So much for that theory. (Presumably neither batch was out of date; these days those are dated something like 10 years in the future.)
Great minds…
Speaking of batteries, a year or two ago we quit buying batteries from Amazon. We have decided that Eveready or Duracell are far superior brands.
Doesn’t Amazon sell those brands as well?
And I seem to remember that Consumer Reports ran tests and said that there’s little difference between brands of batteries.
I should have said the Amazon-branded batteries.
Our household real-life experiences indicate that the Amazon branded batteries are inferior to other brands. YMMV.
The details apparently require a subscription; but currently on their website:
In Consumer Reports’ ratings of AA batteries, our testers found real differences among well-known names and value brands.
Same here, and I’m happy to see (that) you (do too) .
I’ve gone through multiple generations of mini flashlights small enough to drop in a pants pocket, the new high efficiency LED’s are great.
Miscellaneous flashlight opinions:
I often hike in the dark. It’s cooler, and that really matters here in Arizona. I used to wear a headlamp, which leaves your hands free, but now I want the light to be more oblique as it allows better depth perception. So I carry a flashlight. Haven’t tried the waistband or shoe lights. Anyone?
I’m not buying black flashlights anymore. They should come with a small, cheap and brightly-colored light that you use to find the black flashlight in a drawer.
We’re also trying to buy fewer batteries. Most of my flashlights come with bespoke 18650 style batteries that can go months before needing a recharge.
Premium flashlights have too many settings, sometimes requiring non-obvious button operation to access them. Five brightness levels plus strobe is too much. Three is plenty.
For me, the capability for low illumination level is much more useful than a 1000+ lumens setting. Ten lumens can light up an earring under the couch and 0.5 lumen is just enough to see trail features right in front of me. Makes a good nightlight, too.
Never mind in a drawer. How about when you dropped the thing in tall growth out in a field?
Aargh, yes! Or the light drops into some recess under the hood, or under the car seat.
They come with a strap that’s too small to fit around your wrist.
But is large enough to catch on something and yank the flashlight out of my pocket into the weeds, if I didn’t tuck the strap in far enough.
Amazon Basics hearing aid batteries are great. I “buy again” whenever I start to get low.
I don’t get many but most of my flashlight use isn’t during power outages. A lot of it is just outdoor cooking but also taking out the garbage, getting something from the car, going to the attic or basement. If it’s dark or might be dark, I try to have a big light in my pocket.
Shoe lights suck! Someone in my run club has them; I borrowed them one night to see how they were as the light is much lower than a headlamp (obviously) &, in theory, would do better at lighting up things like rocks as the lower light angle would cast a shadow past the rock. It wasn’t the brightness that was an issue is, it’s that your foot moves thru > 90° arc with each stride & the focal point of the light is constantly changing. I ran maybe 25-50 yards before stopping. They were that bad. They were light trying to illuminate something with a vertical lighthouse / airport/ prison guard tower searchlight that’s constantly moving.
But they probably make you much more conspicuous, a good thing if running on roads or even bike/walking paths
IANA runner. I’d have assumed the whole point of foot lights was not as illumination to run by, but, as @motu says, to create a randomly moving bouncing light that will attract the attention of other drivers & riders.
Many modern bicycle headlights and taillights have a similar aggressively random blinking mode to make them hard to miss versus the more steady or slowly flashing lights of the surroundings and cars.
While any light is better than none, at best, these are pointing out from about 3" off the ground & when your leg is back, they’re pointing straight down. If you’re not head-oncoming to them they’re not really that noticeable. I think good reflective gear & lights that blink & shine horizontally & higher on the body would be much more visible to vehicles.
There are also Knuckle lights; again I don’t like them because the beam moves so much thru your arm swinging. At least with a headlamp, the beam location stays fixed relative to your eyes. With the hand & foot lights, the lighted area is constantly changing position relative to where your eyes are looking, which is why I don’t like them. As most people wear headlamps when someone was running towards me with them on I always thought they looked like two little people fighting as they were coming my way in the distance on the dark trail.
I was wondering if we had a general flashlight thread.
When my siblings and I were children, on occasion at bedtime my dad would give us each (there were 5 of us) a flashlight to play with. Good memories.
My latest toys are from Olight. Small, powerful, rechargeable. My favorite is the Oclip ($18 from the TikTok store, or $30 on Amazon). So tiny I can keep it in my pocket as EDC. Pretty powerful at 300lm (lumens).
I also have the Olight Baton 4, but that’s a little pricey at $65, or $100 with the charging case. For such a small light it really puts out at 1,300lm. It’s small enough for easy EDC, but not small enough for my liking.
Both of those Olights have a powerful strobe function that’s pretty cool. And at night that strobe can be used in self defense to briefly disorient someone. And they have a dim Moonlight mode (1.5lm for the Oclip, 0.5lm for the Baton 4) that’s more handy than you might think. My wife’s eyesight isn’t great and often in restaurants she needs a light to read the menu. The lights on our phones are too strong (a distraction for other diners) so this mode is perfect for that situation.
And I really like that they’re rechargeable.
At a couple places in the house I have emergency rechargeable flashlights plugged into outlets. When the power goes out they flash so if it’s very dark they’re easy to find, and you can remove them from the outlet to use as a regular flashlight.
In the back of my Jeep I have a big D-cell Maglite.
Thanks for this thread @ThelmaLou.
When I misplace something in the clutter, cheapo LED flashlights really help. The moving spotlight encourages a more systematic and detailed search. Recommended.
Hat clip lamps are also helpful, though the make the user appear goofy.