31st Oct 2008
We Need Light: Emergency Flashlights
Will it be an earthquake, a tornado, a fire, or a hurricane? Maybe it will be a blown tire on a dark stretch of highway. Maybe it will be a flood, or just a late summer brown out. While you can’t predict the time nor the reason you’ll need some emergency lighting, you can be sure that at some point you’ll need it and it won’t be convenient, it might even be life threatening. One way to take away the stress and the fear of those possibilities is to be prepared, to be ready to provide your own sources of light no matter the situation.
We Need Light
One of our most basic needs as humans is a light in the dark. Whether we’re chasing away the boogey man or trying to complete a task after sundown, we need light because our eyes just aren’t equipped to see in the dark. These days we depend on electricity for light, which is fine as long as the lines are connected, but in the case of natural disasters or overloads to the system, it’s important to have a backup or two. Generally, your back up will be flashlights, lanterns, or candles.
Emergency Lighting
According to the Department of Homeland security, you need some kind of battery powered lights in case of emergency. And most likely, those are going to take the form of a flashlight. Let’s look at the different types of emergency flashlights on the market today.
Traditional Flashlights
The traditional flashlight uses batteries to power an incandescent light bulb. This technology has worked for years and will continue to work. The upside is that these flashlights are the cheapest and most common. The downside is that incandescent lights use the most energy and the bulbs burn out the fastest. You’ll need to store a lot of batteries if traditional flashlights are your source for emergency lighting. Additionally, incandescent light bulbs are fragile, so you have to be careful with them.
Manual Power Flashlights
Relative newcomers to the flashlight market are manual power flashlights. These lights require the user to shake, crank or squeeze them to produce the power to light the bulb. These are great for when you have no light and no batteries, but they are not great for providing reliable, long lasting light. I recommend people include these lights as a backup for their emergency lighting.
LED Flashlights
LED flashlights have been on the market for a few years and they are showing themselves to be the best choice for emergency lighting. LED bulbs are the longest lasting and use the least amount of energy. They are shock resistant and offer both broad and narrow beams.
If you are relying on traditional flashlights now for your emergency lighting, make sure you have plenty of batteries and perhaps a spare bulb or two. If you’re thinking about upgrading, we recommend a quality LED flashlight for lasting light and fewer batteries. Additionally, we wouldn’t be without our crank flashlight which provides peace of mind if we were to run out of batteries.
Will it be an earthquake, a tornado, a fire, or a hurricane? Maybe it will be a blown tire on a dark stretch of highway. Maybe it will be a flood, or just a late summer brown out. While you can’t predict the time nor the reason you’ll need some emergency lighting, you can be sure that at some point you’ll need it and it won’t be convenient, it might even be life threatening. One way to take away the stress and the fear of those possibilities is to be prepared, to be ready to provide your own sources of light no matter the situation.
We Need Light
One of our most basic needs as humans is a light in the dark. Whether we’re chasing away the boogey man or trying to complete a task after sundown, we need light because our eyes just aren’t equipped to see in the dark. These days we depend on electricity for light, which is fine as long as the lines are connected, but in the case of natural disasters or overloads to the system, it’s important to have a backup or two. Generally, your back up will be flashlights, lanterns, or candles.
Emergency Lighting
According to the Department of Homeland security, you need some kind of battery powered lights in case of emergency. And most likely, those are going to take the form of a flashlight. Let’s look at the different types of emergency flashlights on the market today.
Traditional Flashlights
The traditional flashlight uses batteries to power an incandescent light bulb. This technology has worked for years and will continue to work. The upside is that these flashlights are the cheapest and most common. The downside is that incandescent lights use the most energy and the bulbs burn out the fastest. You’ll need to store a lot of batteries if traditional flashlights are your source for emergency lighting. Additionally, incandescent light bulbs are fragile, so you have to be careful with them.
Manual Power Flashlights
Relative newcomers to the flashlight market are manual power flashlights. These lights require the user to shake, crank or squeeze them to produce the power to light the bulb. These are great for when you have no light and no batteries, but they are not great for providing reliable, long lasting light. I recommend people include these lights as a backup for their emergency lighting.
LED Flashlights
LED flashlights have been on the market for a few years and they are showing themselves to be the best choice for emergency lighting. LED bulbs are the longest lasting and use the least amount of energy. They are shock resistant and offer both broad and narrow beams.
If you are relying on traditional flashlights now for your emergency lighting, make sure you have plenty of batteries and perhaps a spare bulb or two. If you’re thinking about upgrading, we recommend a quality LED flashlight for lasting light and fewer batteries. Additionally, we wouldn’t be without our crank flashlight which provides peace of mind if we were to run out of batteries.
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Emergency Flashlight, LED Flashlights, Manual Power Flashlight, Traditional flashlight 
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