Bulb: for emergencies, you want an LED flashlight.  Incandescent bulbs use more power, don’t last as long, and break easier.  Go for LED.  (How do you know if you have LED or incandescent?  Incandescent looks like a regular light bulb, LED bulbs usually come in groups and are small, circular bumps)

Battery, hand crank, shake, or solar? depends on who you are and what you need.  I definitely recommend going with both a battery and a hand crank or shake flashlight for emergencies.  Solar is great as well, I’m just not as likely to have it charged up.

Size: again, this depends on what you need.  I recommend having several sizes on hand–small flashlights are easy to carry and store.  Larger flashlights are heavier, use bigger batteries, and generally produce more light.  Don’t forget a lantern or some other hands-free light (headlamp, tripod flashlight, etc), these are indispensible for power outages.

Like the shake flashlight users, many people have been unhappy with the quality of light produced by their crank flashlight.  Those people are generally the ones who either A, expect their battery free flashlight to perform like a battery powered flashlight or B, have not purchased a quality crank light.  As with all of your emergency lighting, take the time, spend the money and buy a quality piece of equipment.

That said, let’s look at a few of the features offered by better crank lights:

Variable power switch: This is a great feature on any of your flashlights as it allows you to save power by switching off some of your available LED bulbs.

Optional wall charger: Obviously, these allow you to charge your flashlight when you have power by plugging it into the wall (that means no cranking!)

Radio: Having an alternately powered radio with your emergency flashlight is a good package.  The radio feature generally increases the size of the flashlight, but if you take this into consideration, this is a nice feature.

Battery/cellphone/ipod charger: These chargers get mixed reviews.  In theory, they are great, and it is very convenient to be able to power multiple items with your emergency flashlight.  In practice though, you have to realize it takes many, many cranks to run these chargers, significantly more than it takes to light the flashlight.  Additionally, finding a charger that fits your cellphone can be tricky.

Wrist strap: With the increased bulk and weight of crank flashlights, a wrist strap is very handy in allowing you to safeguard against accidentally dropping your light and carry other things with the light.

When you do get your crank flashlight, be sure to read and hang on to the instructions.  The manufacturer may have special suggestions to help increase battery life and decrease the number of cranks you need to make.

So, when you’re buying your emergency crank flashlight, remember to look for a quality light and expect to crank that light again, and again, and again.  And when the power is out and you need that light, it will be completely worth it.

Shake flashlights are sometimes called Faraday flashlights because they were developed using a principle discovered by Michael Faraday back in the early 1800s.  The principle is that when you pass a magnet through a coil of wire a small electrical current is created.  When you shake these flashlights, you are moving a magnet through a coil; the current created is stored in a small capacitor in the flashlight and then released when you turn the flashlight on.

Benefits of Shake Flashlights

1. They don’t need batteries.  No batteries to buy.  No batteries to store.  No batteries to go dead.  No batteries to replace.
2. Because they don’t have batteries, shake flashlights work well for long term storage such as in your 72 hour kit, the trunk of your car, or put away for emergency use only.  They also store well in higher temperatures where batteries lose their charge even faster.

Drawbacks of Shake Flashlights

1. You have to shake them to get them to work.  This seems elementary, but should be taken into consideration; you don’t want to rely on a shake light when you have hours of work in the dark ahead of you.
2. They’re not as bright as battery operated flashlights.
3. They contain strong magnets which may be harmful near electronics (including computers), credit cards, and pacemakers.

What to Look For When Purchasing a Shake Flashlight

First of all, look for a reputable brand/company.  A lot of the bad press surrounding these shake lights is the fact that there are many fakes on the market–flashlights that look and act like a shake light, but actually just have a big piece of metal to shake in them with some small batteries to actually power the light bulb.

Second, make sure you’re getting LED bulbs.  These bulbs last longer and use less energy than a traditional incandescent flashlight bulb.

Third, pay attention to quality details.  The magnet and coil inside may last forever, but if the casing, switch, or lens are cheap, the flashlight will not.  I like a flashlight made of a high quality plastic and prefer that it floats.  You may also look for some glow in the dark features which allow you to find this flashlight in the dark (a great idea when you’re turning it off and on to save power).

Are Shake Flashlights the Only lights you need?

We at Emergency Flashlight Now don’t recommend any single emergency light source as your only emergency light source, but we certainly recommend a high quality shake flashlight as an integral part of your emergency lighting plan.

Maybe you hate the thought of flashlights.  Typically, flashlights don’t last very long, the bulbs are fragile, and batteries are expensive and require the right storage conditions.  Maybe you’re confused by the wide variety of flashlights available and frustrated by the poor reliability of traditional flashlights?  If this is the case, you’ll want to check out what LED has to offer to the world of emergency lighting.

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode.  This technology was developed in the late 1990s and is still undergoing changes to enhance it’s brightness, color, and various other features.  But LEDs are already good in flashlights, good enough that we recommend them hands down over traditional incandescent bulb flashlights for basic emergency preparedness.

What’s so great about LED Flashlights?

Well, they use less energy, last longer, and are more shock resistant than any other flashlight you have in your house, so read on to find out what the big deal is, and then go invest in an LED flashlight!

Brighter Flashlights

First of all, LED lights produce much more light per watt which means they are a better choice in battery powered devices.  Batteries in an LED flashlight can last for days while those in a typical, incandescent bulb flashlight will last only hours.  This is a big deal when it comes to planning for emergencies–if you’re using LED flashlights, you can store many fewer batteries, saving you space and money.

Bulbs last longer.

In addition to using less energy, LED bulbs last longer.  The typical incandescent bulb is expected to burn 1-2,000 hours; a flourescent bulb about 30,000 hours.  Compare those numbers to a the expected lifetime of an LED bulb: 50,000 to 100,000 hours!  Additionally, these lights fail by dimming over time rather than burning out suddenly like incandescent bulbs do.

Shock resistant.

Finally, it’s difficult to break an LED light.  In an emergency situation, it would be awful to have a need for your flashlight and find the bulb broken.  LED bulbs seem to be about as shock resistant as the flashlight they are housed in.  That little fact is good for peace of mind, which is pretty much what emergency flashlights are all about!

Good Emergency Flashlight

So, if you’re preparing for emergency situations at home, in your car, your cabin, or wherever you are, you’ll want to consider LED flashlights as one source of backup light for your family. They are dependable, energy efficient, long lasting, and durable, everything you want in an emergency!

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.