Bug Out Bag Light

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Raymond1000

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Oct 8, 2006
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Costco is selling Solar Lite flashlights, two for twenty bucks. They are solar charged with CR2032 battery backups. They claim to give 10 hours of 40 lumen light for a full solar charge. They also say the light will hold a full charge for 3 years.

This looks like a good deal for a bug-out bag. Not a super bright light, maybe. But a little light you can depend on is better than a great flashlight full of dead batteries.

Does anyone have experience with this brand or these lights?
 
no, never had experience w/ that brand. IMO, try it out and play around w/ it to see if its to your liking. In my bag I have a faux-ton light from CountyComm as well as a Streamlight Stylus pen. Its just personal preference when it comes to lights. Just make sure you have a back-up light for the one you mentioned, preferably using batteries:thumbup:

I forgot that I had a MightyLight mini flashlight/lantern
 
Before my collection of flashlights expanded, my standby emergency flashlight was the Maglite Solitaire. Now I lights from Novatac and things like the SureFire E-series tucked away, my two particular favorites being the E1L and the Backup.

These are, you might want to note, significantly more expensive than the Costco and Maglite models.
 
Whatever light you get, get one that uses CR123 batteries. They are not as effected by temperature and have a 10 year shelf life. A surefire E1L would be a goooooood choice.
 
You want something with lithium (CR123) batteries. 10 year shelf life, and no change in cold or hot temps. :thumbup:

I highly recommend a Surefire G2L or similar. It's a very utilitarian light that won't break the bank. Some of the LumaMax series or EXL series have dual outputs that would be nice, but aren't totally necessary.
 
While the CR123 batteries have their advantages, in a SHTF bug out situation I would be more concerned about long term supply. AA will be found long after local supply of CR123 is dried up. You're limiting yourself by not including a good AA light, be it a mini-mag or a Fenix L2D. My $.02.
 
Another possibility is the Streamlight Poly 2AA led-waterproof 25 lumens about $25.--. I like mine use lithium batteries.
 
Gov't Mule said:
While the CR123 batteries have their advantages, in a SHTF bug out situation I would be more concerned about long term supply. AA will be found long after local supply of CR123 is dried up. You're limiting yourself by not including a good AA light, be it a mini-mag or a Fenix L2D. My $.02.
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+1
Its alot easier to find AA, AAA and the like. It wouldn't hurt to have both and I think some lights are to use half the normal amount of batteries in a pinch.
 
Gov't Mule said:
While the CR123 batteries have their advantages, in a SHTF bug out situation I would be more concerned about long term supply. AA will be found long after local supply of CR123 is dried up. You're limiting yourself by not including a good AA light, be it a mini-mag or a Fenix L2D. My $.02.
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In a SHTF situation the first thing missing from the shelf would be AA's.
 
knifenut1013 said:
In a SHTF situation the first thing missing from the shelf would be AA's.
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In a SHTF situation, if you're prudent enough to have flashlights set aside for that express purpose, I would hope that you also thought ahead and stocked up on the battery type you need. :)
 
I own a couple Surefires and Streamlights but most of my recent purchases have been Fenix and NiteCore lights. All my Fenix are in the P series - P1, P1D CE, P2D, P2D Q5, PD20 Q5. These are all single CR123 lights and are smaller, brighter and probably less expensive than any of my Surefires or Streamlights. They're also LED, not incandescent so the bulbs are also more durable and produce a whiter, better quality light IMO.
I'm waiting for the new NightCore EZ AA that I pre-ordered from 4Sevens.com. It's a single AA battery light that is only slightly bigger than the battery itself. It's also a 2 stage twisty (low and high) and has the odd feature of having camera tripod mount at the base.
Check out 4Sevens' site at https://www.4sevens.com/. He's a regular contributor over at CandlePower Forums (you can learn a lot over there about lights). Oh, he offers free shipping worldwide and discounts to CPF members.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, if cost is an issue, you can order CR123s in bulk from sites such as LightHound.com for about a buck a piece IIRC. I think they also offer discounts to CPF members. I prefer also the CR123 lights because of the battery shelf life of 10yrs.
 
Gov't Mule said:
While the CR123 batteries have their advantages, in a SHTF bug out situation I would be more concerned about long term supply. AA will be found long after local supply of CR123 is dried up. You're limiting yourself by not including a good AA light, be it a mini-mag or a Fenix L2D. My $.02.
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I agree with Knifenut1013, AA will be the first to go while the cr123s in the camera section will be one of the latter ones to be snatched up. However, for an extended trip (camping, roadtripping, vacation overseas, etc.), a AA light is definitely the way to go due to its ubiquity.

Raymond1000 said:
Costco is selling Solar Lite flashlights, two for twenty bucks. They are solar charged with CR2032 battery backups. They claim to give 10 hours of 40 lumen light for a full solar charge. They also say the light will hold a full charge for 3 years.

This looks like a good deal for a bug-out bag. Not a super bright light, maybe. But a little light you can depend on is better than a great flashlight full of dead batteries.

Does anyone have experience with this brand or these lights?
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I have these lights from Costco. I had intentions of keeping one in my BOB as well; its light, impact resistant, waterproof (forgot the depth rating), buoyant, and cheap. My current BOB lights include Fenix L1T v.2, Zebralight 501, Petzl e+, and either a Fenix TK10 or Jetbeam III-M (depending on what I'm carrying for the day), and my bag is always next to my 4D Maglite with a Malkoff drop-in. So, I'm not new to lights and I'm still relatively pleased with these Costco lights.

The solar lights are definitely not 40 lumens as advertised, but still very usable white light. I've never done a runtime test, but they've performed flawlessly for 15 minute chores. There's a minor flaw in the UI: to turn the light off, you'll need to cycle through the battery mode. I know some like to just take the batteries out, but that defeats it as a true backup light. I simply put a piece of thick stock paper in the battery compartment so the circuit won't complete, but when needed, I can always take it out. If used properly, this light should last a long time...much better than any of the dynamo crank lights I own.

HOWEVER: my nephews (3 yo twins) have a new fascination with my lights, so I let them use the solar-powered lights because they aren't too bright, big enough not to lose, tough, and obviously not wasteful on batteries. Yet, they happened to kill one of them; the battery no longer recharges. I believe it was left on for several days, thus totally draining the batteries. It works fine on the supplied coin cell batteries though. Again, assuming you don't let this happen, it should last quite a while.

I wouldn't have one as a primary BOB light, but its nice to have around the house. I personally think the best deal at Costco for a BOB is one aisle over. The Leatherman Blast tool and a LGX200 flashlight (which is a rebranded fenix L1t) for a whopping $39.
 
I use rechargeable AAs and AAAs. If the power goes out at home I can recharge them in my car.

I like to give small children flashlights with no constant on switch.
 
Cougar Allen said:
I use rechargeable AAs and AAAs. If the power goes out at home I can recharge them in my car.

I like to give small children flashlights with no constant on switch.
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Here you go. :)

My wife actually loves the couple that I have given her. I sell some of the best flashlights on the market and the only one I can get her to carry is a $.78 one shaped like a pig. :rolleyes:
 
Rechargeable batteries seem to be the way to go. I'd probably go with a two-mode Romisen RC-N3 with Q5 emitter. It can take either a single CR123, or two AAs. Match that with a car charger, as Cougar Allen has mentioned, and seems like it'd be alright.

Those wind-up flashlights just don't seem to get very bright. I bought a few of them hoping to use them in emergency situations, but after realizing how weak they are, and how easy it is to break them, I decided to do a bit more research.
 
Will AA's (or AAA's) go off the shelf first? Of course, but they'll also be easily found in just about any structure in America (I can't speak for other countries). Play a mental game with yourself: walk around today and in every building you enter, think to yourself, "Where could I find AA's here if I needed them?"

I guarantee there are numerous devices you can scavenge them from: remotes, calculators, cameras, toys, clocks, wireless keyboards/mice, etc. Sitting here in my office building, I can look around in a 20 foot radius and spot at least a dozen sources from which to scavenge at least one AA cell, if not more.

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that the only CR123 cells in this whole building are the ones sitting right here in my desk though.

The right AA light (I.E. one with decent voltage tolerance) is great because it can be fed anything: primaries, rechargeables, alkalines, lithiums, etc.

A well regulated AA LED will also give outstanding runtimes these days. The Fenix L2DCE, for example, offers 55 hours of runtime on low (9 lumens). That is plenty of light to accomplish most tasks and will seem very bright to dark-adapted eyes. I don't know what cell-type yields that particular runtime (I think you can get longer with lithium primaries like the Energizer L91) but let's assume for a second that's the max. How many hours a day do you really plan to use a light? With that kind of runtime, how many spares do you really need? I could very easily get through a couple of months with an L2DCE and just a few pairs of L91's which weigh practically nothing.

Or what about one of my other favorite utility lights, the Zebralight H50? I run mine with an AA Eneloop (NiMH cell) as my bedtime reading light every night. I use it anywhere between 30-60 minutes per night on low, and with all honesty I cannot recall when I last charged the Eneloop inside of it. It must be months by now.

A field doc took a Zebra H30 on a two-week trip to South America and even though he used it hours every day, he never once changed the lithium that he started with.

Even if someone were foolish enough not to stock any extra cells in their BOB kit at all, a light like the L2DCE or the H30 would only require that you scavenge in one or two places before you could feed it for ridiculous amounts of time. And if you have lithiums in the light, you can leave them sitting for 10 years and not worry about picking up a dead or leaking light.

It's a no-brainer for me.
 
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Josh K said:
You want something with lithium (CR123) batteries. 10 year shelf life, and no change in cold or hot temps. :thumbup:

I highly recommend a Surefire G2L or similar. It's a very utilitarian light that won't break the bank. Some of the LumaMax series or EXL series have dual outputs that would be nice, but aren't totally necessary.
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+1, the G2L is a GREAT affordable light, and you have to love the stability and 10 yr shelf life of CR123s.

Gov't Mule said:
While the CR123 batteries have their advantages, in a SHTF bug out situation I would be more concerned about long term supply. AA will be found long after local supply of CR123 is dried up. You're limiting yourself by not including a good AA light, be it a mini-mag or a Fenix L2D. My $.02.
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And +1 as well. The Fenix L2D is an awesome light! I have the Surefire at home at my bedside with a decent supply of batteries, but the L2DQ5 goes out with me on trips and while hiking. I'm looking to buy the uprgraded LD20 to EDC to and from work in the city. And the LED mini-mag is nothing to sneeze at either :thumbup:

I recently picked up those energizer "Ultimate Lithium" AA batteries; Energizer boasts a 15 year storage life and excellent performance in extreme temps, not to mention the batteries are absolutely featherlight. So it seems like the best of both worlds to me....
 
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knifenut1013 said:
Do not buy from dealextreme :thumbdn:
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I've ordered several times with no issues. Anyway, the light he linked is 78 cents...no big deal if something goes wrong.

The best solution to the AA vs. cr123 debate is quite simple: get one of each. Not only will it solve the battery issue, but its important to have a spare.
 
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