Show #89: carry two flashlights when travelling

[Robin]

Michael suggested carrying two flashlights when travelling--a CR132 powered Surefire for tactical use and a Maglight AA powered pen light for general use. His reasoning is while the Surefire is great it has limited run time and replacement batteries are harder to come by. I have an alternate suggestion.

Katrina has shown the advantage to using "traditional" alkaline batteries. There were a number of first responders who arrived with the latest in tactical lights only to have them burn out with no replacement batteries available. And when the military/gov't did send in batteries they were of the C and D variety. No help there. Those lessons learned influenced Pelican's design of the 8060--their upgrade to the 7060 approved by the LAPD. Not only does the rechargable battery's increased size provide longer run time but you can also remove the rechargable and use four C batteries instead. That gives you the best of both worlds in terms of usability (rechargable when you can) and emergency preparedness.

While the 8060 is a great flashlight it isn't designed for discrete every day carry. Fortunately other manufacturers have followed this trend. Fenix has two model lines that utilize AA and AAA batteries. Their L2D offers an impressive 175 lumens in turbo mode and lasts 2.4 hours using two AA batteries. In low power it lasts 55 hours at 11 lumens. Do some research and you'll find other manufacturers that offer "tactical" lights with high output that use AA or AAA batteries.

For "non-tactical" use I would recommend the Petzl Zipka Plus headlamp.  It uses a retractable headband so it's very compact. Worn on your forehead it provides more than enough light to walk around and leaves both hands free. The retractable headband means you can also slip it over the back of your hand when you want more directional lighting while still leaving both hands free to grasp/manipulate objects. Powered by three AAA batteries it's rated to last 100 hours in brightest mode and 150 in economy setting. With that kind of run time you don't even need to carry spare batteries. I keep one Zipka in every bug out bag and several scattered around the house. They're great for bedtime reading when you don't want to disturb your spouse and handy in power outages.

[ericire12]

Why not just carry one flash light and extra batteries? Seems simple 

+1 on the traditional Alkaline

+1,000 on the headlamps -- They are a gift from God.