No doubt that when most preppers sit down and make a list of survival supplies to stock up on – a flashlight is one of the first things thought of.
I have made no secret that I have a serious flashlight fetish. I have flashlights scattered all of my house and in my cars. There is a flashlight in each of my kids rooms – and they all have batteries in them and work. The importance of a flashlight in an emergency cannot be overstated. Power out? So is your ability to see in the dark. If you are reading this blog – I do not have to go into detail why your should have several flashlights around.
If you are not familiar with LED technology in flashlights – let me enlighten you. LED flashlights have come along way in the past few years. Today – they are extremely bright, durable, and the batteries last much longer than common flashlights of the same brightness. The bulbs last nearly forever which is a big plus.
There are some very nice LED flashlights available at your local department store as well as from many of my sponsors.
LED flashlights should be purchased knowing how bright they are. Flashlight brightness is measured in lumen’s. A few years ago a LED flashlight was pretty good to be throwing out 8-10 lumen’s. Today’s high-tech LEDs can easily throw out over 100 lumen’s – and at pretty reasonable prices.
A few of my LED flashlights.
Here are a few choices available on Amazon – and possibly locally:
Rayovac 3 watt 80 Lumens - I own this one.
MAGLITE XL100 LED Flashlight, Black - about $35.00
Nu-Flare Ultrabright LED Aluminum Flashlight - - 210 Lumens!!!!
I am slowly but surely fading out “regular” flashlights and replacing them with LEDs. They are just far superior with the brightness and long battery life. In response to another recent post I did on flashlights – one reader mentioned about the vulnerability of LED lights to EMP. I had never considered this before. So – I did some research and here is what I have found:
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No one knows for sure. Until the time comes that there is an actual EMP attack – opinions on the effects of a variety of electrical equipment including flashlights – are just that – opinions.
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Small electronics such as AM/Fm radios and LED flashlights (both LED and regular) are not effected by EMP to a great level to to theirvery short conductors. EMP likes long wires such as power lines to capture the EMP.
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LED flashlights will be dead after an EMP attack. There are those that state that pretty much any electronics will be toast. So – let’s hope there is no EMP attack.
Alright – enough about flashlights. If you do not have a bunch of them with extra batteries…….get them. Buy them cheap, buy them large, buy them small – but just buy them.
Oh yeah – don’t forget the extra batteries.
Rourke
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12 Responses
I’ve been known to have a flashlight fetish too, haha. I’m a big fan of Streamlight. They have a small keychain light that’s about $7. Amazingly bright for its size. I’m looking to purchase this tactical 180 lumen Streamlight as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-88031-Tactical-Flashlight-Batteries/dp/B00396S1Q2/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IZZF8W2ZKXK1I&colid=3QG1AL7FIZR6
emp sheilding something to think some kind of box to put radio’s and flashlights in and something to put over generator’s. love to have something to put my labtop into.
good thing about led flashlights some don’t even need batteys some are crankup radio’s with led light and i really love the shakeup led lights.
Hey Rourke,
I too have the”FlashlightFetish” I have them all over the house. I won’t say how old I am but flashlights have come a long way in my lifetime. I am glad to see that they have caught up with the times and technology and changed over to LED lights. So much more light and less battery use. As cheap as you can find a good one nowdays there is no real excuse to not have several around the house for when the electricity goes out and a few for the bug out bags and car kits too. Great post.
Badvoodoodaddy –
Thanks – I am looking to get “over 200″ lumen flashlight now. Even at that power the batteries last quite a while.
Rourke
john –
Good points. I haven’t had a shake to power light in quite a long time.
Thanks – Rourke
Hello , My name is GypsySixx and I am a Flashlight addict .. Cant have enough. The new LED flashlights have long battery life, very bright and the prices have come down alot. Tactical , work lights and Headlamps, cant have enough.
Make sure that you also have headlamps. Not as fun as handheld flashlights but very useful when you need both hands.
Leah –
I did a review on a headlamp a while back – and use it A LOT! Working on the car – checking water, oil, etc when I need both hands – very helpful.
Need to get a few more.
Thanks – Rourke
On a related issue. This morning at about 6:45AM the power went out. My wife’s iphone lit up and beeped like we were getting a text message. It was plugged in and I guess that’s what it does when power goes out. But since I have a flashlight by the bed we got up and took a shower by flashlight. Someone hit a power pole and knocked out power for a couple of hours. Worst part of this was not having no TV or internet, it was having no coffee. So we went to the restuarant down the street that supposedly has awesome breakfasts and I’m glad to say they were right.
I have a couple of flashlights of my own…(I really mean couple)
they are Fenix E05 and PD31…I can tell, they are very handy…especially PD31….it burst out more than 300 lumens and i am really satisfied with its performance….
although i dont have much knowledge about survival gadget, i’ll make sure the flashlight with me all the time…
I am a flashaholic afterall….
Line a few ammo cans with foam type material. Place flashlight, radios, and other post SHTF electronics in these “instant faraday cage” containers to protect from EMP.