andrewnewman
Enlightened
With the new year approaching and the snow falling outside, I am once again considering my flashlight EDC needs and how to best meet them for 2013.
A few scenarios come to mind:
#1) "With my heart pounding I approach the warehouse where the armed suspect has chosen to hide. After calling for backup I enter the side door that has been forced open. Reaching for my trusty belt light, I shower a cannon of illumination on the walls and ceiling. The warehouse lights up like an indoor stadium and I wait. A shadow near a large red container gives away the suspect's location. 'Step out with both hands raised!', I command. He complies, and just as backup arrives I take the man into custody with no shots fired...". Oh wait, that doesn't work. I'm a software engineer, not a law enforcement officer.
Ok, how about:
#2) "It's 2 in the morning when the sound of activity awakens me. I sneak quietly down the stairs and into the kitchen where I see in the moonlight a burglar with all of my worldly posessions in a burlap sack. He pauses to do some victory PCP on my kitchen table as I approach. I silently switch my flashlight to the stun setting and aim for the face. As the blinding strobe light comes on, the man tries to shade his eyes. Too late. As he drops to his knees begging for me to stop, I calmly dial 911...". Hang on, I think I may have read somewhere that strobe lights can't actually do that.
Perhaps:
#3) "The snow comes down heavier than expected as I navigate the backroad on my way home. I catch the glint of a bumper in the ditch off to my right and slow down for a better look. In the gutter is a mini van full of orphans trying to keep warm. The van is stuck and there are far too many children to fit in my car. I open my trunk and retrieve the 12 wool army blankets I always keep on hand. I distribute them and hand out granola bars and sips from my thermos full of hot apple cider. I then confidently dial 911 on my cell phone only to discover that there is no service. With no cars coming, I do my best to entertain the children and keep them warm. It looks like we will have to wait out the storm. As the temperature dips, I become more and more concerned. Shivering, I place my trusty flashligh in SOS mode and position it so passing motorists might see. As I shiver and slip into hypothermia, I say a prayer. When I awaken in the hospital, trusty light on my bed table, I learn that all of the children survived. A passing ambulance saw my light...". Oh who am I kidding. I live in Connecticut. We have awesome cell coverage.
So sadly it looks like EDC duty for me might be limited to finding things in the basement, chasing that raccoon from the trash bin and fetching firewood. Oh well. I just received a nice Eagletac D25A2 clicky with a XP-G R4 neutral. Carries nice in my deep front pocket. It has 4 brightnesses and 7 (that's right, 7) flashy modes. Thankfully most of the useless modes are hidden.
I decided that if I could redesign this light's UI, I would set it up so that the first line only had one setting which was "6 hour medium" (i.e. 6 hours of runtime to 50% brightness). The second line would start out in moonlight mode and after the first click go to "1.5 hour high". That's it. That would measurably improve this light.
On the other hand, I got a great deal from IlluminationGear (36 dollars, free shipping) so who am I to complain.
Now...off for some excitement. Watch out racoons.
A few scenarios come to mind:
#1) "With my heart pounding I approach the warehouse where the armed suspect has chosen to hide. After calling for backup I enter the side door that has been forced open. Reaching for my trusty belt light, I shower a cannon of illumination on the walls and ceiling. The warehouse lights up like an indoor stadium and I wait. A shadow near a large red container gives away the suspect's location. 'Step out with both hands raised!', I command. He complies, and just as backup arrives I take the man into custody with no shots fired...". Oh wait, that doesn't work. I'm a software engineer, not a law enforcement officer.
Ok, how about:
#2) "It's 2 in the morning when the sound of activity awakens me. I sneak quietly down the stairs and into the kitchen where I see in the moonlight a burglar with all of my worldly posessions in a burlap sack. He pauses to do some victory PCP on my kitchen table as I approach. I silently switch my flashlight to the stun setting and aim for the face. As the blinding strobe light comes on, the man tries to shade his eyes. Too late. As he drops to his knees begging for me to stop, I calmly dial 911...". Hang on, I think I may have read somewhere that strobe lights can't actually do that.
Perhaps:
#3) "The snow comes down heavier than expected as I navigate the backroad on my way home. I catch the glint of a bumper in the ditch off to my right and slow down for a better look. In the gutter is a mini van full of orphans trying to keep warm. The van is stuck and there are far too many children to fit in my car. I open my trunk and retrieve the 12 wool army blankets I always keep on hand. I distribute them and hand out granola bars and sips from my thermos full of hot apple cider. I then confidently dial 911 on my cell phone only to discover that there is no service. With no cars coming, I do my best to entertain the children and keep them warm. It looks like we will have to wait out the storm. As the temperature dips, I become more and more concerned. Shivering, I place my trusty flashligh in SOS mode and position it so passing motorists might see. As I shiver and slip into hypothermia, I say a prayer. When I awaken in the hospital, trusty light on my bed table, I learn that all of the children survived. A passing ambulance saw my light...". Oh who am I kidding. I live in Connecticut. We have awesome cell coverage.
So sadly it looks like EDC duty for me might be limited to finding things in the basement, chasing that raccoon from the trash bin and fetching firewood. Oh well. I just received a nice Eagletac D25A2 clicky with a XP-G R4 neutral. Carries nice in my deep front pocket. It has 4 brightnesses and 7 (that's right, 7) flashy modes. Thankfully most of the useless modes are hidden.
I decided that if I could redesign this light's UI, I would set it up so that the first line only had one setting which was "6 hour medium" (i.e. 6 hours of runtime to 50% brightness). The second line would start out in moonlight mode and after the first click go to "1.5 hour high". That's it. That would measurably improve this light.
On the other hand, I got a great deal from IlluminationGear (36 dollars, free shipping) so who am I to complain.
Now...off for some excitement. Watch out racoons.
Those are quite the scenarios for EDC.
My needs are hopefully as mundane: quite a bit of super low light navigating while getting ready for work without waking my Wife, a bunch of making sure there's nothing out back when letting my dog run, a lot of dog walking through my dark neighborhood, a lot of using them at work. Still in search of the perfect light for each task after four years here. Long ago gave up on one light for everything. I hope I never find them... 
