Alright, so let's talk a little bit about light. flashlight and such needs to be in your disaster kit. Light provides safety and comfort. We here at least in the United States don't live in a society where we are too comfortable wandering around in the dark. Some of us are, but the vast majority of people are not. So light provides a degree of comfort, and also provides a degree of safety. There's lots of options in regards to light. there are lanterns, flashlights, headlights, chem sticks. And all are going to be considered here. Let's talk a little bit about lanterns. Lots of different options as far as these are concerned. They can be gas powered. They can be electric or battery powered. Lots of different options as to, as far as what's going to actually power the lantern. They provide light in a circle around the lantern. Some of these do have shields on one side to kind of make it more of a directional light rather than the circle over a general area. They are somewhat limited in their brightness, but they do provide a nice comfortable light source. You can hang them over an area to provide light for a general area, for eating, for games or just comfort in the evenings. They are potentially hands free. You can hang them off a hook or tree branch or something along those lines. You can set then on a table or stand so that they provide a general light source. Depending on where you are, what part of the country you're in, and the time of year, a lantern, like any light source is going to attract bugs. So lanterns in the winter time, or in your house aren't going to attract mosquitoes and moths and other things. but if you're outside, a lantern is going to draw mosquitoes, draw the moths to you. Let's talk about flashlights. Handheld flashlights, these are, directional light sources. and again lots and lots of different options with these. there are large heavy flashlights madlights come to mind here. They range from very small to multiple B cell lights that are in, heavy aluminum casings. Some are big rechargeable flashlights. and they are also very, very heavy. or there are very, very small ones, as well. There are lights that fit in your pocket or attach to your belt, and are really quite small and innocuous. There's many many different levels of brightness, along with how big they are. you can have big lights that aren't very bright. You can have small lights that are very, very bright. so you have to decide what your needs are, and what your comfort level is. All right, so there are some things to consider when you're purchasing, or, or looking to get a flashlight. And I have to tell you, that over the years, I have amassed a huge amount of flashlights and, and I know what works for me. what works for you might be something very, very different. So durability there are plastic flashlights that are pretty much absolutely worthless. they're usually quite cheap but if you drop them once they're broken and that's, that. There are aluminim lights that are quite durable. depending on the bulb that's in them. if that bulb heats up and you drop the flashlight the bulb is now burnt out. So durability is really something you need to consider when looking at a flashlight. I don't recommend flashlights that are plastic. Unless it's a good heavy durable heavy duty plastic, aluminum is heavier but certainly much, much, much stronger. Aluminum flashlights last longer and the other advantage with aluminum flashlights, is that it can be used for self defense if that's necessary. If it's bright enough, that light alone will put somebody off by shining it into their eyes or, if it comes to that you now have this heavy metal object, even if it's relatively small, that can be used to strike an attack, an attacker and help defend yourself in a difficult situation. Let's talk about size and weight. Large flashlights are heavy, smaller flashlights can be lighter. and as I said they can be very bright and weigh not very much. I don't reccomend big heavy flashlights. I usually reccomend small bright flashlights and having extra batteries for them. Heavy flashlights. and those that are a more durable nature, like aluminum can be used, as I've said, for self defense. Even the small ones, the aluminum can be used for self defense, simply by shining it into their eyes to facilitate your escape or by using it to strike the person. Let's talk a little bit about brightness. Brightness is measured in lumens. I have to tell you from experience that if a flashlight isn't going to put out at least 80 lumens or more, then I'm not even going to consider buying it. I don't always need a light that is 80 lumens bright, but if I want light, I usually want a pretty bright light. headlamps are a good example. I don't use headlamps very much. But a headlamp doesn't have to be very bright for me. it can be just an easy light source that I use when I need to. If I need a hand held light, I want it to be pretty bright. Battery life and type. this is something that you need to consider, how long the batteries will last in the, in the flashlight. How long they're going to last when they're stored, and how long they'll burn with the flashlight. There are small flashlights with small batteries, and they put out a bright, bright light that is really great. It will only last for about an hour, and then they're dead. The ideal is a relatively bright light, that is small, easy to carry, easy to use and that's going to last a fairly long time. Some batteries are special batteries, there are alkaline batteries, there are lithium batteries and such. you can go to the local grocery store and get Duracell, and Eveready alkaline batteries. these kind of flashlights are the kind of flashlights, rather than use, these are, are probably going to be ideal. some of the specialty batteries are going to be potentially problematic. These batteries, these, these alkaline batteries have improved greatly over the years. if you're going to store the spare batteries they, they now claim at least to last for ten plus years. That used to be the claim of the lithium batteries but if the normal alkaline batteries are doing that then a normal alkaline battery flashlight is going to be a better choice. So make sure that you have access to spare batteries. Not just rechargeable batteries, but spare batteries. Rechargeable batteries will need to be recharged, and if you're using a flashlight, you may not have the power to do that. Always, always, always have spare batteries for the flashlight. Headlamps or geek lights that I mentioned before are a good source of light. They are hands-free. There's an elastic band that wraps around your head or clamps to your hat or something of that nature. Somehow, someway, they sit on or beside your forehead and provide light in front of you. Wherever you look, the light looks. They come in a variety of brightness options. Some headlamps even have a variety of light options within the lamp itself. You click once for brights, twice for dimmer and a third time for a different color, red, or green. Lots and lots of options here. Same thing with flashlights, as far as color goes. And the reason for that concerns night vision. or how used to the dark you are. If you're switching from light to no light. then going from white light particularly bright white light. You have lost your night vision. And it'll take 45 minutes or so for you to see again as you normally would. Red or green light does not diminish your night vision as white light will. So the variety of brightness options and color options can be helpful in both headlamps and flashlights. There are small and large battery packs, I have seen some that Is in a 4 inch by 3 inch plastic case that sits on the back of your head, while this huge light sits on your forehead. And I've seen smaller ones that use two or three AAA batteries in them. Personally, I will use a head lamp in the late fall, winter, and early spring. I rarely use it in late spring, summer or early fall. Because that light is sitting and shining right above your eyes and attracts insects to that point. Their going to be buzzing around like crazy and I find this particularly annoying. The other things I'll tell you about headlamps is that light is coming at the same angle as your vision is. So, a lot of the detail and texture gets washed out of what you're looking at. And if you look at somebody, you're shining a light right in their eyes. So for head lamps, I generally don't use a bright light unless I'm using that head lamp to do something like really fine work and I need a lot of light. Chem sticks, or chem lights, are another option. Most of these are one use only. You shake them up or twist them or activate them in some particular way and they give off some sort of colored light. Maybe yellow, green, it's not sunlight that comes from these sticks. They are not overly bright. It's not a natural colored light, but there are some advantages to these one you can light it and hook it on something and, and use it as a signal, if you need to signal somebody or mark a spot or mark something over the next three to six hours. you can just turn it on and forget about it. if you're traveling and, and you want to make sure the person behind you doesn't get lost in the dark. You can hook it to your pack. And the person is going to be able to follow that light through the woods or brush. They're easy to store. they're very, very lightweight. Chem lights, chem sticks are a good last resort light. If you've got nothing else. And you need some light for something. Or even just a little bit of comfort. A chemlight is going to provide that for you. So some final thoughts on lights. I mentioned this already, but I'm going to mention it again, always, always, always have spare batteries with you. I cannot emphasize how important this is. We tend to gather electronics, or some of us do anyway, for our disaster kits. We might have GPS units or radios. Or something else in the unit or in our kit. Try to gather lights and electronics that use the same size and type of batteries, if everything uses AA batteries you can have a large source of AA batteries that will feed everything. Otherwise you're going to have AA, AAA, C size, D size batteries. And now this has increased both the size and bulk of your kit as well as the expense. And I think most importantly one thing to remember is you don't always need to have a light on. I spent a lot of time with new campers and new people in our search and rescue group. And we go out at night we tell people, yep you have to have a flashlight with you but you do not have to have it on. After your eyes adjust, to what many of us consider darkness, your usually quite fine, we're able to see pretty well, in that dim ambient light. And once we get comfortable with that, it's really quite pleasant. a flashlight, a lantern even, certainly a headlamp gives us just one spot to look at. And our eyes are drawn to that spot, as opposed to the relative darkness around it. If you're not using that light except when you absolutely have to. Then your eyes are used to the dimness just as they are used to in the daylight. And we're able to look around and be far more aware of our surroundings in that ambient light, than if we use a flashlight. Don't always use a flashlight in the dark. Use it when you need to, but don't always have it on.
