Insider Tips on Choosing Camping Flashlights

Any light used for camping should be waterproof and have a lanyard ring so it can be hung in a tent. It should also have a positive rotary switch that won’t accidentally turn on in your pack.

1. Conventional flashlights: Most popular flashlights are AA-cell models with alkaline batteries and high intensity bulbs. These tiny flashlights burn out batteries and bulbs quickly but are nice if you want maximum brightness and minimum size.

Freedom™ LED Flashlight - $11.95 -Waterproof LED flashlight, powered by magnetic movement, is ready when you need it. Never worry about batteries, simply shake to generate power!

2. LED flashlights: These are the established, well-know lights in town, and for good reason. They don’t burn out and the LED bulbs are much tougher than normal bulbs. But all LEDs are not the same. Some are much brighter than others - they are graded like diamonds, and brightest one demand a premium price. You get exactly what you pay for!

LEDS are very efficient so their run times are much longer than bulbs - but not as ridiculously long (like hundreds of hours!) as some flashlight companies profess. Yes LEDs do produce barely discernible light for a great many hours. But this light is usually too dim to be useful. Remember that before you leave extra batteries at home!

Swiss Army Knife Farmer Knife and AAA LED Light in Gift Tin - Save 53% - $29.95

3. Tactical lights: Tactical lights are so bright they will momentarily blind an attacker. Some of these flashlights produce 120 lumens of light which is about 8 times brighter than a double D-cell flashlight.

Primus Primetorch 611 Luxeon Flashlight - $35.95

Take note of some Bulb and Battery Basics:

• Other things being equal, the bigger the battery, the longer it will last.
• Alkaline batteries cost much more than zinc-carbon batteries but last about 5 times longer. Lithium batteries last longest (up to 10 years!), but they’re expensive. Anne Bancroft was the first women to travel across the ice to both the north and south poles.She carried an MSR headlamp and a small Tekna flashlight that she wore on a string around her neck.
  Both lamps were powered by lithium batteries - essential in the minus 70-degree Fahrenheit cold.
• Zinc carbon batteries can be recharged and used in any flashlight, but the charge won’t last as long as it will with expensive nickel cadmium (NiCd) batteries.
• Gas filled bulbs are much brighter and more expensive than vacuum bulbs, but they don’t last as long. Generally the brighter a bulb, the faster it will burn out.

Similar Posts:

• Victorinox Swiss Army Camper Pocket Knife with AA LED Flashlight
• Cold Weather Cooking Tips
• 3 Types of Footwear for Day Hikes
• Diaper Pins Solves Everything (Almost)
• Sunburn Skin During Your Adventure Hike - Prevention is Better Than Cure