Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Friday, October 27, 2017

Putting Light On It; Thoughts on Flashlights

Surefire has released a new flashlight. The G2Z puts out 800 lumens and uses two 123A lithium batteries. MSRP is $120.

I have a lot of flashlights. Back when I did a considerable amount of night flying, I had about six mini-maglights in my flight bag, some with red lenses. I had a 2-D-cell flashlight with a traffic-direction diffuser cone that rode in the side pocket as an emergency panel flood. When I walk at night, I sometimes tote a 4-D-cell maglight for both illumination and canine discouragement.

If you want to drop three bills on a flashlight, go ahead. Maybe your line of work requires you to have a high-quality and bright flashlight.

But for most people, there are better choices. I buy these things, or ones like it. They work out to about three bucks per flashlight. I've have in in different rooms of the house, in my car, my desk at the office, and in my purse. Essentially, everywhere that I might need a flashlight, I have one there. If they get dropped or damaged or lost, no big deal. At night, those little things throw enough light to illuminate something a couple of hundred feet away.

6 comments:

B said...

You can get those even cheaper at DX.com. Takes about 3 weeks, but they have pretty good service and deals, especially for a chinese company.

I have like 300 assorted lights in my home/cars/offices/workshops etc.

Plus pocket ones for daily carry.

CenterPuke88 said...

Comrade, if it's for discouragement, hopeful you can get a good grip. The D-cell maglite is pretty chunky (I like the 5-D version myself), but the Mrs. has the C-cell version. Plenty of heft and strength, but in an easier to grip diameter (hear that, Donnie?). Thanks for the links.

MarkS said...

In defense of high-end lights, I've had my Inova (now Nite Ize)t4 rechargeable for 7 years now and its still going strong on the original battery. Got it after after noticing that 123a s aren't cheap. I know it would take many years for battery costs to offset the cost of the light, but having a fully-charged light snapped into a home or vehicle charging rack is a reassuring thing.YMMV

dinthebeast said...

When the foundry building had a small fire in the facade and he city turned off our electricity (at Bayer's behest) and we lived from the end of November 2015 until we were able to move out in February of 2016 with no power, we borrowed some rechargeable drop lights from my friend John, and recharged them in the cigarette lighter of Briana's car to light our space, but I got one of these to walk around with and to do stuff like shave in the unlit bathroom.
It's bright as hell, and I still have it in my bag. I don't remember what I paid for it, I might have traded something, as I was trying to offload as many possessions as possible at the time.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KHAXEMY/ref=asc_df_B00KHAXEMY5236639/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B00KHAXEMY&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167152075853&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13932998667868072153&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032087&hvtargid=pla-312955007662

-Doug in Oakland

Anonymous said...

I've got a few Surefire flamethrowers for serious work, but infested the dwelling with the Maglite AA and D LEDs. I have, however, accumulated a bunch of headlamps, mostly Petzl because they're so good, plus some cheaper off-brand ones that are bigger and more cumbersome but really bright. Recently discovered the Hebo AAA and AA LED floods,which are very handy within their "best usage" range. The AAA Hebos could benefit from a constant red option, but that would probably conflict with my strong preference for simple switches ("dark" and "not dark").

While back a realtor friend complained about constantly losing flashlights, mostly AA Maglites; he'd show a property that either had power off or dark corners, and let his client use his flashlight, which he'd forget to get back. I suggested a different tack - get a big pile of cheap AAA Chinese LED flashlights, have them laser-engraved with his name and contact info, and give them to clients. His first order was 100, at almost $5 each, now he buys them 1000 at a time engraved at the factory for under $2, including batteries. Does take a while to get a batch, however.

BadTux said...

My favorite flashlights are Fenix flashlights and headlamps. I've standardized on flashlights that use two AA I have a LD22 that uses two AA batteries, and an HL-30 that also uses two AA batteries. I use the NiMH rechargeable batteries in them. They aren't as bright as the 18660-powered flamethrowers, but the LD22 is already too bright on its highest setting for any real use, anything brighter would just be useful for starting fires and stripping paint off of barns.

On the other hand, $5 "Splashflash" (hmm, looks like they're $9 now at Amazon are clipped onto *all* of my camping gear -- my tent bag, my backpack, my keychain, etc. They're good for lighting up the inside of a tent and if one gets lost, big deal...