EDC Flashlights that will Survive
On the run, surviving, needing to see where you are going, signalling, or recognizing threats in the distance, a reliable flashlight with oomph can be of immense value relative to its size.
Here are my criteria:
- Go large – in this case the size is still tiny, but go large in capacity and strength, don’t care if it costs $100 instead of $20
- Redundancy – no propietary chargers, and batteries must be removeable – that way you can take a charged, spare battery with you. And one can charge while the other is used
- Durability – waterproof and shockproof – this might be your only one
- Known brand
- Large battery – it has to last days on the lowest setting
For almost every survival equipment purchase, you want dependability over anything else, that is literally its role. The only time I go cheap is when I am buying multiple. In this instance I might have my primary flashlight but also a couple of cheap ones as back up. I expect my main one will be fine, but I will pay a little for insurance. Spares are also good for other people to use…
In my research I came across some awesome torches (what Aussies call them) that had some major faults for survivalism. I was going to get the Olight Warrior 3S until I saw the special magnetic charger – if the charger fails or is lost, the flashlight becomes useless.
Likewise I was keen on the Nitecore EDC33, but the battery cannot be removed.
The most common shape and style is common for a reason – preference. So I avoided square flashlights, those for keychains, bulky ones, those with lasers, those with extreme distances and so on. I went for the strandard pocket sized, round, solid, reliable, known brand type. That left me with – taking into consideration an Australian presence – Fenix.
The only difficulty left was choosing which model. There is a bewileding number of similar flashlights that vary only by one factor and not much by price. All seem good enough for my purposes.
I ruled out the E18R because as cute as it is, it is too small to handle easily.
Another consideration is what is on the end of it – many brands highlight the tactical aspect of a button there, for signalling. I prefer it being there because I am not holding that part. The other option, with Fenix, is for the end to be magnetic. I think it is impossible for me to predict the usefulness of that, and hopefully I will be carrying duct tape and twine…
I prefer a battery level indicator with the 4 dots, rather than a single indicator that it is running out of charge.
While choosing the Fenix I wanted, I looked at the two other brands with models that have insane brightness and batteries of 5000mAh. The Olight Seeker 4 Pro I liked a lot, but it uses a proprietary battery, so that is a fail. That left the Nitecore MH25 Pro Ultra Long Range, which at $190 AUD is quite a lot above my $100-$150 budget.
DECISION
It comes down to two very similar torches, with only one key difference between them. Throw.
The Nitecore MH25 Pro Ultra Long Range ($190) has double the lumens (3300) of the Fenix PD36R V2.0 ($160) and almost double the throw (700M vs 400M).
Battery life is the same. Replaceable batteries, yes. Good charge indicators, good size and weight, both.
Because this is for survivalist purposes, being able to see further could be a big factor in various unpredictable scenarios. And the extra lumens means a more powerful defensive weapon when using the strobe. To me, although I have gone way beyond budget, it means that the Nitecore is the one for me. And I’ll get a spare Nitecore NL2155HP 21700 High Performance Rechargeable Li-ion Battery to have with it. It can be charged in the flashlight, and then stored. That means double the battery life for an extra $50
