Flashlight for my son

[guntotin_fool]

Is he still one to wear jammies to bed? or a pair of sweats?
I would propably got for one of the mini-mags with a led or a PP 4AA for general night use and one of those mini photons or similar tied to his jammies or sweats. Bright enough to find the privy in the night, nothing worse than that.

I would also modify his light so it is strictly his. With a mini mag. buy a couple in different colors, and then trade the tail cap and the flared reflector holder between the two to make it impossible to have it "borrowed" without it being ID'd. With the polypro, I would light sand the smooth part of the bottom with fine sand paper or steel wool then write his initials or name with a sharpie. The roughing it up means it will stay on the body and not rub off.

As far as not sending him with a decent light, My first camping experience was at a camp with NO outside lights at all in the woods of western Massachusetts. The cabins were as dark as tombs at night after the counselor put out the coleman latterns, and my el cheapo steel flashlight with a plastic head did not last the first night. On the third night, the kid above me got sick and by the time he found a working flashlight to make the trip outside he had covered most of my stuff with the days lunch and dinner. YOU think about living for the rest of a week with one set of only slightly barfed-on clothes.......

 

[Tremendo]

EVery kid is different. I've got a 4 year old that knows when he needs a light, go find one of Daddy's. Even though he has his own little lights, he goes for Daddy's U2 normally, sometimes the yellow G2 with the G&P LED conversion kit. Of course, if I'm around, he asks for my FireFly3 I EDC, and he know how to get to the different levels. (Flashaholic in the making.)

If my 13 year old son went camping, I'd give him a generic semi wide beam light, I wouldn't be too concerned about massive throw like the SL PP 4AA LED. I'd probably give him the L2T Fenix, due to good runtime and waterproof. Extra Litium AA's would get him by for a while, depending on time frame. As a back-up, the G2 with G&P, and both of these should be pretty tough. If I wanted to stay all AA, I'd go for a standard 1AA Fenix with 2 stage. Maybe also give him a 2AA mag with LED conversion, as a "you can lose this one" light. If I was concerned about the $ or potential loss (or stolen), I'd give him a couple Mags with 2AA, 1 with LED, 1 normal. Lots of Lithium AA's, or at least Energizer Titaniums, very cheap at Sam's and still good. Also a .99 Fauxton from Lighthound. Very bright for what it is.

My 4 year old son would get a couple different color .99 Fauxtons, but also 1 "good" light. Probably the Fenix L2T. And a mag 2AA LED hidden in his bag as an extra.

 

[Warp]

I would also modify his light so it is strictly his. With a mini mag. buy a couple in different colors, and then trade the tail cap and the flared reflector holder between the two to make it impossible to have it "borrowed" without it being ID'd. With the polypro, I would light sand the smooth part of the bottom with fine sand paper or steel wool then write his initials or name with a sharpie. The roughing it up means it will stay on the body and not rub off.

Definately good ideas there.

As for the lunch and dinner on your clothes...

 

[Burgess]

Writing his name on things is always a wise move.

Items tend to get mis-placed or forgotten, especially at such a young age.


And it helps to discourage "unauthorized borrowing".

Can't go wrong with an Inova Radiant 2AA. Very useful.

Only 20 bucks at Target stores. Load it with L91 Lithiums.

 

[skalomax]

Should get this light. Decent Brightness and Great Battery Life, 2levels of brightness.http://members.aol.com/mlt113/myhomepage/flashlightbr2d.html

 

[cavanaug]

I would suggest you capitalize on this "opportunity" with your son.


Buy 2 mini-mags (different colors), a nite-ize drop-in, an smjled, and 10 batteries. If you have the cash and depending on how much you want to go into this, you could also get a zts tester to teach him about batteries. And if you wanted to go really nuts, you could get a light meter.

Show your son the stock flashlight, then show him how to take it apart and put in the nite-ize drop in.

Help him experiment with which one is brighter, which one runs longer on one set of batteries etc.

Get an smjled, and repeat the process, let him note differences in brightness, runtime etc.

When it comes time for his outing, let him pick which configuration he wants (Or maybe let him take both!!!). You get the chance to let him make a choice on what *he* likes best about the flashlight.

PS. Be careful though, this is how flashaholism starts...

--
John

 

[Bror Jace]

I liked WNG and guntotin'_fool's posts the best.

No need to 'break the bank' and give him a $25 light ... although I'm sure there's a part of you that wants him to have the very best.

A solid, $10 light is a pretty good compromise ... that Craftsman Endurable sounds like a wise choice.

I'd also give him a cheap ($2-3) 2-AA back-up light in case something happens to light #1.

If he has to rely on light #2, it will make
better appreciate the good light and he's more likely to be more careful with items entrusted to him in the future.

Definitely send him out with two lights.


--- Bror Jace

 

[pilou]

A minimag is probably OK for a 10 year old (can get a mini and a 3D with batteries for $20 at Costco), but for a much younger child, there is always the risk of accidentally unscrewing and droping/losing the head assembly.

 

[vector_joe]

I've been going back and forth on this topic whether to go nice and moderate price or just go with something durable and cheap.

It really depends on the kid. So you have to evaluate what level of responsibility they can handle.

So in general I am going to suggest this 2 pack (sorta like Bror Jace suggested) from rayovac (industrials) http://rayovac.com/flashlight/industrial/ind_I2AA2D.htm
it comes with a 2xD and a 2xAA and the batts and I believe you can get them at Home Depot and the like. The yellow is easily identifiable and you could write his name with sharpie on it for ID.

I would also get a few of the photon clones and with the key ring attach to different objects (like his back pack or waist pack and other similar objects that he could attach to).

 

[Bror Jace]

I was in Wal-Mart the other day ... and I had to check the flashlight section, of course.

No surprises (hasn't been any in a while) but I did take an extra notice of the 2-packs of flashlights, typically a 2D-cell model along with a 2AA-cell model. Numerous brands, Ray-O-Vac, Garrity, etc ...

These are the kinds of things I was thinking about when I posted above. Good enough for everyday use and it's not a HUGE deal if they don't come back. :shrug: The sets were being sold for $10-$15 and I think would be ideal for a kid's camping trip ... along with a 2nd set of batteries for each.