Three Types of Flashlights for the Bug Out Location
Kevin Felts 10.16.18
When it comes to flashlights, chances are a lot of people grab a flashlight at a local big box outlet store, or buy something off Amazon, or even Ebay. When making the purchase do we give any thought as to where the flashlight will fit into our survival preps? Or, do we buy the flashlight because we like the way it looks?
Why should we care about flashlights?
The ability to create light frees us from the day – night cycle of the sun. We can stay up past sundown, and get up before the sun comes up. Coupled with solar panels and rechargeable batteries, we have a renewable light source.
Then there is the security aspect. When the dogs start barking at night, we have a way to check on things.
Let’s divide lights into three segments:
- Personal
- Group inside
- Group outside
Personal Flashlights
Just as the name implies, these are flashlights an individual uses for their personal needs. This could be going to the bathroom, getting up in the middle of the night, going outside, camping, hiking… etc.
Examples would include flashlights with an 18650, AAA, or AA batteries – something that could be charged using solar in a few hours.
- Wowtac A2S
- Thrunite Neutron 2C
- Maglight with AA batteries
- Jaxman E2
- Sofirn SF36
- Thrunite Archer
- ArmyTek Elf C2
Group Inside
These are lights which would be used to light up an entire room. A lot of preppers would probably use kerosene lanterns for this. However, over the past few years I have been leaning towards LED lanterns over kerosene. We talked about this in another article – Replacing kerosene with solar.
Rather than using personal flashlights to light up a room where everyone has gathered, we can use LED rechargeable lanterns.
These lanterns can also be used to light up outdoor areas. Harvest a deer on an evening hunt? An LED lantern can provide area light for processing the deer.
Group Outside
While the lantern will light up a small area outside, we also need something that will throw a beam for security reasons, or for hunting stuff like rabbits at night.
One good flashlight could provide enough light for three rabbit hunters – one with the flashlight, and the other two with firearms.
It was sometime in the late 1970s, or the very early 1980s my uncle took my brother and I rabbit hunting at night. We walked side by side, with my uncle in the middle with the flashlight. Depending on what side of us the rabbit was on, the person on that side got to shoot. There was no shooting across the front of the line. In other words, the person on the right shot towards the right, and the person on the left shot towards the left. If the rabbit was straight ahead, my uncle said which shooter would take the shot.
Over the decades I have used a number of flashlights for outdoor activities around the farm, and I keep going back to the two or three D cell Maglight. While there are smaller, lighter, and brighter flashlights, the D cell Maglight is hard to beat. Plus, the D cell Maglight can double as a baton for self defense.
Final Thoughts
As with stockpiling everything else, what role will the item play in the overall scheme of things. Some readers may say, “It’s just a flashlight, so what?” When the next power outage happens, try to read with a 1,000 lumen tactical flashlight. Or even read with a regular flashlight. Then read with an LED lantern providing area affect lighting.
Rather than each person using a flashlight while playing board games or reading, a couple of lanterns will do a much better job.
