The ability to see in the dark and to signal at night, without using fire, can be a tremendous benefit in a survival situation. This usually means some type of flashlight. When I was a police officer, I learned to always carry a flashlight. I can't count the times, on day shift, were I walked into a building/house on an information call, and then ended up needing a flashlight to see something, or in a confrontation with someone in a dark basement or room.
Now the technology of flashlights has changed dramatically over the past few years. Some of the new innovations have really improved their suitability for survival situations.
LED (Light Emitting Diode)
The Diode itself can last up to 100,000 hours.
The diode is much tougher than older flashlight light bulbs.
The Diode uses much less power for the same amount of light.
Lithium Batteries
Have greatly increased the time that you can store batteries.
Circuitry
Has given modern flashlights the ability to perform in several different ways. This is usually a very bright mode, flashing mode, and a power conservation mode.
Magnetic Induction Flashlight
Has provided a partial solution to the need to replace or recharge batteries. These are the flashlights that you shake or turn the crank to create the power to be used.
(I have not found one that is really bright yet. Much better than no flashlight at all, but it has its limitations.)
Flashlight Construction
Many modern flashlights are made of very strong aluminum or polycarbonate.
Historical Perspective
When I was young, flashlights were either those flimsy silver sheet metal D cell ones, or the huge plastic ones that had a battery about half the size of a toaster. If you were lucky you had a plastic army flashlight.
The question is now what kind of flashlight and how many. I believe you should have at least two. One that is fairly small that is easily mounted on your head or that you can hold between your teeth to allow you to have both hands free. The second flashlight should be a larger one to see a greater area with and to signal with.
A second consideration is to make sure that the flashlight is easily attached either to you or your gear. You can attach them by a cord or clip or some other device. I don't like holders/holsters, when I was a police officer, unless the holder had some type of secondary method to keep the thing in, I have lost it during vigorous physical activity.
Become obsessive about your tools. Many of them, like a flashlight, you will not have the ability to reproduce yourself if you lost the original.
Because you are reading this on the Internet I am assuming that if you want to know more, you have the ability to do searches on many of these terms and ideas that are mentioned.
Good Luck from us at "If It Hit The Fan".
Just as important as the flashlight is the batteries. I would highly recommend using rechargeable batteries such as NiMH. This is because you may not have a way to get new batteries if you leave your flashlight on all night. However you can probably re-charge your NiMH batteries from an automobile or generator.(Keep an AC/DC changer handy)
ReplyDeleteAlso look at the mAH rating for larger cells such as C and D. Many manufactures will just stick an 2500mAH AA cell in a C or D shell. A true C cell will be ratted at 5000mAH and a D will be at 10000mAH.