My 12 year old daughter is going to sleep away camp this summer. While my wife is being all practical, looking for sleeping bags, etc., I am obviously prioritizing her flashlight.
Criteria:
- 2x AA
- durable
- not overly complex, not too many modes
- budget of $20 USD (i.e.$30 CAD)
appropriate looks for a 12yr old girl (not black, not tactical!)
Any suggestions?
If I don’t get any better ideas, I’ll probably end up getting a mini maglite pro (in blue or red).
My vote goes to Rayovac lights. For kids at camp, durable is good, but dim is good too. Having a super-bright light kind of ruins the “campfire vibes” and you just know it’s going to get shined in another kid’s eyes. I would purposely find a cheap LED light that seems well-built but only around ~20-30 lumens and buy two of them.
Source: 8 years as a flashlight-fanatic camper and 4 years as a flashlight-fanatic camp counselor
Hugsby XP-11 or XP-12 (both under $10) and some 3xAA lanterns from Amazon under $10. Can’t find
the link to the lanterns atm. They work well but the battery slots are very tight so contacts don’t always make contact, can
be easily fixed.
Times sure have changed. We brought smoke bombs, fire crackers, marking pens and shaving cream. Anyways, I like the bright colored Streamlight above for when she drops It in the weeds. I also agree with PilotDog68. Just enough floody lumens to see the path back to the cabin or tent is plenty.
Yes, Rayovac or Energizer lights would certainly be reasonable solutions.
In terms of lumen overkill, I was thinking of also providing a smaller AAA light. (At home she always steals my Preon P0.) However, a single AAA might be too small (i.e. more easily misplaced).
A good AAA back up for under $10 and comes in colors: Astrolux A01
Code ReManGA01 gets it for his under $9 and the attachment point is good for a ball chain (like for dog tags, it breaks away if tangled) it should be easy for her to carry….
I would second the RayOVac lights from WalMart or whatever for the AA one. Or one of the headlamps even….
That is a perfect light, it feels great in the hand and is very distinctive and different from everyone else’s lights, and bright, tough, and girl friendly and carry friendly with it’s clip.
Remember to give her a backup modded light that is at least 2,000lm in case some kid tries to show off the surefire his daddy gave him to impress the other kids.