For Long-Term SHTF, Get a AA Flashlight
billj 05.19.16
A recent 8-hour blackout was a great opportunity for me to re-evaluate our family preps. It’s amazing how even a relatively small incident can shine the harsh light of reality onto some of your prepping illusions.
For Christmas I picked up a Surefire backup, telling myself that it would make a solid SHTF light. It’s pocketable, and Surefires are known for their bulletproof durability and reliability. In all, it’s an awesome light that, thanks to its reflector design, throws a beam super far despite a lackluster lumen count.
But at about two hours into our little blackout, it ran out of batteries. I had a spare box of the SureFire 123A batteries stashed away, but it’s nothing like the piles and piles of AA batteries we keep around the house. When that thing died, I definitely sat down and though long and hard about just how many boxes of these 123A batteries I’m willing to buy and store as preps. The answer I arrived at was, “not many.”
Prepping with an AA flashlight is sort of like the classic “revolving pantry” trick, where you keep your food preps fresh because you’re regularly consuming them and replenishing them. We use lots of AAs, so they’re always around. And you’ll always be able to find these if you have to go out scavenging; any abandoned house will have them tucked away inside toys, remotes, and other devices.
So yeah, AA flashlights are my new thing. Now I just have to decide which one.
