isn't a decent one that runs on Lithium 123s, is that right? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't cold weather affect normal alkaline batts and lithiums are meant to have a higher tolerance in the coldness? Thus, if in cold conditions wouldn't lithium powered lamps be more useful as well?

But the headlamp will be mounted to a relatively warm location on the forehead. Only in really, really cold weather does the battery pack need to be remote.

Bradshaw and Blikbok, encouraging you to vote "Runtime" this winter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Stanley;

There are some LED headlamps that can use Lithium AAs (Energizer). PT Matrix is one. I am fairly confident that the BD Moolight Pro's design has taken Lithium AAs into consideration (the 3AAA Moonlight has for Lithium AAAs). Unfortunately many of the dropin LED replacement bulbs cannot stand either Lithium AAs or rechargables (overheat condition = poof). I would be fairly confident that the new PT headlamps due out in October can handle Lithium AAs quite easily. I am not sure about the Petzl Myo series.

The only 123 based headlamp (with headlamp accessory) that I am aware of, is the Inova 24/7.

Both the of the Infinities (regular and Ultra) can use Lithium AA, and can be used as a headlamp, except for the Ultra-G (unless you use a Nite Ize headstrap or similar).

The Brinkmann LED headlamps that I have, can handle Lithium AAs, as well as NiMH.

Sometimes you have to be a bit creative.

RichardMT I am an fellow Okie (Moore Norman areas) My work takes me into the areas where power is out it is not unusual for people to be without power for several days not only from ice but also from high winds,It looks like you have picked some good lights for the job, The ultras and arc-aaa on lanyards or headbands are the most used lights with my family I like the NiteIze headband it is non elastic so it seems to be more comfortable for extended wear.

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Pi_is_blue said:
You might want to consider the 12 LED lantern. Available here.
A review can be found here.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a nicely designed light and the variable intensity is an excellent feature, but I was disappointed by its low output. Even at its highest setting it provided less light than the 4xD Energizer folding lantern with only one tube illuminated, and its output was far from that of the 8 cell Colemans.

I found that the Energizer lantern and an Eternalight gave me the best combination of bright, long lasting light coupled with a variable intensity LED light capable of a 700 hour burn.

I've owned many electric lanterns and the Energizer has become my favorite, unless I need the brighter light of the larger Coleman fluorescents.

Brightnorm