What about NuWick 120 Hour Candles?

Does anyone have experience with these?

A) those aromatic candles might get pretty annoying after a while (personally I hate them, but hey, whatever)
B) I feel you on the A/c thing. Yesterday here in Michigan we had that little thunderstorm roll through. Power outage for a good.. 45 seconds... Anyway, I had closed the windows for this "big mean scary thunderstorm" that was coming, and in about 5 minutes had all the windows opened again. And it's not even that muggy!

And, at least for me, that thunderstorm was pretty weak. Though I did get all excited by the tornado sirens. I didn't even realize my town had them! It's the first time I've actually heard them used...

The UCO candles are great. They seem to handle hot weather better than most candles, but they will melt if it gets hot enough.

I use this camping and sailing. http://www.essentialgear.com/store/p/2-Dynamo-15-LED-Collapsible-Lantern.html.

It works a long time with just a little cranking, and comes with a 12-volt cigarett lighter charging cord. Pretty durable. Coleman has something cheaper, but I haven't had any experience with it.

At home I use flashlights. If the power is out long enough I have a 60Ah power pack and a small generator if that fails me...more than enough for a power outage several times over.

I keep a few of the larger tea lights in a kit when I'm hiking or camping. The stove from my Crusader canteen makes a nifty candle holder and the walls are just high enough to break some of the wind.

I don't specifically store candles for emergency use, but my wife uses tea candles so we have lots of those at home. She buys them by the bag full and they are cheap.

I think I would only use candles for a simple power outage. The main disaster for my locale is either an earthquake or wildfires and in both cases, having an open flame around is not the best option, even using a decent candle lantern to contain spills and such. I would much prefer sticking to battery powered lighting in such situations.

That said, there is certainly a calming effect to watching the flickering, warm glow of a candle in the dark night. Much more interesting than staring into an LED camping lantern!

I went thru the tea light phase. Bought a tea light candle holder etc...I'm over it.
I have multiple LED flashlights in cars, on night stands, in BOBs etc. Mag Lights in all the cars and one in the house too. Photon II Micro Ligts on every key ring and every emerg bag.
Multiple oil lamps in the house, with xtra wicks, oil and globes.
And started stashing some of the cheap religious candles after discovering they last for a long time and are cheap and available at most grocery stores.
And one e-kit has a NuWick 120 with xtra wicks. I wouldn't pay to ship one to my house but if they had 'em for a good price in a store I might get another for a base camp e-kit. But they are spendy so I'd probably go with the religious candles....you can get quite a few for the cost of a NuWick and have light in multiple locations. With a little care in packing them away to can address fears of breaking the glass they come in.
Have been lusting after candle lanterns too ...WalMart has 'em pretty cheap ... Lantern and xtra candles for like $20. They should work good enough for back up in car kits, BOBs and such. And I hear that the citronella candles work well in them too so might help with the flying pests in you are in such an area.

Ironically, my power went out 30 mins ago......still light enough that I don't need an alternative light source. Already getting warm with the AC out.......
Luckily (if one can call it that) I work in an unairconditioned warehouse, and have for the last 20 years or so. So I'm used to sweating and being hot and miserable.....ok for work, absolutely hate it at home.
This post got me thinking about oil lamps....
My mom had them in the house growing up, originally intended as decoration for the faux fireplace but got used whenever we had powerouts. Much more effective than candles, and not overly expensive for a pair of 'em. Maybe I need to add a couple on the shopping list........

-Bill Liptak

I have half a dozen of the NuWick 44 Hour Candles along with several boxes of hardware store "Emergency Candles" (5/8" dia x 6.5" long). The NuWick's seem to do everything that they claim, although I've not burned one down completely to know the true burn time.

I also keep a couple of dozen thermonuclear tealights handy, as they do throw off a surprising amount of light. With regard to traditional tealights, I much prefer the Pheylonian Beeswax Survival Candles as they burn much longer and do not produce the black, sooty deposits that paraffin-based candles do.

Jim

I have 4 oil lamps but usually only light 3. I keep one in the bathroom one in the kitchen and one in the livingroom and an extra one that I havent had to use yet in the bookcase. I also keep a box of matches and a bic next to them. I made a small frame that I can set over one to use for cooking if I need to. So far I only used one for making coffee during hurricane Ivan, but it worked great for that so i'm sure you could cook on them.

Paragon, thanks for mentioning the Pheylonian candles. This forum discussed them at length sometime last year. After much thought because of the expense, I went ahead and ordered a survival candle and a few tapers. Very happy I did, and have since gotten quite a few more, including tea-lights as gifts.

IMO real beeswax candles are, like certain other things in life, well worth paying for. As you said, they don't drip or emit soot. They last a long time. The smell is very pleasant. The light is more clear and intense than paraffin. Don't know nuthin' 'bout them negative ions discussed on Pheylonian website, but when I burn a beeswax candle in my apartment for about 30 minutes, food and smoke odors disappear and (pooh-pooh if you like!) I feel much calmer.

No affiliation with Pheylonian,