Flashlights are the only thing I have more of than knives. I consider them of similar utility.
There's no denying how impressive some of the new LED flashlights are but like knives I don't want one I'd be afraid to lose or destroy. The idea of spending a C note on a flashlight or a knife is not happening. I have a number of old school AA mag lights and in their day they were OK, a couple I refitted with nite ize LED modules and end switches. They were my "carry" light back when I needed one. But with the advent of cheep chinese LED's of AA, AAA and 18650 flavors the mag lights now reside in a drawer. I tend to favor that form factor though as it fits in the same case or headband and they're not bulky. The "fat" 3-AAA ones don't pocket well so the majority of my "good" lights are 18650 powered. One can argue that you can't get batteries for it at a convenience store if you needed to but I probably have 10 of those lights, with at least 9 of them working at any given time. They will operate continuously literally for a day on lower brightness which translates to months of usable service on a charge. A few of them even have a built in USB connector so I can charge them with a phone charger. A couple in the camper, the house, the cars, backpack, tackle box, tool bag, etc and there's always one around when you need it. I have probably 3 dozen 18650 cells I keep on hand, pulls I take from tired laptop batteries. I got a number of single AA lights similar to SeilerBird's link, "Kootek", when I got them they were 5 for $10 so I bought 15 of them. Scattered them around the house, the RV, cars, drawers, kitchen, desk at work, wherever. Something I'm not afraid to lose or give away and if I forget about one and the battery leaks, tossing it causes no angst. An LED headlight is another thing I have a number of. I was given a really nice Nitecore unit that literally turns night into day when on high but it's kind of heavy and too nice to destroy through frequent use, so that's my "home" light. I have a number of harbor freight AAA powered ones in the tool box and the RV, and they're just perfect for general illumination while working on things. Even during the day they're nice for working in a confined/shadowed area, they're lightweight and they run a long time.
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
