Real life Scenerio -

We had a blackout this evening. Bad weather here in New Jersey and it happens on occasion.
I knew it would be a matter of time before the power came back on so this blackout would be
a great test bed for some of the newer lights i had. Now beam shots aside, amps per LED, etc
none of the following specs matters when the lights are out. Its the specs i look at last that
make the difference between a well designed light or a high output poorly designed light,I dont mention
poorly designed with low output. OK,Lights out and its dark outside. All eyes are now on you.
They may not see anything at this second but even the little ones expect you meaning me to create
instantaneous light. They know about the cases of flashlights. They see me tearing them up and rebuilding them.
Well, what are you waiting for Dad? im thinking ts been 10 seconds and i better have charged batteries??
What should i grab first? Nope…Not that one. Its doesn’t tail stand. The Throwers? Emergency light
yes but not this kind …So i grab 3 lights and as many batteries as i can hold. 2 Apex 1 SR King…Oh
I do manage to put a Shadow 750 i just reassembled in my pocket. I just stabbed myself!..
Yes, that’s exactly what i did. The JP Morgan of luminescence that i am decided to mod the Shadow 750,
one of the mods was a Laser sharp 4 prong Assault bezel x 2! Looks mean, and slices right thru some heavy
cotton shorts like a hot blade thru cold butter. Im purple but no one can see me. I manage to get 3 cells into
the Apex with almost no light, double check the cells for correct position…And light is now in
abundance. Everyone is smiling now. Im Superman with a bad leg. I load up the 2nd Apex
and SY king. All lights tail standing and on Med or Low power
and its brigher now than before the power was cut. I hand my wife the SR King
and show her how to toggle on high, and kids are off to sleep. The 2 Apex are switched to
High and. Wow.That strange feeling i get in a blackouts. that feeling is now gone.
I guess the brightly lit living room gives me a feeling
were no having a blackout. I see the wife walk past me and goes an takes a s
hower with the SY king lighting up everything behind and in-front of her.
Shes not aiming it just walks on as if nothing has happened. I figure this
is a great time to test out some throwers and perhaps locate a down electrical
line or someone who needs a hand. I hang 1 Apex from my belt loop and i load up the M3LT
and Jetbeam M2S. I step outside and its pitch black I cant see 1 foot in-front
of me. I can only hear some chatter far away and crickets. I stick the Jetbeam in
my pocket and light up teh Apex and ….HolyS-t…Its a street light in the dark.
One huge ultra bright hot spot the size of a house. I can see far down perhaps 5-6 blocks clearly and anyone who didn’t have light does if there anywhere near me. Much better now, so i grab my Jetbeam and i point towards some down branches 100 feet away and
power up. I kill the power on my Apex and hang it again. The Jetbeam makes easy work of letting
me see in detail if branches have downed some electrical lines. Thats a negative lines above me are fine.
The spill is perfect for navigating down the dark road without having to switch lights.
So as i walk down a pitch black street im slowly aiming at the electrical lines above and using the spill
to help navigate over branches and stuff blown in the storm.
There’s a house i know well in the distance and its an easy 400-500 yards away. I know where the
house is located so i point the Jetbeam in the distance and viola , one well lit up home. Divergence
helps illuminate the entire house and its a big home. I then do a little juggling to get the M3LT and
with 1 free hand stick this Jetbeam in my pocket. i give the overhand grip some thumb power and Ahhh…OK,
that is one absolutely perfect beam.Meaning i can see how the lens creates a perfect beam 8-12 inches
in front of the lens, creating outer beam and inner beam and both ( correct me if im wrong) deflect from one an other and create 1 super tight hot spot that has zero spill i can see, divergence is minimal at best to my
untrained eye. The house i just lit up a few minutes ago with the Jetbeam is now partially lit by a very bright
spot light. So tight i can move it and direct most of the light thru a window or place it on a door and keep
the window a few feet away in darkness. Now this is Tactticool. I play around with the beam for a little while
i can see someone now looking out the window, its annoying.Well, sorry, I’ll aim at the 2nd floor window and
with a few ricochets the left side of the house is lit from the inside. Well that was a lot of fun but time to get back to the house.Throwers in pocket and the Apex carves a freight train size path thru the dark and “ohh Yes”
no mistaking that’s my entire house in the distance plus my neighbors and all those tree’s in the back drop.
I walk in I can see the the the SR king at work and the shower running. I go over to take a look, And yup that’s
my wife. So i feel up the SR King , that was a close call. I cant touch it its so too man hot and i grab a towel and unscrew the head and unload the cells for quick cooling. Wife complains ” Hey put the lights back on.
I grab the 2nd Apex power it up and grab all the parts of the SRK. Its fine just needs a cool down.
Apex still running, warm, and no drop in output i can notice. The 2nd Apex makes it way back to the
living room maybe warm at best. The SR King has a funny smell i think something was melting
in the battery tube. Another 10 minutes and electricity has been restored. Wife doesn’t even know.
Kids asleep and im still charging up cells at this moment. I’ll leave the rest and
details alone at the moment. Thought i would share how a few lights make on heck of an interesting evening.
Oh, my leg has a nice cut that i bandaged up. And i did fire up the Shadow briefly but left it, as i only had 1 good leg and pocket left…

Isn’t it nice when, at least for a few minutes anyway, it’s all worth it?

Good stuff! I really enjoyed reading it. How long was the power out in total?

Last time we had a black out the wife grabbed a light before I did. It still hurts!

worth it? They can shut the power down once a week, i would be greatfull. Comparing
flashlights in total darkness is so much easier. If there was a gray area or 2 lights that
were indistinguishable from one another, pure dark makes it that much easier. I mean dark
as in you cant see 2 feet in front, and moonlight is almost none…

Power was out for close to 2 hours…

Waw,all sorta came together for a breif moment,your moment to SHINE.My only image of new Jersey is from Manhattan towards the colgate clock at nearing dusk.Then from Liberty state park back towards Manhattan at sunset.Hard to picture darkness with that iconic picture in my head.Would have loved to have snapped a couple of photos.

As a small boy in the 70s.We had regular power cuts in the evenings.The Miners strikes[coalminers].All my family wher coalminers,dad,grandad,uncles,inlaws,and all ther circle of freinds.Quite a few years after the power cuts.I realised it wasnt my Grandad throwing the switch turning all the lights off in the uk.He told me it was his job and everyone used to say when the lights went off,its ya grandad again turning the lights off,sorta like them moment ya realise Father Christmas might not be real[which he is OFFCOURSE].Leaves a wonderfully everlasting memory when i see or read about a…POWER CUT.I privately blame my Grandad and smile.
Now ile find it hard not to picture yr Wife In The Shower :wink:
Great story.Great memories.Thanks for shareing

DON…

Cool read. Funny thing is I just had a brief blackout and my mag was the first light i got to and the 5led dropin made short work of the dark. Concern got the best of me though as I though, what about runtime….Hence my search here for a firefly or long runner on primaries or rechargeables… Reccomendations anyone?

Aslo, My girlfriend loves my lights!!! Is that what people mean when they say “keeper”? 8)

Yesterday we had storm and power outage for few hours. I was just discussing about flaslights with some of my cycling friends. Took my XM-L zoomer and put it tailstand on the table on high mode. Continue with conversation as nothing happend :wink:

Does that zoomie get hot on high?

Yes (of course), but not too much, you could still hold it in hand. It was on high at least 1/2h. It is driven at about 2.1A +/- 0.15A (depends on battery). I had to add thermal paste under led star as there was none. It has unjoying next mode memory, but for the price I can live with it.

Could you please post some pictures of the Shadow 750. I’ve been wanting to get one to modify. Would really love to see some pictures around the head and bezel. How are the leds secured? Thank you,

Power outages got me started on LED flashlights a few years ago. We get winter storms here, living in a rural forested area, the power goes out from heavy snows and/or wind. The only question is; will it be minutes, hours, or days before it comes back on. At least 3/4 of my LED lights are worked around running for 5-6 hours without battery change or overheating. Mule lights over the kitchen counters, dining table, reading lights, light for the bathroom, lanterns for the bedrooms, pocket light, spare batteries, chargers that use the car battery, head lamp to get around and work. Stoke the wood stove and just try to get comfortable.

The other drill is hunting for the downed power lines. A good power thrower helps here. If you are lucky enough to be able to report where a downed line is to PG&E, you may shave hours or days off the outage; you will be bumped way up on the list if they already know where to go for the fix.

That was a great read, thx for sharing!

Agreed.