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Flashlights & Lanterns
Related Topics
Whether it's being caught out on the trail after dark, finding the latrine in the middle of the night, or simply wanting to read a book inside your tent while snugly tucked in your sleeping bag, lighting is extremely important for any outdoor trip. And sometimes for the unexpected outdoor adventure as well! Ever been on a day hike that turned out longer than you expected, leaving you stumbling in the dark? Not only is lighting important, the size and weight of it will often determine whether or not you bring it along. Get one that you find convenient to carry at all times and follow the Boy Scout motto to "Be Prepared."
There have been some great advances in lighting in recent years. My favorite is the LED light. I used to be a big fan of the Mini Maglite, which I will describe later, but the features of the LEDs far outweigh the Mini Maglite for my personal use. I have since delegated my Mini Maglite to home duty. Although I love my LED headlamp, there are still situations that it is not ideal. Like everything else in life, the different lights available to us all have their pros and cons. I will discuss some of the features to consider when purchasing your own lights for your camping and backpacking trips.
When it comes to personal lighting, there are several things to consider when choosing your type of light. There are primarily two types of lights available to the backpacker due to size and weight limitations: incandescent and LED. There are some small fluorescent lights out there, but their still-considerable size and weight pretty much limits them to car camping.
One of the most amazing flashlights is one that can actually fit on your keyring! In fact, that's exactly where I keep one of mine. I personally have an O-4 Mini Task Light that I purchased from The LED Light Company. You'll find quite a few choices out there in the market, but I really loved their selection and personal service when making my purchase. And I found their prices very good! These tiny LED lights put out some very impressive light for the least amount of weight possible. Another is called the Photon and it is only about one inch long and, at half an ounce, nearly weightless! It's tiny enough to fit on a key chain in your pocket, so there is no reason to ever be without a flashlight. A friend of mine went on a rugged, cross-country day hike that unexpectedly lasted beyond daylight, but because he just happened to have the Photon with him, he and his friend got out without any mishaps. This is an excellent item to keep in your backpack, fanny pack, purse or pocket at all times.
If you get stuck setting up your tent or cooking in the dark, it is nice to have both hands free. Yes, you can hold a flashlight in your mouth, but believe me, this will get old quickly, is not in the slightest bit convenient, and can make you feel like gagging. You might even experience a similar problem that one of my hikers did in the Canyon. She went to the composting toilet in the middle of the night. While clenching a Mini Maglite between her teeth, she prepared to use the restroom. When she sat down, the flashlight dropped into the depths below—still turned on! Needless to say, she went without a flashlight for the rest of the trip!
As you might guess, one of the most useful type of lighting in this situation is a headlamp. With the arrival of LED, you now have some remarkable choices. Some of the newest ones include a clip-on style that you can use on a hat brim, minimizing weight even further by not having the elastic band to hold it on your head. But even the headlamps with an elastic band are much lighter than their older cousins. Because the lamp and battery are so lightweight, not nearly as much support is needed in heavy elastic to hold it in place on your head.
There are several things you should be aware of when using a headlamp. Remember that you have a Cyclops beam of light shining brightly from your forehead. Be careful when looking up to talk to someone, you'll blind them and totally ruin their night vision! I cannot tell you how irritating it is trying to talk to someone who is shining their light straight in your eyes. Many headlamps have the beam section on a hinge so you can face it downwards to avoid this problem. Try to remember to use it! The direction of my Petzl's beam cannot be redirected, therefore I will wear it around my neck while walking around or talking to someone. Its beam points slightly down and illuminates the ground without blinding someone when I come up to them.
Another option for lighting is the basic flashlight, and of course and, you can get these with LED or incandescent bulbs. As I mentioned above, the LED is much lighter and tends to be a better choice when considering the weight of your backpack. Remember, ounces do matter when you are carrying your entire house on your back! There are many excellent brands of flashlights out there; Energizer, Mini Maglite, Rayovac, REI, Coleman, Princeton Tec, Petzl are just a few of the choices out there. When making your decision, look at the features and weight of each and choose one that provides the type of beam and brightness that you will require for your particular needs.
By the way, for those of you who own a Tekna or are looking for one, they have been bought out by Rayovac, the battery company. Unfortunately, the Tekna has been discontinued and Rayovac doesn't make any replacement parts. However, there is an excellent resource, Tektite Industries,Inc., for bulbs and parts for quite a few Tekna flashlights. If you don't see what you're looking for, give them a call at the toll-free number listed on their site.
Before the arrival of LED, my favorite flashlight was the Mini Maglite. There were several reasons I liked this one over all of the others. Because it is constructed of aircraft aluminum, it is very durable. This is always important for me since my gear gets abused in the rocky environment of Grand Canyon, and it has fallen a time or two (or three or four)! To turn it on or off, as well as for changing the beam from a flood to a spot light, you simply turn the head piece of the flashlight. There are no switches that break or turn on accidentally inside of your pack (using up your batteries). One of the nicest features is the spare bulb stored in the tail cap! And by removing the head piece completely and setting the flashlight inside to hold it, you have a 360° area light. And last, but not least, several companies make a webbing head strap that holds the Mini MagLite on your head, allowing you to keep your hands free.
A problem with any headlamp or flashlight is that while helping you see things clearly within the beam of light, they prevent you from seeing anything outside of that circle. After turning the light off, it takes a while for your eyes to become adjusted to the dark again. I like to allow my eyes to adjust to the dark and use a light as little as possible. You'd be amazed at how much you can see if you use your night vision. As a ranger in the Canyon, I often hiked out at night, rarely using a light. If there is any moonlight at all, the more popular trails are very distinct and easy to follow. If you see someone hiking like that, do them a favor and don't shine your light into their eyes!
The main problem with the lights shown above is that they all require batteries. Batteries are heavy, expensive, and polluting, so I try to limit my use of them. Thanks to one of my hikers, I've recently discovered (and fallen in love with) Krill lamps, electroluminescent light sticks that do use two AA batteries, but you get 50 hours of light from them versus five to seven hours for the lights listed above. In addition, the bulb life is rated at 2000+ hours and often lasts for more than 3000 hours!
Without the batteries, the light weighs a mere ounce! Seriously! The Krill lamp is not bright enough for some things, but it is, by far, the light I use most often. I carry the Mini MagLite for those times I need a very bright light but use the Krill for everything else. I've always carried an extra pair of batteries, now I just carry them in my Krill and use it in whatever situations I can. The Krill is especially useful during the heat of summer when I want to start hiking early to avoid the heat. These lights are ideal for night hiking!
An unexpected but delightful surprise was the fact that wildlife is not bothered by the light at all! Ever wanted to see one of those ringtails always trying to get into your pack? Here's your chance!
If you've ever seen or used those chemical lightsticks that you break to activate, then you'll know the kind of light you get from one of these lamps. Chemical lights have always been very lightweight, but unfortunately they are not reusable. Once used, they are worthless trash. You cannot turn them off either; they usually burn well into the night after you want to go to sleep. Krill lamps use a more powerful version of the technology used in Indiglo watches. They turn on and off by simply twisting the base.
The light is night vision compatible, which makes it an excellent choice for night hiking and chores around camp. The light produced is soft and complements human night vision by stimulating the rods in your eyes. In contrast, the light from a flashlight stimulates the cones in your eye resulting in "night blindness" when you look away from the flashlight's illuminated area or turn it off.
There are several different lamps and colors to choose from, but for backpacking purposes, I highly recommend the Green Extreme 180. The other colors are primarily used as markers for military and emergency service applications. They are extremely durable; I can vouch for that. If I can't break it, I don't think you will!
If you are looking for a brighter lamp to use just around camp, then you have a couple more choices. The first one is the candle lantern, shown to the left. They are not extremely bright, but if you have a light-colored tent, they are probably bright enough to read by. I have a Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight, which has white walls, making it very bright and much easier to read by candlelight. If your tent is darker colored, I wouldn't count on being able to read with the candle lantern; too much of light is absorbed by the darker material.
My main complaint with candles was that they could be very messy and inefficient. If I moved around inside of the tent and accidentally knocked the candle lantern hanging above, the wax would spill all over the inside of the glass globe. I do not know how often I ended up cleaning my globe, but it got tiresome. Also the candle would not always burn down to the end. So you ended up with a lot of messy wax that had to be carried out. One time down in the Canyon, I had a candle melt in the heat of the day while on a day hike. The wax ended up all over my GoreTex and down sleeping bag! That did it! There had to be another way.
I was introduced to an oil insert for the lantern. The use of advanced thermoplastics and high temperature adhesives led to the development of the Ultralight oil lantern and the Candoil oil insert. Now instead of burning candles, my Candoil insert uses lantern oil and fits into my candle lantern. You can use any lantern oil, but Ultra PureT oil burns cleanest and doesn't get smoky. It offers about 12 hours of light per fill up, which turns out to be much lighter in weight than carrying candles. The light is also much more even, and now if I knock the lantern, there is no mess. I have had oil seep out from under the lid, so I've begun carrying the oil separately in a tiny Nalgene bottle. It's definitely been worth the time it takes to transfer the oil to the lantern.
Another option for camp lighting is the combination butane/propane canister lantern. These have come far in the last few years. My first Camping Gaz lantern had a canister that could not be removed before the fuel was used completely. Now the canisters have a self-sealing connector so you can dismantle them in the middle of a tank. This is especially useful if you have a Camping Gaz Turbo stove that uses the same canister since they are interchangeable. Coleman also makes a similar style called the Peak 1 Micro Lantern (8.8 oz without fuel).Unfortunately Coleman recently purchased the Gaz product line and it is more difficult to find the fuel. Apparently they only sell huge quantities, and this prevents many smaller stores from being able to carry the product.
The main problem with either of these lanterns is that they are pretty heavy for backpacking purposes. In fact, the only time I use mine is for truck camping. The Coleman weighs 8.8 ounces and the Camping Gaz 7 ounces. Both weights are without the fuel canister. This can help make for a heavy pack! I know, it seems so light! But those ounces have a tendency to turn in pounds in the pack. Don't kid yourself, each ounce matters.
You'll also find more detailed information in The Backpacker's Handbook: Second Edition by Chris Townsend.
