Sunday, February 1, 2015

Survival kit part 5 light

Now survival kits tend to be pretty small and torches tend to be pretty big, so we have a slight conflict here.

As some of the streets and paths where I live are not lit, I pretty much always carry a torch, Ok if I'm popping down the shops at noon I probably wouldn't bother to take a big torch, but a little torch lives in my pocket more or less all the time.
 My torch of choice these days is a Cree T6 (I've reviewed it here before) for a pretty small torch it packs a lot of light, a zoom head that will throw a square beam (don't ask) 50+ meters and all the light you could want to find your around at night.  It does have a drawback for a survival torch in that battery life on full power is around an hour or so, and it uses a 18650 battery so you can't buy them in normal shops.
 Perhaps a better option for a survival torch is the Cree Q5, this is smaller and gives a lot less light, still plenty to find your way around at night though.  Battery life is a few hours, and the big bonus is it runs off a normal AA battery, cheap and easy to get and carry a spare. Ok it doesn't have different modes or a zoom head, but if you just want to find your way down off a pitch black hillside it'll do the job (really I've done it).
 By the way if you are still using the old fashioned type torches, you really should check out some of the new LED type, you'll be amazed at how bright some of these things are compared to the old torches, even good ones like the old Maglites.
 A keyring torch is a good idea too, chances are you'll have it with you all the time, Ok battery life is crap and you'll struggle to find your way about with it, but it'll give you some light to see what your doing.
 A candle can be handy too, at one time I had one in my kit.  you could use it for light, or helping start a fire some people suggest you can eat them, that's maybe Ok if you have a tallow candle but not recommended with normal candles. If you do carry a candle wind some fine wire around it, it might come in handy for something later and takes up no space that way.

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