We are preparing for our yearly hurricane season again. Often we get power outages ranging from a few days to about a week or two.
Some desired characteristics are:
- a loop handle
- primary batteries (non-rechargeable)
- I have no access to power during the outage
- power consumption is obviously an issue but I can stock up on batteries
also we are looking for some lanterns where battery life is more important since they will be on when the sun is down. I noticed UST 30-day duro lantern may be a good fit but I am not fixed on it.
Frankly I am overwhelmed by the technical detail here on flashlights and so wonder if some obvious recommendations can be made. Thank you!
Don't sweat the flashlight mumbo-jumbo, you're in survival mode during a hurricane outage and nobody's going to care about whether your new Okyluma is the poop, or not.
I'm in Miami and went 84 hours without power during Irma last September, but I had water, which is to me is more important than power, if you have to be without of one for shorter periods. I could shower at will during the sweltering days AND flush my toilets. Winning MAGA.
I'm in a condo and have a small Harbor Freight Storm Cat 900w generator and while I can't use it due to 02 killing everybody around me, I fired it up one day to grind some coffee beans, so that's where my priorities were.
I've had survival preps dialed for the past six years.
Here are my takes:
Go to a Dollar Store and buy those little clear cup candles for a dollar, the ones with about 4-5oz. of wax in them, not the votive/tea candles, but they need to be in clear vessels without any labels blocking the light. Get a bunch, because unless you're painting tin soldiers, or sewing something, 3-4 candles around a moderately sized room should be sufficient for navigating and seeing what's what. They burn slowly and are safe even if you knock them around.
I have all sorts of lanterns--propane, white gas, 6v, AA/D and the like, but the only reason I ever needed to fire one up was when I wanted to laugh at my unprepared neighbors using their stupid phones for seeing in the dark, otherwise it was just a flashlight, or the candles.
Next up and this is important:
You'll need some fans, if just to circulate the air around your hot behinds. 02 Cool sells a 10", 2 speed 12v/9v jobbie that takes 8/6 D batteries depending on the iteration. I have one of each. They come with 12v/9v barrel connectors inputs, so you can use 12v lead acid batteries with an appropriate connector. Just stock up on D batteries, since the fans are low drain and 8 D batteries last 2 plus days on high, longer on low.
For cooking, get 1-2 of those Coleman single burner propane stoves, that fit on the 1# Coleman bottles. These will let you heat up whatever you want. A $25 Char-Broil propane BBQ will also let you cook meats and such. The fuel is the same, so spend money on those. Get a pour over coffee maker, or standard tea kettle if you indulge in either. Your $3,000 Jurra whiz-bang espresso maker won't be working, nor will your $16 Mr. Coffee.
If your water goes out, but you have access to fresh water like I do (I live on a lake/canal system), get a couple of Sawyer Mini/Squeeze 1 water filters. They won't filter out viruses, but this is America, not some 3rd world stink hole. You just want to get the bacteria out of the water. Have buckets handy for storing water for the toilets. Bass Pro Shops sell Sawyer filters and they're not expensive. Google 'gravity bucket system'.
Canned goods like soups, stews and chilis are good, as well as dry goods. Remember extra water for cooking/cleaning.
Don't fixate on illumination, as that's probably the least of your worries.
Chris
