A little light can often get you through a tough spot. On a dark night most of what your going to do is at arms length. You don't need a a huge spotlight. Also, as the story shows, even a small light can be seen a long way off at night.

This hints that it pays to have a small light, appropriate to your situation, with you pretty much all the time.

It also points out that you can do a lot with a little and that in survival, as with anything else, there is a point of diminishing returns. Imagine if this guy had decided that yes, he wanted a flashlight but that he wanted a real man's light. He walk past the inexpensive compact model and gets a six D-cell Maglight. Figures he can spotlight frogs with it back home. It is a great manly device impressive in size and output. Once he pays for batteries he is out better than $30.

So he goes on this trip schlepping a huge flashlight. It is too big to keep in a pocket and too heavy to hold all the time. He stuffs it in a duffel bag and figures when he needs it he can dig it out. Problem is that things went south pretty quick. There wasn't a whole lot of time to grab anything. His $30 flashlight is sitting on the bottom and it took the duffel bag with it.

Man oh man it would have been a great flashlight for signaling. He could attract attention from miles away. But because it was bulky and heavy he didn't have it on him. And because it cost so much he didn't buy both the Maglight and the smaller unit. So now he is bobbing in the Gulf without a light. Unhappy camper.

The lessons are that more is not always better. That money, space and your ability to carry weight is always limited. That a little something on your person can be better than a much more capable model where you can't get to it when you need it.

I like large Maglights. I keep a six D-cell model in my truck. It is impressive in its heft and size, quite phallic really (I get odd sidelong looks from the ladies when they see it) and very useful. On a rainy night I can spot a house number at nearly a quarter mile. Changing a tire I just set it back twenty feet and it illuminates the the entire area. Helping me see what I'm doing and letting people know I'm there.

Held by the head over the shoulder it makes addressing intruders on job sites at night a lot easier. Looking into the light is like talking to God. And, even though I have never had cause to use it that way, it is clearly a capable bludgeon. My big Maglight is useful. But when I step out I generally don't carry it. Instead I have a small AAA led light that is a lot handier.

Because sometimes less is more.