Last month I purchased a Coghlan's LED Micro lantern. I chose this over several other brands because of it's 360 degree bright lens and for the batteries that are the same as the EQ headlamp. I was not dissapointed. My guess is it is brighter than a Krill, a little larger in diameter but shorter. Also I found it at a good a good price of $6.58 online from CampingSurvival.com. It is good for 25 hours steady and 50 hours blinking. This is a much better choice than Chem Sticks which are almost $2.00 each and not near as bright and are much longer than the micro lantern. There is a YouTube demo of this light, if you want to check it out YouTube Micro Lantern. If you carry the EQ headlamp then this is a good choice for a small lantern. And again for the price I could afford to carry serveral of them instead of Chem Sticks and reuse them indefinately and at the cheaper price than a Krill I would not be too upset to lose one. I am very happy with this product and will buy a couple of more in the near future.

I guess in a genuine emergency, there might be no other choice.

But geez, you guys are killing me with this casual litterbug talk.

Pack it in, pack it out. Pretty, pretty please?

The luck of the draw, I guess. I've got a pair of krill lights that still work after maybe ten years of use at Burning Man.

Krill lights are still made:
http://www.kriana.com/pages/howtochoose.html
but you wouldn't want to throw them away.

Tossing cyalumes into caves and ponds seems not to be a 'leave no trace' event. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. You'd think we've got enough trash on the ground without throwing more into the caves.

WHERE did I mention that items were LEFT??? Just where.

Maybe it's me but I would rather get a non-battery powered device soaked in water, mud, dirt, and nasties than a battery powered one that could go out, get ruined, etc.

AND on the chance you forget it or "leave it behind" you are not out more than 75 cents.

I'm left trying to figure out what purpose this would serve. Whether chem, battery powered, or both, you're still leaving haz mats somewhere. Caves are fragile habitats and throwing crap in water is never a good idea either. It's a whole lot easier to avoid doing stuff than cleaning up later and hoping for the best.

Getting past that for a moment, I would NEVER recommend any sort of cave entry with lightsticks. It's a rescue waiting to happen.

...and not trying to hijack a thread, but...

In truth, I've never really understood the allure of lightsticks anyway. Flashlights are easier to carry, and MUCH easier to store. No worry about expirations, etc. Even having lights to give away isn't enough to consider lightsticks. For the price of lightsticks from China you could have squeeze lights from China (maybe even for less in qty). I haven't tested the el cheapo squeeze lights but believe they're better from a lifespan as well as a usable light perspective.

JMHO...YMMV



Fair enough. I didn't see this when I was in the process of making my reply. I just assumed if you're throwing something into a pond, you won't be getting it later. My bad.



This sort of takes me back to the beginning then. I don't even look at this from a cost perspective (other than the comparison above) but more of a disposable/reusable, and a better light perspective in addition to the materials/litter issue.

Krill is the bomb. I have a red 360* and an extreme green 180*. The red will scores of hours on 2 AA. The extreme about 50 hours on the same.

I have lots of chem lights but won't pay more than a buck for them. The only reliable spot I have found for that price is Walmart's Ozark brand, which is 2 for $2.

Hey, ToddW and all, I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

Sincere apologies if I misinterpreted anyone's comments.

Doug

All of the really good uses I have seen for chem lights have all been people using them to light themselves up so they will be seen.
(A little light shows up a long way away at night in the bush or on the water.)

I can see using them for emergency lighting for a car or crash kit too,with no batteries to worry about.

The idea of expiry date bothers me a bit, but is it possible to give any you are using as emergency lighting to the kids at Halloween and replace them at that time?

I purchased Princeton tec divelights that could be switched from regular to red and had the "wand" attachment if you needed to use it as a beacon or tank light.

They don't make the ones I have anymore, the closest is this-

http://www.princetontec.com/?q=node/89

I switched from cyalume to this after using up so many single use light sticks.

I have used chem lights that were way out of date, and the helicopter pilot only asked who had set up the LZ (civilian medevac on the highway). Wanted to know when I was in the air assault business in the past. Seems we had been in the same line of work in the past. He delivered soldiers, I delivered bullets. Notice he didn't complain about brightness????