backup light

I use a button battery light as a backup.  One that has a mechanical switch so that the battery doesn’t slowly discharge.  I think the one I have now was a chotski from some company.

NiteCore Tube. 1/3 ounce. $11. Rechargeable so you start every trip with full capacity. 50+ hours on low which is plenty for reading, looking for something in a pack or walking on an established trail. There’s also medium and high (for about an hour) for the occasional looking further down the trail or scouting an area.

It’s always my backup and sometimes my one and only light.

3 AAAs is so 1990s!  For that much weight, NiteCore’s NU25 is more capable. Rechargeable Li-ion are higher performance and eliminate the bother/anxiety of not knowing how used your primary AAA batteries are.

@johneyles: Walmart sells plastic 3x AAA flashlights for $1. Harbor Freight sells two for $3 (aluminum). Amazon has an aluminum version for $3 and others starting at $5.

It’s an extremely popular and inexpensive LED light. The main difference between expensive variants and the cheap ones is the use of gold contacts. LED lights use so little current that it cannot burn through the tinniest (invisible) corrosion. If your flashlight stops working when you think you have OK batteries in it, remove the battery case and clean the contacts with a pencil eraser. If you don’t have a pencil eraser with you, just rub them on whatever rough clothing you have.

Gold contacts avoid the problem because gold cannot corrode. That is mostly what you are paying for when you buy a $30+ flashlight. (Plus generally better materials).

Ozark Trail (Walmart, Amazon) sells a full headlamp for ~$17. It comes with an 092931 rechargeable battery (Petzl calls it their “Core” battery), and it will also take 3x AAA’s. Has a red light, too.

(I also made a red lens for the main LED from the lid of a lunch-meat Tupperware-style container. That gives me a brighter red light for seeing the trail. Red (or green or blue) lights preserve your night vision.)

Since I almost always carry a small phone charger, I use one of these mini usb LED lights. It weighs just a few grams, is dimmable, and actually projects quite a lot of light.

Buy here: https://a.co/cqb8qtL

Photon Micro-Light II weighs 7 grams (1/2 ounce) and uses two CR016 batteries. I have two of these lights I take on trips. One on a lanyard that I wear like a necklace at night and the other with my first aid kit.

They are almost 15  years old. I bought them in 2008. In 2017 I changed the batteries because, well because they were almost 10 years old, but still working.

Here’s a link to an article I wrote on how to replace the batteries. Plenty of pictures to show the interior and how the light works.

http://popupbackpacker.com/throwaway-backpacking-gear-photon-micro-light-ii/

yeah, I have one like Nick’s

as backup.  It’s in my first aid kit.  If my headlamp were to fail.

I’ve used it as primary light a little, but a headlamp is more useful

Haven’t had to use it yet as a camping backup, but as an EDC in my keychain, I have been using the OLIGHT i1R 2 EOS for the past few months. Rechargeable, tiny, and twist on/off, under $20.

I have an older Petzl e+lite as an outdoors backup light. Prefer a headlamp for that application.

Another Nightcore Tube fan. The V2 version is a nice upgrade.

I have a slightly different take on it though. I use it as my primary light and save my more powerful light as the backup. I find the Tube to be totally adequate for really everything.

I keep my Tube on a short length of 1/16” shockcord that I can put around my wrist, a trekking pole, through a belt loop… Very handy.

One could take the same approach of “secondary light as primary” with Nick’s Photon and I totally get the appeal of carrying a couple of button batteries but I like the near infinite life of the Tube since I do carry a battery charger.

what is the upgrade of the Nitecore tube lite?

In a nutshell…

https://www.nitecorestore.com/Nitecore-TUBEv2-0-Keychain-Flashlight-p/fl-nite-tubev2.htm

Has anyone figured out a way to clip the Nitecore Tube to a hat?

Or make a red/green filter for it?