Buffalo October 2006 Storm Gallery - Page 5

I was fully prepared for the storm. I could have survived "off the grid" comfortably, safely, & warm indefinitely. I even had enough storable food (requires no refrigeration) to last over a month, & stored enough water to last me a week.

I've loaned out almost all my power inverters, rechargeables, kerosene lights & heaters, LED lighting, fluorescent lanterns, camping equipment, & backup equipment. I didn't have any generators, but didn't need any. I hope I don't get a power failure now, or I'm screwed. All my emergency stuff is out on loan.

My best LED lights, set on low, will light continuously for 76 hours on a single AAA battery (I use rechargeables in everything but my remotes & clocks). They're so tiny, they easily fit in any pocket or on a keychain (search Amazon "shorelite" AA & AAA). It's much brighter than any of those cheap "Squeeze" light keychain lights.

My brightest light (Focusable Luxeon LED modified Mag-Lite... search Amazon "diamond luxeon" or "TerraLux" LED mag lite), will stay near full brightness for 20 hours on 3-D cell batteries (the brighter they are the more power they consume), & give usefull light for over 30 hours. If you shine it in someone's face, you'll blind them! I'm using powerful 10,000mah rechargeable D-cells in it. Being a modified 3-d cell Mag-Lite, it's just the right size & weight to use as a decent club to beat the crap out of muggers, hoods, & crackheads... it might be better to just blind them with it first.

My overall favorite long term large lights, are my 20 LED lantern/desklamps. On high, (20 LEDs) it'll burn bright for over 36 hours, or on low (10 leds, but still pretty bright) for over 70 hours... on just 3-D cells. Here's the kicker... it only costs $9.95 at Boscovs & Rite-Aid.

I don't keep one of those LED AAA shorelites on my keychain though. They're plastic, & my heavy keychain (lots of keys) gets banged around a lot, so I was afraid I'd break it. I use a sturdy all metal Arc-AAA Premium LED light (http://www.arcflashlight.com). It's the brightest single AAA cell non-luxeon light in the world. With a single 950mah rechargeable AAA in it, it'll stay pretty bright for 7 hours, & will still put out usable light for 10 hours. As a repairman, service tech, 90% of the time I need a flashlight, I use this one, which is always on my keychain, & never breaks.

My first LED lights were the Streamlight Stylus AAAA lights (model 65018 at Amazon). They're about the size of a pen but pretty bright for a single (non-luxeon) LED light. They don't make AAAA rechargeables, but the alkalines are easily available cheap (like at Amazon). It uses 3-AAAA cells, which last about 60 hours in it.

All these alternatives are a lot more convenient & safe than open flame candles burning around the house. An ordinary flashlight will only give useful light for about 2 hours before it gets too dim, & the bulb is only rated to last 5-20 hours. Most LEDs last 100,000 hours or more.