So I brought a number of lights camping. one- ts25, two- AL ts10, two- brass ts 10… a h25lr headlamp… cheap dome light from amazon… 2 fw3a… my D2 with uv and 5700k and my d4k dual channel.
the ts-10 are a must with the rubber diffusers. just a great small light for short term use like 30sec to 5 mins. to illuminate the imitate area with the rubber condom.
h25lr headlamp… It was nice to have the redlight and to have a headlamp. I hope to have a replacement driver for next year. Maybe I will get a dual ch mule from emisar for next year. it did its job.
now the ts25 and the d4k… these were the workhorses I normally went with on my walks to the bathroom at 3 am thats 1/4 mile away. the tint shift with the d4k is fun but useless. and the charging feature with the ts25 is nice. just plug them up to the solar set up. I never ran out of batt with this two. 21700 is nice. ANd the d4k just feels fantastic in the hand.
the uv d2 is fun with the nephew. looking for vu bugs and we found airsoft BBs. its my normal edc. just like the ts10s nice light to always have. But I had to charge it up a few times. and the UV makes anything thats glow in the dark just shine. So you can find that thing you dropped with the glow rod even faster.
the dome style light… Its great to hang in the tent and have as overhead light. I just wish it had a on/off and then hold to change modes but its a super basic light. hi/lo/flash
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08K8QRHZH
I learned the fw3a’s fit in my flash light holder on my gravel bike. which was nice.
one suggestion… turn off the auto lock feat on lights that you always have on you. We were all sitting .lets just say I had a close encounter of the bear kind… like 4/5 feet away. I was the closest to the bear box. and I couldnt turn switch normal mode fast enough. I mean its tahoe and I saw lots of bears. and this bear was probably in our campsite a number of times. also never leave the bear box just open. If ours wasnt closed it would have probably gotten dinner. but this was still way to close for my liking. I jumped up with flashlight out. and I apparently am a cat because I hissed a few times before yelling “Yeah bear, yeah bear” to alert other campsites.
Thinks to get for next year… dual channel mule like red/green maybe. and then a thrower. the d4k optics are great but I want to have a spotlight too. So maybe a d1k or dm11… and then a mountable mule. like a dw4… I feel like the h25lr was nice but its missing function. its too throwy. I just saw the tri color d4k.
I feel like my light experience was better than last years but I still have room for improvement. Namely bears further away.
