Recommended light for camping.

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Going camping in 2 weeks. Been away from cpf and the flashlight game for awhile. Give it to me. Lol!

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Barrington

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Well - as an incureable flashaholic I would never go camping with just one torch. Where is the fun in that?! But by far the most useful light is my little Petzl Zipka. A little head torch with a retractable string. It takes virtually no space to pack, the string is cooler than an elasticated head band and the two levels give more than enough light for camp activities like cooking, reading or seeing inside the tent - all the while keeping both hands free. Obviously camping is an excellent opportunities to give any of the other torches in your collection a good run out so I would always take two or three others - usually some of my more recent purchases.
 

Timothybil

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The great state of Misery (Missouri)
As I see it, camping has two opposing light needs. 1. An area light for inside the tent or the immediately surrounding area if outside. Nitecore has a whole series of lights that can fill that need - their 'L' series. 2. Having enough light to make one's way when moving around outside. This can be as simple as the Lumintop Tool AA 2.0, which has some throw but is mainly a wider area light for directly ahead. It does come with a diffuser that will light up the immediate area, so it can also help fulfill #1. The Lumintop GT Mini or GT Micro provide more throw, and the default ramping UI allows setting for just the right amount of output. The GT Mini also has a diffuser head for area lighting as well.
 

jrgold

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for me it's the sofirn lt1 lantern (love the adjustable color temp), and a zebralight headlamp. Both run on 18650. Plus usually about 10 other flashlights to play around with lol


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CSG

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A headlamp of some sort (I have an old Prineton Tec Aurora and a Petzl of some sort) but, if you want/need area lighting, the Streamlight Siege AA lanterns are great. As to a proper flashlight, there are 100's to choose from. I like ones with adjustable lumes and a long run time.
 

325addict

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If you just want to take ONE light: the Nitecore SRT7. This one goes SO low (0.2 Lumens or so) that it won't even blind you with fully night adapted eyes when you want to read the time from your watch. On the other hand, the current version can go as high as 1000+ Lumen, so all needs are covered by ONE flashlight.
But if you would like to take more than one with you, the sky is the limit. I invariably take a high power incan with me to go into the woods. There is nothing more satisfying than to see the subtle differences between all these dark green and brownish tints - in FULL and without any problems, as an incan light will just do that right! ANY LED light just can't come CLOSE to this. I tried a lot of them, the worst ones are SO bad you think you just entered a black and white world :-(
Make sure to have a backup LED light with you and lots of extra batteries for your high power incan :)
 

Poppy

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Dec 20, 2012
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Northern New Jersey
This is what I took for minimalist camping.

A 18650 headlamp (the crelant has become unreliable so I don't recommend it anymore)
DQG AAA twisty (single AAA back-up edc )
And a Convoy S2+ with biscotti driver and diffuser.

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Jean-Luc Descarte

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Where the sun sets fast
If you're to take only one light, I rec the Convoy S2+. With a Nichia 219C, smooth reflector, Biscotti firmware and 7135x4 setup, mine works for any situation and has a beam right on the sweet spot, with wide spill and a reasonably tight spot.

I have an SST20 one coming in the mail. I'll compare the beam patterns and post here if you want me to.
 

325addict

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If it has to be just ONE light: nothing beats the ultra-versatile and higlhy simple operating (selector ring!) Nitecore SRT7. Form 0.2 to a blazing 1000+ Lumens, covers all needs from reading your watch in the tent in the middle of the night to going into the woods...

If you can take one more light: a powerful incan! NOTHNING beats the color rendition of a nice slightly overdriven incan flashlight. I am the happy owner of a whole FLEET of powerful incans, I would never leave home without taking the Surefire M6 with a nice selection of bulbs and batteries, and a C3 Centurion with the standard P90 lamp asembly will act as a backup when I go into the woods with the M6. And of course, that SRT7 will be tucked away somewhat deeper in the backpack too... for just in case I run out of all batteries for the incans, because they will draw a set of batteries per hour...
 
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