You're right. The Nuwai QIII is a great light for the money. With the 1xCR123 config, relatively small carry. And I'm more than pleased with the 2xAA extender made/sold by guy on eBay. Makes it a very versatile light.

Re: Nuwa? QIII 3 watt lights
there is the "normal" one (1 battery) and the "big" one (2 batteries), the latter with a two-stage button (low-high-off) (or is that 3 stage ?? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />).
Got them from Amondotech (indirectly .... shhhh don't say it ...)

The smaller one is just the right size for a (or is it "an" ?) M-1 style pouch.

Look at this as a good "scrounger" backup light. Probably not a great primary light.

http://www.energizer.com/products/flashlights/flashlight.asp?cat=1#

That's pretty clever! Maybe adapt a low-cost LED conversion to it and it would be ready to sit in a drawer to use scrounged dry cells. Too mechanically complicated etc for a primary, I agree.

I prefer the No Way part: no battery powered disaster gear. I do use batteries in daily life (rechargeable AA), but consider anything electric to be optional to my immediate survival.

While people did survive without electrical gizmos for eons, any reasonable disaster kit in the modern era includes at minimum a flashlight and a radio. Yeah, there are those hand cranked radios, but they have rechargeable batteries inside, which go bad just like non-rechargeables. They are also pretty silly, like wearing a wind-up wristwatch to avoid possible battery failure from an electronic watch. So you're back to the battery issue and you might as well find the best way to deal with it, instead of trying to ignore it.

Do I have batteries in my gear? Yep.

Do I need them? Nope.

I know how to make a torch, but flashlights are just so much more indoors-friendly. Particularly if indoors is a hasty shelter of a a couple of branches, a mylar blanket (if that) and a bunch of forest floor litter. Not to mention smaller, and faster to light. And you don't have to extenquish it before you put it in your pocket.

Well... I suppose you culd put a lit torch in your pocket.... I do have a rather sad Dungeon's and Dragons story that involved a halfling, a pocket, and a torch.... Hehehehe.....

Eh.

I spend enough money on my gear that I'm not too worried about the power supply (battery) or the gadget itself (whatever it may be) failing. If something quits, I have spares for the important stuff (flashlights, for example).

Really, we have some wonderful new tools here in the 21st century. And if you avoid the cheap stuff, there's no reason to expect high tech gear to be any less reliable than the old school equivalent.

I?m keen to buy the AA batteries and ...the spec on the spud gun <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Why? I can see batteries being problematic for long-term survival, unless you know how to make your own. For short term I don't see a problem. You can get batteries with a shelf life of 10+ years, so it's not hard to be sure they are not dead when you come to use them. You can get torches (eg Zipka+) with burn times over 100 hours, so it's feasible to get lighting for a month or so.

What's your alternative? I have candles - I bought several hundred before I got into LEDs, and I still have most of them. However, they are a fire risk and they don't give out all that much light really. They take a lot of space and I wouldn't want to use them during an evacuation. Their main advantage is long shelf life.