The Ultimate Survival light

I just love scoring the beauticus inexpensive
flashlight purchase. While I have aspirations
to someday acquire an E2E or A2 etc I just love
on impulse and to break the monotony/stress of
a workweek picking up a small inexpensive light
w/ purpose.

A couple of days ago I had the day off and visited
the Bass Pro shop and picked up a PT Attitude.
This little light cost me less than $20 and is
a marvel in it's simplicity. W/ 4aaa alkies it
will power the light with greater coverage and argueably
more useable light than a 2aa mag and will run for
150 hours! It is also waterproof to at least 100meters
(I've seen the spces say 500 feet at various locations)
but no matter it isn't afraid of the water.

Why would I say that this light may be the ultimate
survival light? When you combine the runtime (I've got
to verify w/ Princeton that 150hours is correct!!) with
it's waterproof-ity and because of it's simplicty it will also be damn near sand proof if you were in the desert. If you found yourself w/ just this light and didn't have time to plan (ie spares carrier etc) you would have a very strong
useable light that literally can run for 6 days straigt
has almost un-breakable led and is completely waterproof.
Just these features alone could put many more expensive esoteric lights to shame as an ultimate survival tool.

Yea I admit that it doesn't win any awards in the "throw"
dept, but you can't have EVERYTHING. What light could
match this as a one of a kind on the spur of the moment
grab it and be on the run for your life survival tool w/o
spares ie bulbs batts?

Maybe there is a light but I'm not aware of it.

MB

I'd say the ultimate survival light is the Surefire M6. You know, the model that certain Special Forces units use to signal the overhead satellite that they are ready for a pickup /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

For special forces ok. But what about for
those who hath no satellite to signal?
MB

I just bought an Eternalight ErgoMarine. It has variable output levels, microprocessor controlled, uses 3 AA cells and runs for up to 2800 hours... 40 hours at full output. With lithium cells, you could be okay for up to 10 years or more. To do better, you'd need to buy a box of candles.

I think many of us flash-nuts have a soft spot in our heads, er hearts, for the Attitude. This was maybe the second light I purchased after discovering CPF and reading a number of positive reviews. Mine has a permanent spot in the van, and gets used as a reading light every few nights while waiting on my son to finish his swim practice.

Geoff

I like my PT Attitude. Its not bright, and the funky beam is, well, funky, but its very small, very tough, and will always accompany me when I go out into the wilderness.

I do like the new (impact II) type of body
as opposed to the old (Tec 40 diminutive).
The one thing I'd improve is the clip. Unfortunately
it is convex WRT the body of the light and while
this may be ok for a shirt pocket, it isn't if you
want to clip it to the console of your vehicle (or any
thin surface that is hard) because it just slides off.

I sure wish they'd improve this.

MB

I would think that a "survival" light needs to have a combination of physical/electrical robustness, runtime, and in some cases, shelf life. It's gotta work, and for a long time, when you need it! The Inova X5 I took apart has five, electrically-independent LEDs and gets my vote. (I no longer own one.)

Larry

I wouldn't call it the Ultimate Survival light but it is very good for what it is. I have two of them and a impact II. I also have some rage lamp assemblies. Their good for backpacking or other situations when your concerned about weight or bulk, or as backup lights. Since they weigh a few ounces and are waterproof you can use them as spare battery carriers. If you carry other lights or things like radios that use AAA batteries.

I really like my Attitude but I can tell you it will not have a runtime of 150 hours. Unfortunately the metal contact spring at the bottom popped off it's little plastic pin and is gone /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

What I suggest you find is the UK eLED now that is a very nice light!

Having lived where there was no electricity 98% of the time you find that the best survival light is the sun and plan your time accordingly. Assuming no clouds, even on the darkest moonless night, you can move around and see well enough.
If you are talking *real* long term and want a light you want one of the cranked or shaken LED lights and really will not care about throw or sidespill, just that puts out a little light and lasts. I'd rather have a magnesium fire starter.

[ QUOTE ]
Mike Painter said:
Having lived where there was no electricity 98% of the time you find that the best survival light is the sun and plan your time accordingly. Assuming no clouds, even on the darkest moonless night, you can move around and see well enough.
If you are talking *real* long term and want a light you want one of the cranked or shaken LED lights and really will not care about throw or sidespill, just that puts out a little light and lasts. I'd rather have a magnesium fire starter.

[/ QUOTE ]


Uh, where did you live?

The Skylight Comfort solar LED light (current model). I must say that I like this little light a lot. Output is good, and even on a cloudy day you will have enough light to charge it for the following night, and the 10'000 cycles allow for 27+ years of light on the deserted island! One of these should be on every lifeboat.

Eternal light.....waterproof....700 hrs of burn time on 3 AA batts.....what can beat that??

i haven't found anything to beat it

The PT Attitude will still be giving off light at 150 hours, enough to walk around in pitch darkness with, but a tiny fraction of the original output. There's some runtime graphs for it around somewhere. The runtime to 50% of original output is something like 10 hours, which isn't bad. I've heard quite a few reports of the switches in these lights giving out after a while.

These days among Princeton Tec lights, I like the Aurora better than the Attitude. It's a headlamp but works fine as a handheld, uses three leds just like the Attitude, and has electronic switching, high/low/medium/flashing modes, and uses three AAA's instead of four.

Near a beach about half way down the Baja coast. It was 80 miles to the nearest city with electricity. We had kerosine lamps and a generator when the tourists came in but most of the time we went to bed shortly after dark and rose before the sun came up. The only time I ever enjoyed doing that.
After a short period I didn't miss power and when we flew out the first time I wanted to go back about the time we approached the border.
But there was ICE CREAM in San Diego.

"Eternal light.....waterproof....700 hrs of burn time on 3 AA batts.....what can beat that??

Personally I don't like cigarette pack shaped lights, and
would never consider one. But...again that's just
me.

MB

i'm not a fan of square lights either....but for survival i'll put up with the bad ergonomics to get the run time

but YMMV

I would say a survival light would have to be crank powered....even at the longest runtime with batteries when you run out your out....with a crank you are never out of juice

Some crank lights use a rechargable battery thats recharged by cranking....in that case you should get 100-200 charges then its done. others may use a dynamo