Great flashlight..

I have always used a pocket pen light at work, I'm a mechanic. Recently I purchased a Streamlight Stylus Pro which is a somewhat fat pen light with a aluminum body that uses two AAA batteries. Holy cow this light is super bright. It's listed at 48 lumens and is supossed to be good for 6.25 hours on the included batteries. Now for the best part: I got mine for less than $22. That's with a discount that we get through my employer, I think the regular price is around $30. Also it's listed as water resistant but I have washed mine in the clothes washer by accident and it's still working great. I know it would be a great BP light.Not sure of the weight, but I'd guess 4-5oz.

I'd be more likely to take an item like that on a day hike than a backpack. But it sounds very bright and pretty durable.

Having discovered the headlamp about 7 years ago, I now wouldn't use anything else, including at home. It's wonderful to be able to light my work area while having both hands free!

I have a Streamlight similar to yours; only mine uses only one AAA. It is always on me. A few years ago, I got into the habit of keeping a small light with all the time. It has been very valuable many, many times.

Yeah those lights are very well made and bright, I am impressed with the product.

I will add though, from reading alot of good information on this site, I now see that #1 a hand held light is not as practical as a headlamp and #2 the super bright light might even be somewhat of a nusiance in the woods. I never stopped to think, who wants all that bright light in the woods at night? I like to get away from all lights, car noise, etc. Plus once your eyes adjust to the dark it doesn't take alot of lumens to see what you need to see out in the woods. I guess emergencies would be the only time I would need a light like this.

It takes surprisingly little light to walk at night. The key is to let your eyes become fully dark adapted. When walking on a decent trail, your feet will tell you whether you are on the tread or whether you have strayed of the path. With a full moon, or close, a light is often not necessary at all. Save the bright light for the rare occasion when it will be necessary; that is one of the virtues of lights with multiple levels. You will find that a headlight is best, but you will usually hold it in your hands so that its shadows will highlight the relief in front of you. It will need to be a headlight when you use your hands, but that is much better than sticking the light in your mouth....

Of course, by necessity, I developed night walking techniques back in the days when there was no alternative to dim lights.

with a full moon, I never need a light to walk at night. if it's cloudy or no moon, I find what works best is a dim *red* light. and I purposefully ensure my headlamp can do this. usually more than enough to walk by.. if I then need to have extra light I can put on the full bright, but actually I find less is more when walking at night.

A clear, open night sky provides quite a bit of light. However, here in the PNW you cannot count on a clear sky.

Heavy tree cover also greatly diminishes the available starlight or moonlight. Of course, there is the "corridor of trees" effect to assist you. In a forest, with a less than clear trail tread (full of rocks, roots) your feet alone cannot be entirely trusted to distinguish trail from not-trail, so one tends to look for an open path between the trees. What makes this one tricky is that some forests make this effect plain and easy to follow, but some do not, by presenting a whole slew of false corridors in every direction you look.

I like having a light with both dim and bright settings, so I can choose the better one for the conditions.

Same here. Best 20 bucks I've ever spent.

Here is the pen light on amazon for 20 bucks... I will try it.

http://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-66118-Stylus-Flashlight-Holster/dp/B0015UC17E

The Amazon link is the old style light with only a 24 lumen output. The new version with the "C4" bulb has 44 lumens. Well worth the extra 5-9 bucks IMHO.

I ended up picking this one up... Not quite as bright, but it's much smaller, and uses only 1 AAA battery. 28 lumens is plenty for me.

http://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-66318-...2050&sr=1-4

you're gonna want more battery run time. decent headlamps can last over a hundred hours per set of batteries. One less thing to worry about (can be kind of a critical thing when your out there). You're also going to need to be "hands free" with most things you need the light for.

I don't decide between a flashlight and headlamp, and take both. Most of the time my headlamp is a $9, 27g Cyclops Atom 1.8 Lumen. (they also make a 5 lumen model that sucks batteries) It lasts up to 15 hours on a set of cheap button cells. It is plenty bright enough for reading and cooking but won't blind companions on accident.

For a flashlight, my most current model is a 13g Tank007 E09. It runs $13-$14 from several different Hong Kong e-tailers. The light has 3 modes (H/M/L) and no stupid strobe/SOS modes! It is rated as High 140 lumens(60 minutes), Medium 60 lumens(180 minutes), Low 10 lumens(1000 minutes) - however I am confident it does not perform THAT well - it is dimmer and shorter lived but a damned fine light. I also carry a diffuser tip that allows it to server "lantern" duties.
A review is here: http://budgetlightforum.com/node/6912

If I plan on hiking in or out at night, I bring brighter lights that operate off of high capacity rechargeable 18650 cells (47g each) flashlight(93g) and headlamp (138g)

Folks should be careful about "runtime" claims from lights that are unregulated because why the produce light for the "runtime", the light level is not necessarily useful. My experience is that inside the shelter 1lumen is enough, camp tasks typically want around 10 lumens, trail hiking 20 lumens, and when I am way finding I want at least 70 lumens, but more is better.

Rather than the surefire I would recommend people to check out the The iTP Light A3 EOS Upgrade Edition ( iTP A3 update review) , which is also $20 for a high efficiency AAA flashlight with good regulation and a nice range of brightness settings (1.5 for 50h, 18 for 4h, 80 for 55min) and weights less than 1oz WITH battery.

My favorite headlamp (I am with folks who love the handsfree) is the Zebralight H51. It's light 1.2oz (3.5oz with NiHM battery and headband) headlamp that runs on a single AA batteries. It has 6 light levels from with good quality regulation (lumens/time: 0.2/19 days, 2.5/3 days, 8/39h , 30/12h, 100/2h, 200/55min). I use the lowest setting for many camp chores. I bump up to 8 lumens for chores were I need to see accurate colors and hiking on established trails. I use higher settles for night hiking when not on an established trail. I like the beam in the original model: it has a hot spot with enough throw for way finding and enough spill to be useful for around the camp. The headband is comfortable and removable - ounce counters can use something lighter. The glow in the dark holder makes it easy to find at night. The only thing this light is missing is a battery life indicator.

Other thoughts on my recommended misc gear page

Thanks verber, that was very helpful.

I'm a headlamp fan too, but saw this on one of Andrew Skurka's gear lists: Fenix Mini LD01. 1 AAA, 3-72 lumens, with visor clip, 0.9oz w/batt. On my wish list.

I carry one of those on my keychain.It is a great light - very dependable, with variable levels of light.

Lee Valley tools has 2 great (and inexpensive $5 and $8) aluminum body LED flashlights. I got all the kids one for Christmas. Should have got one for me as well. They are great! just google "Lee Valley Flashlights" and check them out.

I use FenixTactical products.

http://www.fenixtactical.com/index.html

My headlamp is 277 lumens on max, works great. I use it at work 6-8hrs a day, daily. I've had many of their products and it's all great stuff, highly recommend!

Matt