Pocket Flashlight

[Guest]

I am not a headlamp guy, for several reasons. I don’t like stuff on my head, and the multiplicity of straps on most headlamps don’t do well in pocket storage. Arrhhgg, the straps are all catawampus tangled and I need a flashlight to untangle them. I really need a flashlight, ‘cause when I pulled the headlamp out the tangle of straps removed my lighter and tobacco at the same time.

I’d rather point a flashlight in hand rather than aim my whole head. Then there’s that whole “Forgot I was wearing it” business, where companions sit around staring into the fire with a headlamp needlessly illuminating the flames.

Or worse, give you the third degree when looking at your face in conversation. Noooo, not the headlamp, stop, I’ll tell you what you want to know. That doesn’t happen with a hand held.

Headlamp rant never over.

I am a fan of short, stubbie cigar shaped flashlights that are easily handheld, but fit in a Nite Ize or Jackstrap headband when I need to be hands free.

https://www.amazon.com/Nite-Ize-NPO...eway&sprefix=Nite+ize+headband,aps,144&sr=8-1

We have a half dozen small stoogie flashlights in family use, all of which have some deficiency; too flimsy plastic, crappy threads, not very waterproof, eats batteries, on-off switch that can accidentally turn on in storage. None of that thanks.

Has to be LED, can’t be a brick weight in the headstrap, has to be AAA batteries simply because I got tired of needing different battery sizes and spares for the few (seldom used) electronics I carry, so everything is now AAA. I took a chance (with some recommendations) on this:

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Flashl...eway&sprefix=Anker+Bolder+LC40,aps,143&sr=8-4

So far I am impressed. Rugged construction, positive on-off switch, two brightness modes (both very bright, there is no dim) and strobe feature. Two for $23 seems a bargain compared to some of the big-name junk I have bought.

I’ll see how they do on battery life, but I use a flashlight as little as possible in any case. One for the gear pack, one for the truck and I have some junkier ones to leave around the house and shop.

 

[Odyssey]

Forgetful people aside, and yes I'm one of those guys who goes swimming to lose his forgotten glasses perched on his head, leans over a precipice to lose his forgotten hat snugged on his head, fumbles in the dark with a forgotten headlamp strapped to his head, but never lose hope even when you've lost all else. Nowadays I try to remember to touch my forehead before swimming (and check my pockets too), touch my crown before looking way way down and feel for the headlamp before any starless night stumbling. Me, the king of a memory wiped world can manage if I pause and concentrate, so I bet you could too. And in socially unsociable campfire situations we needn't become that black horse in that Alex Colville painting.



We sometimes hang a barely better than dim light near the camp kitchen, or fit a fireside rock shelf just for that purpose, so additional camp lighting is unneeded; 90% of the time our camp is under natural light, from the moon and stars, just how we like it. The low fire throws a flickering glow, and although our eyesight is failing us these days we can get about just fine. I keep our HLs in a tent pocket during the day (spares in the BOB). They get strapped to our heads near dark, but often are left off till we crawl back into the tent, and are later indispensable for late night toilet visits. Having hands free light is too invaluable IMO to diss it so easily. It also helps that our headlamps tilt forward and down so soft talking while listening to the porridge burble remains sociable. No speeding trains in our faces.

 

[recped]

I'm a headlamp only guy.......haven't taken anything else for probably ten+ years (since the advent of high output led). Solo travellers don't have to deal with annoying others! For when I travel with a partner I need a quality tilt design to avoid the blinding of companions.

Anker makes good products, quality components and well thought out designs. This is definitely not the "cheap junk" some claim is the only thing you can get from there.

on-off switch that can accidentally turn on in storage

How do those LC40's rank in that department? I imagine it a fairly firm switch and with two stage to on/off it should be good.

 

[Guest]

Forgetful people aside, and yes I'm one of those guys who goes swimming to lose his forgotten glasses perched on his head, leans over a precipice to lose his forgotten hat snugged on his head, fumbles in the dark with a forgotten headlamp strapped to his head, but never lose hope even when you've lost all else. Nowadays I try to remember to touch my forehead before swimming (and check my pockets too

Fortunately I have never done anything as plumb stupid as, say, wading across a river that turned out to be waist deep with my wallet and car key remote in my pants pocket. Or knocked my sun glasses or oops a lash tab knife off my PFD into the drink. Nope, not me.

I understand the allure of a headlamp, especially if you can tolerate wearing head straps all night long with no relief. I understand that folks who find that Cyclops light comfortable tend to forget they are wearing one.

Keeping a headlamp on my noggin all evening would require some additional dress up accessories.

https://www.amazon.com/Charmgle-Sil...ocphy=9007844&hvtargid=pla-568783027814&psc=1

We sometimes hang a barely better than dim light near the camp kitchen, or fit a fireside rock shelf just for that purpose, so additional camp lighting is unneeded; 90% of the time our camp is under natural light, from the moon and stars, just how we like it. The low fire throws a flickering glow, and although our eyesight is failing us these days we can get about just fine.

I’m with you there. My solo camps are dark, often without even a fire. I flick a flashlight on when absolutely needed, and usually stick my finger over the lens for just a slender crescent of obscured light. Often as not for dim illumination and night vision preservation I use an amber fingerlight.

Family camps with a fire are largely flashlight free. Even on group trips the ethos was anti-illumination; unfamiliar companions would wander into camp at night with a light to be greeted by a chorus of “No lights, no lights!”. We felt kinda bad shouting a little kid with their flashlight, but teach ‘em while they’re young.

That avoidance of artificial illumination may stem from time spent with an old naturalist friend, who abhorred (and prohibited) the use of flashlights in the woods on his trips.

Life is better without blazing illumination ruining my vision which, despite needed cheaters to read any size print, still acclimates readily to true darkness.

 

[Odyssey]

I will grant you one thing, a hand held flashlight permits the user to briefly flick it on pointed down at the crazy trail through the woods to the thunderbox late at night. No need to walk in a moving pool of naked lumens all the way there, all the way back. The reason I shopped harder last time for another 'nother headlamp was I finally figured out a basic need I'd overlooked, the all important button functions. I'd discovered I hated sliders. Much much easier to simply poke a soft rubber boot covering a button. Mind you there are several functions to poke/scroll through, there is that frustrating list of choices. High beam? Low beam? Slow blink? Fast blink? Red light? That's why I chose one that requires holding the button down to scroll through the fancy dandy options. So it's one click on, one click off for me.
Short and simple, maybe like yours truly.
But if you're into Cosplay complexity Mike here's something to spice up your life and your headlamp.


More power to you, so to speak.

 

[Alan Gage]

Like recped all I take is a headlamp. Sometimes I wear it on my head and other times I hold it in my hand like a regular flashlight. I don't buy the big bulky ones with multiple straps. It fits comfortably in my left pocket (which is otherwise empty). If I'm camping in AZ during the winter I'll use it quite a bit since it's dark by 6pm. If I'm up north in the summer I don't use it at all most nights since even at 2am I can see good enough for a midnight pee.

Alan

 

[Guest]

Anker makes good products, quality components and well thought out designs. This is definitely not the "cheap junk" some claim is the only thing you can get from there.


How do those LC40's rank in that department? I imagine it a fairly firm switch and with two stage to on/off it should be good.

I have not previously had anything from Anker, and knew nothing of their reputation. The cap button switch would be difficult if not impossible to inadvertently turn on in storage.

The brightness (and perhaps) battery life is another story. Not a normal complaint with a flashlight, but the Anker is maybe too bright for most of my uses, even on the “dim” setting, which is only slightly less bright than the “bright” setting. The little amber fingerlight may see more frequent use (although it is so tiny it’s easy to misplace, and the Velcro finger strap does all the things I dislike about Velcro).

The Anker’s illumination intensity does make me wonder about the battery life specs, which are always based on the dimmest setting, and are usually BS. I tested a couple of mini battery op lanterns a few years ago, leaving them on in the dim setting until the batteries crapped out; none came anywhere close to their purported run time. On the whole I’d rather have a Luci-lite for a dim table setting.

Just for funsies I collected all of the family flashlights, camping lights and household lights, and compared the illumination. The Anker has a single LED bulb, the other’s have multiple LED’s, and the Anker is much brighter than any of the others.

I suspect that in the last decade LED flashlight bulbs have improved by leaps and bounds, but have no idea what LED bulb specification might be or mean. No clue what “LC40” means and “CREE” is an LED manufacturer, not a bulb spec.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Kathleen and I have used nothing but headlamps for more than 25 years. We used to do a fair amount of back country skiing in the mountains north of Vancouver. It was a lot easier skiing with two hands as opposed to one. Also, it was a lot easier rummaging/searching through packs with two hands rather than one. A lot easier to read a book at night in the tent with two hands rather than one. Most of our canoe trips have been north of 60, often north of 66 degrees. We take a head lamp, but rarely use it because of the constant light.

We don't have a problem with people sitting around the fire pointing their headlamps at us. We generally go alone, and wood is generally scarce. Even if wood is plentiful, we burn only what we need for cooking and cleaning up garbage. Then the fire goes out. I'm wondering, Mike, if your companions are (thoughtlessly) shining their headlamps into your eyes, can't you just ask them to turn them off?

The kind light best for each person obviously depends on conditions and personal preference.

 

[Guest]

A lot easier to read a book at night in the tent with two hands rather than one.

I'm wondering, Mike, if your companions are (thoughtlessly) shining their headlamps into your eyes, can't you just ask them to turn them off? The kind light best for each person obviously depends on conditions and personal preference.

PP, about two-handed books, I confess to occasionally bringing a dense hardback on trips, some 5lb tome that will take me a week to read, and another week to re-read, and will leave a bruise if it drops it on my face. Definitely two handers in the tent.

I can’t imagine laying in the tent reading with a headlamp strapped to my head, but, again, I do not like things on my head even sitting upright. I can tolerate briefly slipping on the single head strap when needed, and putting it back in my pocket 90% of the time instead of resting on my head turned off.

I have personal preference peccadilloes about hats, gloves and wristwatches and anything else affixed tightly to my body. No fanny packs, no sunglasses on Croakies, nothing hung around my neck. After nearly tearing off a finger, no rings or jewelry of any kind.

I need to read every night, it is a sleep necessity. Once upon a rudimentary time with a flashlight propped against the pillow (awkwardly unstable, and beard hair got fuzzily in the way), later with a mini battery op lantern hung at the head end of the tent (poorly focused 360 illumination, and worse battery life).

I like a lot of light shining directly at both pages the book, I’d rather move my just eyes than shift my head, and now use two Lici-lites hung and aimed stadium style, angled down from either side of the tent end at the open book \ /. Both the tent and the truck bed are set up to clip on two angled Luci-lites for night time readings. Screw replacing batteries for that purpose, a large part of my total illumination use is reading in bed; solar recharging is a huge boon.

The “NO LIGHTS!” greeting was mostly a group trip thing with a cast of regulars, and got to be jokey on trips timed for some meteor showers or other astronomical events. Gawd forbid you walked into a circle of folks reclined watching the sky with a #$&@* headlamp turned on. No mercy.

Even if it is not a night sky event I treasure my night vision, which I believe still becomes very good the longer it is dark. And is too easily degraded. Research has shown that alcohol (and other etc) separately or in combination, can reduce your eyes' ability to recover from exposure to a bright light source and acclimate to changing light conditions. Plus I look better in the dark.

I do (more) calmly ask companions to turn off lights when unnecessary, with a hint of WTF. “Eh, Fred, ya know, you don’t need to waste batteries shining your headlamp into the campfire”. I probably deserve Fred looking up and blinding me in response.

Headlamps have become so ubiquitous that there are commonplace headlamp design features that are hard to find in a handheld, and I truly wish I could tolerate wearing a headlamp. Like reading a on a Kindle, I can only wish it were so.

There are not many non-headlampers left; even my wife uses one. My sons do not, probably because they have accumulated a drawer full of small stocking-stuffer hand helds, and likewise go dark 90% of the time.

 

[recped]

I suspect that in the last decade LED flashlight bulbs have improved by leaps and bounds, but have no idea what LED bulb specification might be or mean. No clue what “LC40” means and “CREE” is an LED manufacturer, not a bulb spec.

The LED specs don't differ much from traditional incandescent bulbs, Kelvin (colour temperature), Lumens (brightness) and Light Pattern Distribution. The first two being the most important for most canoe tripping flashlight use.

LC40 refers to the model you purchased, interesting that the Amazon page show a "newer model available LC30", about the same price but lower Lumen output. Looks like the LC40 is discontinued and is being sold off cheap, the "new model" actually seems to mean "what you can now buy for the same price but get a lesser light".

CREE as you found refers to the manufacturer of the bulbs themselves, think of it in the same way as you would for Gore-Tex versus non-Gore breathables, or real Velcro vs hook & loop. Just like a Kokatat Gore-Tex dry suit is better than a Kokatat Hydrus dry suit. Just like with dry suits picking the "best" material (bulbs) does not guarantee the best performance but picking lower quality materials will never get you the same quality or performance as the "real thing" (but you might save a lot of money). In lighting the actual cost of the led's has a smaller impact on the final price than in something like a dry suit where the materials themselves (just like canoes) has a huge impact on the final retail price. Think of CREE vs the others like you would think of West Systems epoxy vs cheap no-name epoxy intended for auto repair or fibreglass cloth construction vs chopper.

Another example of branded vs unbranded would be zippers, I really hesitate to buy any gear that doesn't come with YKK zippers but these days fewer and fewer manufacturers (tents especially) are spending the extra money for YKK. I bought a new NRS drysuit last Fall (the "budget" Triton fabric), the suit is fine but I was disappointed to find that the YKK metal zippers in my 10 year old Triton suit have been replaced by no-name plastic zips. Fortunately dry suit zips don't get a lot of use so it should be fine, the same cannot be said of tent zips, I'm getting tired of having to trash a perfectly good tent due to zipper failure.

In any event, good to get a deal now because all these things will be increasing in price due to the Trump Tariffs.

 

[Holmes375]

When tripping or even just camping I have two headlamps in my emergency kit. Never use them in daily routine, prefer small handhelds. I re-charge the HL batteries each spring and pack 'em away.

Thanks for the heads-up on the flashlights, Mike, believe I'll grab a pair.

 

[Boreal Birch]

As a former sled dog trainer that lived off the grid in Alaska, I found head lamps to be indispensable. During the winter our daylight is short, running dogs in the dark is very pleasant, occasionally you will need to untangle a dog or two, you'll need both hands for that. Scooping dog poo, two hands again, one for shovel the other for the hoe. Feeding takes two hands too. I got so used to a head lamp that I have found myself walking into a dark room, reach up to my forehead to turn on a head lamp that isn't there.
Don't need a light of any kind up here in the summer, for the next month and a half you can read outside all night long.
In the fall on my late October trips to Northern Minnesota, I take a head lamp for camp chores and a powerful hand held flashlight to light up the night in case those night time noises are not snowshoe bunnies playing tag, but are really zombies or whatnot.
I get plenty of reading done, during our long winter nights, so don't spend much time reading in camp except checking the label on food packages to make sure that I am adding the correct amounts of other ingredients, I like the head lamp for that.
I like a head lamp with the battery pack on the back of the head strap, ballances the weight better, with more batteries, longer battery life, parka hood in winter keeps batteries warm another plus. Also like the second strap that goes over the top of the head, when adjusted properly sits on my head like a hat

 

[Odyssey]

I have a bad habit of holding pencils in my mouth while working. They tend to get broken in work pouches, sometimes slip out of shirt pockets and never ever stay put behind my ears, so they go in my mouth. I have also faced the need to work in tight spaces in need of a light, and resorted to holding a small flashlight in my mouth to keep both hands free, so it was a small Eureka moment when I hung headlamps in my workroom, at the backdoor, in the vehicle, for future hands free DIYing. So now I have trouble-free task lighting where and when I need it, and the faithful pencil can go back to where I'll always find it.

 

[Chip]

Remember Maglites? I made my first “wilderness” trip in 2000, and my veteran tripping friends insisted I bring along a mini maglight, same as they did. I guess the thought was we could share bulbs or parts if one crapped out. I recall doing a lot of maglight biting so I could use both hands. We all envied the guy that brought an elastic head band so he could fix his maglight over an ear, mimicking a headlamp.

The technology of lighting leaped forward since that time, and only throwbacks and folks with peccadilloes still bite flashlights. Most of us gladly graduated to using headlamps. I do embrace darkness, but still am occasionally guilty of cyclops-eyeing camp mates.

Lacking a phobia about things hanging around my neck, when it is not in use, I’ll often wear the headlamp like a necklace. That makes the light much easier to find in the dark. Used to attach a lanyard and do the same with the maglight.

And spare parts? Has anybody had a modern LED light crap out? Out of habit, I always bring two. Is that necessary?

 

[Alan Gage]

And spare parts? Has anybody had a modern LED light crap out? Out of habit, I always bring two. Is that necessary?

A couple of mine have gotten flakey, like bad internal connections. I don't bring a backup or spare parts though. I normally don't even bring spare batteries since I don't use it much. My backup plan is to do what humans did in the dark up until a hundred years or so ago - walk slowly and carefully.

Alan

 

[recped]

And spare parts? Has anybody had a modern LED light crap out? Out of habit, I always bring two. Is that necessary?

The switches are prone to failure even on the quality lights such as a Princton Tec I had about 10 years ago, I have never seen an actual bulb failure such as was so common back in the incandescent days.

On my longer trips I bring three headlamps, two quite small ones that I use most of the time plus a larger back of the head battery pack type which I mostly use when I need distant and/or extra bright light (eg: finding a campsite in the dark).

 

[Guest]

I have a little 2-AAA battery led penlight I picked up at Lowes cheep. Can't find a name on it. I carry it constantly in my chest pocket including on camping trips. It has a push click switch on top.

 

[Guest]

I recall doing a lot of maglight biting so I could use both hands. We all envied the guy that brought an elastic head band so he could fix his maglight over an ear, mimicking a headlamp.

The technology of lighting leaped forward since that time, and only throwbacks and folks with peccadilloes still bite flashlights.

And spare parts? Has anybody had a modern LED light crap out? Out of habit, I always bring two. Is that necessary?

I was very briefly a Maglite biter before finding the single headstrap holder solution, and had the end of my Maglite wrapped in tape for that purpose. There was a time Maglites seemed awesome top of the line, but the drool factor became an issue with a toothy hold; not something you want to see from the guy leaning over preparing the group meal.

Gathering the family flashlights was a useful exercise in itself, despite taking most of a day gathering them up from hither and yon, checking and replacing batteries and bulbs. I don’t yet have all of them, and it is a stupid number of flashlights, going back years. “Stupid” because, after investigation, most of them needed new batteries, new bulbs or a three point shot into waste basket.

From ancient Mag-lites to well loved long serving Princeton Tech Attitudes (once our go-to’s), to more recent end-of-counter stocking stuffer junk LEDs. It was not even worth putting batteries in half of them.

Some of the multiple LED array bulbs in the cheap end-of-counter stocking stuffers are defunct. The cheap plastic threads were cracked on one and I doubt any of them were waterproof or even water resistant. Pure junk, not worthy of new batteries. One of the Princeton Techs that had been serviceable for years was kaput and the others seem rudimentary LED dim in comparison to modern LED bulbs.

I had hoped to replace the little 2-prong incandescent bulbs in the sentimental Maglites with LED’s, which is a simple plug-in operation. I put batteries in the Maglites, nope. Replaced the bulbs (had spares still in blister packs), nope. Fiddled with them trying repeatedly and into the trash they went, happy that I hadn’t bought Maglite LED’s before checking first; the replacement LED Maglite bulbs are not cheap.

Chip, I have had some cheap LED lights go haywire, suddenly flickering or dimming. The fix seemed to be smacking them a couple times; they would either flicker back to life (at least for a while), or be dead forever. So yes, I have had LED lights crap out.

I try to bring a decent one, and a quality spare, but have ended up grabbing a cheap stocking stuffer as scattered truck flashlights and regretting it. Truck travelling on tripping treks I bring more like 4 or 5 flashlights, with the tripping ones packed away, virgin batteried and ready to go, plus at least one in the console and one at the head of the sleeper compartment. The junky ones still see some unsatisfactory service in that guise, and at the cost of a decently made CREE-bulb LED I’m never carrying a junk flashlight again.

 

[Guest]

The whole-house flashlight refurbishment stupidity didn’t end there. All of my battery op tripping stuff is AAA (weather radio excepted). The family’s lights are all likewise AAA. I had no AAA batteries. I did have unopened 10-pack of AA’s, which would have fit the defunct Maglites, but c’est la vie

I grabbed a big pack of AAA’s at the store; a 16-pack should be enough to power the new Ankers and the still viable selection of family flashlights, with some left over. Got home, opened the pack and discovered a problem. I had grabbed a 16-pack of AA’s.

Now that I had a stash of 26 unused AA batteries I needed to find a useful purpose for them.

Back to flashlight shopping. I keep a couple flashlights in the truck and a few scattered around the house for (not infrequent forest-&-overhead lines) power outages. The rest of the family does likewise, usually one of the junky stocking stuffers the missus buys every Christmas.

The AA house and vehicle flashlight solution just needs to cost less than the ample supply of AA batteries I now have on hand.

These little pocket flashlights, with Mini-CREE LED bulbs, were the answer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BDGD8KR/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The outer edges of the illumination are snow-moon diffuse, but they are much brighter than the stocking stuffer LEDs.

Not multi-mode, just single function on/off, but that’s OK for intended use. Solid, well constructed and already seemingly proven durable; the box arrived a week late and tattered from its travels. Amazon somehow misdirected the package, starting out 30 miles away in Pennsylvania, north to Jersey City, then south to DC, north to Parkton and finally south again to me. A grueling 300 mile road trip that passed my home multiple times.

Single AA battery, so the run time probably isn’t great, but at 3 ½” long I’ll scatter them about. I may lose the clip and wrap some just-in-case tooth biter tape around the end. And think of Chip while chomping down.

I'm never carrying a junk flashlight again.

 

[Boatman53]

Little late to this party but I carry one of these every day. It has the rubber bite protection and a clip so it could be clipped to the bill of a hat and point in the right direction. AAA batteries, and small. Not the brightest light but saved the day and and possibly a life more than once.

https://outbackflashlights.com/shop/flashlights/ripper/

Jim