Let’s See Your “Grab a Light” Lights

Kitchen drawer, hall table, mudroom, windowsill, garage shelf, work table…

We've all got lights that end up as the ones that just hang around to be grabbed when needed.

Maybe not very exciting or pretty or tactical or expensive or having great beams, runtime or output.

But they work and they're there and they get the job done.



Romison RCN3(?) cool white diffused
2xAA / 1 x CR123a
Dereelight EDC C2H (2) l-m-h / h-m-l
1 x CR123a
Xeno EO3 neutral white
1 x AA
4 Sevens (____?) cool white
2 x AA

I have a series of 4sevens atoms on various door hinges, a couple G2 on the nightstand, a Olight I5's under each sink, and a bunch of scattered coast 1xaa zoomies which I got on sale for like $2 each. No matter where I go, though, I always have at least 1 Novatac on me. Oh, I also have a few oclips and other magnetic lights hanging on random corner beading by light switches, extra dark hallways, but they're all out of sight of immediate entry ways. <--free pro tip. If I do have lights by entry ways, they are the dim squeezie lights that barely give off 3 lumens...by design of course.

Other than the copper Martac AAA that is always in my pocket I have two that are most likely to be grabbed-and-gone. Both are Malkoff MD2, one in the nightstand and one on a table in the living room. The rest, except for a couple Surefire G2s in vehicles, are used on a more considered basis. More like when I want to play with them rather than actual needed use.

Nice idea for a thread ;-)

I have a Tool AAA (mod to 4000K LH351d) attached to a magnet on my fridge. I often grab it for a brief look into a drawer full of random tools.

There is a Sofirn HS10 with 16340 (mod to sw45k) hanging by its headband from a nail in the tool room .. very seldom used, tailcap is physically locked out, due to parasitic drain killing the battery in about 2 months

A Sofirn SC21 Pro with 16340 (and mod to sw45k) held by its tailmagnet from a bike hook above the cat's litter box.

Then there is an Emisar D2 w USB 14500 (I use the Red 660nm, it also has a DD4500K 519a) held by its tailmagnet to the conduit over the bathroom lightswitch

And I keep an Emisar D3AA w 14500 and DD4500K 519a, on the nightstand. It also has a tailmagnet, which is handy when I want to hang it from the shower curtain rod in the early morning...

Oh, and, there is a Skilhunt H150 loaded w AA Eneloop, has a DD4500K 519a, in the car.. ;-)

favorite LEDs: red 660nm, sw45k, DD4500k

Wow I have so many lights around at this point it is a little hard to narrow down.
Favorite "grab" lights are Solorforce single battery hosts with Malkoffs,Mag ML25 for taking out the trash,Old Eveready chrome and red plastic 2C with a LED bulb, Old Varta 6V lantern with LED bulbs as well,Paklites.....really the list goes on.
Lately I have been using the recently purchased Wurkkos CL01 lantern mostly because I can set it to green for area lighting

I have a Xeno AA NW like that in my bathroom cabinet, mainly to see if I have a sore throat. I should swap it for something with better CRI, but that is where it lives. I also had that Romison in black, didn't it split to become a 1xAA light. I think I gave it to my mother. She uses alkalines so didn't want to risk anything, I think she also got a blue Xeno and a 3000k Convoy T3 from me.

In terms of a bedside light.. that's currently handled by my Lumintop Tool 2.0 Nichia.
Just the right size.

My beautiful 4 Sevens (2010) Smooth Titanium Preon 1 and 2.

Okay, it’s kinda embarrassing, but for one kind of “grab a light” role, I still use….
Maglite 3-D cells.
If I or my wife hear a bump in the night, then we’re going to grab a Maglite to carry with us when we look around. And I have one in the drivers side door of each car.
They are not the best lights, but it’s really hard to knock a man out with a Thrunite Ti3 AAA in aluminum.
Sometimes, you want a light that you can swing. I know that’s not the only role for a “grab a light” light, but when it is, I still reach for the big old lummox.

I keep most of my lights on a shelf in my closet (a couple of feet from my bed)

These three are kept in specific spots to grab in the very unlikely event that I don’t have a light (or two) on me; the GT mini pro is by the front door- great general beam profile has really good throw with bright spill.
The fireflies E07 is on muggle mode and on a shelf in kitchen/dinette area for my family members to grab- usually I drop the extra lights that I’m using that day (today has a ZL H600fc and a fireflies E04 surge next to it)
The ZL H52Fw is hanging from my bedpost for reading or using in middle of the night.

I also keep an AAA light in the bathroom.

This always seems to be within reach while I'm home. My first and favorite Malkoff. MDC CR123



Carry On!

Or maybe it would seem more "at home" in a setting other than a dull black matt.







Carry On!

lampeDépêche said:

Okay, it’s kinda embarrassing, but for one kind of “grab a light” role, I still use….
Maglite 3-D cells.
If I or my wife hear a bump in the night, then we’re going to grab a Maglite to carry with us when we look around. And I have one in the drivers side door of each car.
They are not the best lights, but it’s really hard to knock a man out with a Thrunite Ti3 AAA in aluminum.
Sometimes, you want a light that you can swing. I know that’s not the only role for a “grab a light” light, but when it is, I still reach for the big old lummox.

Click to expand...

I loved my Maglites for a long time as well. Save the 3 cell body and turn it into a 12v Frankenlite on LED's.

tex.proud said:

Or maybe it would seem more "at home" in a setting other than a dull black matt.

View attachment 94087

View attachment 94088

View attachment 94089

Carry On!

Click to expand...

What emitter are you rocking the Malkoff with?

jon_slider said:

Nice idea for a thread ;-)

I have a Tool AAA (mod to 4000K LH351d) attached to a magnet on my fridge. I often grab it for a brief look into a drawer full of random tools.

There is a Sofirn HS10 with 16340 (mod to sw45k) hanging by its headband from a nail in the tool room .. very seldom used, tailcap is physically locked out, due to parasitic drain killing the battery in about 2 months

A Sofirn SC21 Pro with 16340 (and mod to sw45k) held by its tailmagnet from a bike hook above the cat's litter box.

Then there is an Emisar D2 w USB 14500 (I use the Red 660nm, it also has a DD4500K 519a) held by its tailmagnet to the conduit over the bathroom lightswitch

And I keep an Emisar D3AA w 14500 and DD4500K 519a, on the nightstand. It also has a tailmagnet, which is handy when I want to hang it from the shower curtain rod in the early morning...

Oh, and, there is a Skilhunt H150 loaded w AA Eneloop, has a DD4500K 519a, in the car.. ;-)

favorite LEDs: red 660nm, sw45k, DD4500k
View attachment 83270

Click to expand...

I like what you did to your Wurkkos WK03. The emitter that was stock for that light is crap.

J.J.Rockfish said:

What emitter are you rocking the Malkoff with?

Click to expand...

Neutral White (4000K) 95 CRI Luminous SST-20

I can't be bothered with pictures right now, but the lights I have that fall into this category are my former EDC lights that still work.

1. Leatherman Serac S3 (1xCR123A), currently sitting on my nightstand, shortly to be replaced with my Fenix PD36 TAC, which itself is being replaced with a Fenix TK22 TAC that is on its way to me.

2. Nite-Ize Inova X1 (1xAA, the 11/80 lumen model), currently sitting on my kitchen table, shortly to be replaced by my Nitecore EC11, which has just today been replaced with a new Fenix E20 v2.0 as my EDC utility light.

Not sure what I'm going to do with the Inova X1, because I've always hated it, because its operating mechanism is terrible. And I will also no longer have a need for the Leatherman Serac S3, although it's a great light, even 25+ years later.

I've been car-free for nearly 5 years, so I don't have another place I need to stash a light other than:

1. my handbag, which is where my EDC utility and EDC tactical lights live.
2. my bedside table, which is where my EDC tactical light lives at night.
3. my kitchen table, which is where my "around the house" light lives.
4. whichever bicycle I am riding, which gets a tactical flashlight (the Fenix TK22 TAC, when it gets here, supposedly tomorrow?) on a handlebar mount as a headlamp.
5. my backpacking camping kit, which is where the lights I keep specifically for those purposes live.

For around my apartment..mostly my Lumintop Tool 2.0 Nichia.
(running a 14500.)