The photon II in my EDC is to get me into my larger PSK, where I can find a more long-lasting flashlight or the spare batteries.

My EDC rational is a bit different. Of course I plan on getting back to the main BOB as per normal but i spend a lot of time in the woods training my dogs and I work in a busy city area sometimes.

I have visions of needing a longer burning light to get back as it may take time due to unforseen circumstances. I tend not to plan for what is likely to happen thats a given but also include the worse case in my rational.

thus my primary EDC blade is a folder which is for utility and for self defence (I also carry a SAK for most utility jobs). I don't subscribe to the "I only plan for what has happened in the past and whats likely in the future" school of thought. It is the unknown that keeps me awake so I plan accordingly and because of this I feel I need a longer burning light that fits in the EDC tin.

Flip

Before I answer, let me preface this with a little information about how I handle EDC/PSK. I don't use and Altoids tin. PSK and EDC are one in the same for me and most it goes in my SpecOps Jr T.H.E. wallet. Whats not in there is on my wrist, around my neck on my belt or in my pockets.

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? #2 I am torn with the descison of which photon light to put in the EDC kit. I have an orange photon 3 i realy like but its not that bright. The yellow is the brightest 120 hr burn time color but the white is brightest but only 12 hrs I think. What do you all use and why? I don't think white is a long enough burn for my survival goals.
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I like the Photon II white. I stay out in the wood all night all the time and never use a light at all unless I drop something in the grass or need something tiny from down deep in my bag. Granted, when the moon is full and the sky is clear I may never touch my light all night but then of course when it's cloudy and/or no moon then the light gets more use. I do not foresee a need for much more than the white Photon provides although I do also carry a Arc AAA (currently sent in to ArcLight for repairs) for EDC sometimes and that little light goes a looooong time but good luck getting it in a Altoids tin with much else in there. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
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?#3
I am not familiar with potassium permangenate. I have 2 providone Iodine wipes in the kit but the are bulky an only go so far. How much PP should you carry and how much is used for say wound cleaning and or water disinfection and what container should be used? I understand the different color concentrations but how much is needed for such uses and how many kicks at the can do you get for a certain amount of PP?
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I'm not familiar with PP either and don't plan to become familiar with it. Seems too dangerous to me for me to be concerned with carrying it at all. For fire I EDC a dry white cotton ball for the rare occasion when I can't muster up natural tinder. For cleaning/disinfection, purified water.... I EDC 6 MP1 tabs for water purification. For the type of signaling you can do with PP there are too many other (natural) options to bother listing.

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?#4
The spark lite tinder. It looks sneakily like wax earplugs I used to use while swimming when i was a kid but with less wax absorbed in them. Has anyone tried the spark lite with these ear plugs fluffed up, you can find at any pharmacy for a lot cheaper?
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I don't know for sure but it sure looks like it's just wax impregnated cotton to me too. I never tried the ear plugs but I'm curious also. Like I said above, I carry one dry cotton ball for tinder and only need a tiny piece of it to start a fire with dry materials. Of course the trick there is having dry materials and now even as I type this I'm thinking maybe I'll ditch the cotton ball and flatten out two or three sparklite tinders to replace flattened cotton ball currently in my wallet.

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?#5
What meds do you all put in your PSK EDC, I like Doug's antibiotics and pain killer idea and I actually own a food saver so I can shrink wrap them as well. What do you all use and why?
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Where I live it's extremely hot for 6 months out of the year and many meds could actually do more harm than good after this type of exposure. I have talked on this board and with my pharmacist about finding a reasonable solution to this problem and had no success. For this reason I only carry a 1 day supply of my prescription meds for EDC. Fortunately, without them (unless we're talking about a period of time 6 months or longer) I would suffer no seriously ill effects... just pain and discomfort. For aspirin I am fortunate enough to live in an area where nature provides a wealth of it in its natural form and that would help a little with the pain situation.

The yellow Photon II runs for a long time for the simple reason that it's rather dim and doesn't use much power. The white one (when run with two 2016 cells) is a lot brighter and doesn't last as long. You can run the white one on a single 2032 (twice as thick as a 2016) and it will also last for a very long time (and be dim). The Photon Freedom is variable-powered, so you can set the brightness you want. If you set it down low, it doesn't use much power and lasts a long time. You can set it high if you need more light. The Photon III is similar, but just three levels (hi/med/lo) instead of continuous adjustment. So, if you have a white Photon III or Freedom, you can select the power level and have long runtime AND white light AND brightness when you need it. At that point, there's no advantage to the yellow version unless you like yellow light for some reason.

The main problems with all the Photons is 1) they're sort of expensive (especially the III and Freedom) and 2) they have momentary pressure switches, so if they're squished inside some kind of compressible pak, they can turn on by accident. The III and Freedom do let you change batteries with no tools (the II requires a #00 Phillips screwdriver) and spare coin cells are even more compact than the little lights are.

Personally I like the $1.00 Countycomm lights which are sort of like cheap Photon II knockoffs with no momentary function (just a constant-on slide switch). If you tape the switch down for storage, it pretty much can't switch on by accident. And they're cheap enough that you can stash them all over the place.

Thanks Paul I didn't realize you could use the bigger battery in the P3 lights. I am not attached to yellow and prefer white light of course.

the P3 has a auto off setting which turns off the light after a min so accidental on is not that big an issue (other ways to prevent this as well).

The P3 is also waterproof where as the P2 is not is another advantage. Not to mention their size which is the smallest LED light with function i think (I can't fit dust in my EDC tin so size is an issue).

I am looking for a min 16 hr burn time for one battery on low to med setting. Will the bigger battery in a white or yellow P3 or Freedom do this?

Flip

The P3 is waterproof!?!? That's great. I know several people have them already. Has anyone really tested its water resistance abilities? How much can it take?

If memory serves (some review I read) they had it down to 30 ft with no problems. I put it in the tub bottom for 10 mins and it is indeed waterproof. I don't plan on diving with it though <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

The photon Freedom is a juiced up version of the P3 and is basicly the same light with more features.

Flip

Very nice. That tub test is good enough for me as I also wouldn't be diving with it either, although I might stick it on a neck lanyard when riding around on a Seadoo. It would also be nice to get one for my wife that wont be ruined when my one year old son gives it the "toddler taste test". That's what happened to her last P2. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The dreaded toddler taste ttest can ruin the most rugged of dive lights LMAO.

Flip

I wouldn't count on the P3 or Freedom being waterproof. They should be ok in the rain but they're not dive lights. If someone tested one underwater and it didn't leak, they were lucky. I have a CMG O4 which also advertises itself as being waterproof, but you have to assemble it just the right way to get it to seal properly. Anyway, I'm not trying to knock these lights, just saying don't have unrealistic expectations. The Freedom comes with a cute little clip for handsfree use (clip it to your shirt collar if you're not wearing a cap), which looks nice. I haven't bought one yet though, so am going by other people's reports. I just haven't felt much point to spending so much on a coin cell light.

The P2 has even worse seals than the P3 or Freedom but it has no electronics to fail. If you get water inside it, just open it up and dry it out and it should be fine. Note you might have to replace the batteries though. I do have a bunch of P2's. For a long time my only EDC was a P2 with green led and 1x2032. I'd recommend that over the yellow. You get tremendous runtime, and it's closer to the wavelength where your night vision is the most sensitive. I'd say it's somewhat brighter than a white led on a 2032.

Yes you should be able to run the P3 or Freedom for 16 hours on medium with 2x2016, though it will be pretty dim at the end. Try it on low. It's amazing how little light you actually need to see well enough to walk around, once you're dark adapted.

Maybe the light you really want is a UKE 2AAA eLED. It's a lot bigger than a Photon but is waterproof to 1000 feet and has 20+ runtime hours at full brightness on two AAA's. The Peak Led 1AAA (very similar to Arc AAA but lower powered) is another possibility (www.peakledsolutions.com ).

If you want a tiny light, there's some 95 cent 2xCR1616 ones from advancedmart.com. I just got a few of them since I sort of collect these things. They're not very impressive, squeeze-only and not waterproof at all, but they're only about 2/3 the size of a Photon II.