Best Light Sticks, Best Colors

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Best Light Sticks, Best Colors

Posted: 9/27/2001 9:53:32 PM EDT

Do any members use light sticks? I think they would come in handy but I've no experience with them. Will they last long in storage? Is a particular color better than other colors? And wheres the best place to get them?

edited to say Thanks. Those krill lamps are way cool. I never would have imagined. Both kinds would be nice to have stashed away for emergencies.

AmOTramp

Posted: 9/27/2001 10:01:50 PM EDT

[#1]

Cheaper Than Dirt usually has them the cheapest that I know of. In my experience the yellow is the brightest & the other colors are about the same. You can also get a holder that lets you "shut off" the light which is kinda neat. There are also hi-intensity, 12 hour, and 1 hour versions.

[url]http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd/product.asp?dept%5Fid=610&sku=ZAA%2D154&imgid=&mscssid=VCVH1F9A8KXF9K39NX2DAN37BNPQ3GUC[/url]

Once you get to their page, click on page 2 at the bottom for more of a selection.

Posted: 9/27/2001 10:03:34 PM EDT

[#2]

You ever seen a Krill lamp?

[url]http://www.xenoline.com/krilllamps.html[/url]

[img]http://store6.yimg.com/I/xenoline_1654_1685998[/img]

Posted: 9/27/2001 10:33:12 PM EDT

[#3]

Shelf life is fairly short on these. There should be an experiation dated stamped on the foil container.

I'd buy from a vendor who turns over their inventory frequently.

For additional info, check [url]www.omniglow.com[/url].

Posted: 9/27/2001 10:35:25 PM EDT

[#4]

The label says that there is a 2 year shelf life, for whatever that means. I have let my children snap expired ones, they seem pretty bright to me, but for emergency use, I would stick with the mfgr recommendations. I forget which ones, but some last 8 hours, and some last 12 hours. They are good for emergency use because they are non-explosive, for instance, after an earthquake there maybe leaking natural gas, whereas a lit candle would cause an explosion.

Posted: 9/27/2001 10:43:54 PM EDT

[#5]

I second the Krill Lamps. They last about 50 hours on a 2 AA batteries. The only negative thing I have found is that they put out alot of rf.

Another thing everyone is going to is LED flashlights. I am sure you have seen them at the fun shows, but you can make your own from a mini mag lite and a white or red led from the electronics store. Of course it won't be the same brightness as a standard bulb, but it puts out enough useable light to be albe to read or navigate around. I left one on for 3 days and it was still as bright was when I first turned it on.

Posted: 9/28/2001 12:54:04 AM EDT

[#6]

I would not recommend the use of stick lights if you intend on storing them long term. I've always kept a few in my butt pack when going hiking/hunting. On one fairly recent all day hike, which started at 9am and ended ~9pm, I did not realize just how long the hike would be. Sundown was approaching and my path barely visible. "No problem," I say "I'll just break out a glow stick!" Sat my weary butt down on a dusty trail and peeled the foil wrapper from the stick. Darn thing didn't work!!! Tried another...same result. And then another. Drats! Wandered off the trail a few times while feeling my way back to the trail head, but eventually got back. Never again!

Posted: 9/28/2001 5:44:07 AM EDT

[#7]

Just used some from the mid 90s after TS Danielle, no power for two and a half days. I bought 200 mil surplus for $.25 each prior to Y2K. Out of the dozen I tried two were bad. The rest worked great. Even gave a few to a several neighbors. They were really surprised that anything like that existed.

Posted: 9/28/2001 6:08:22 AM EDT

[#8]

I have some that are IR

Posted: 9/28/2001 6:25:18 AM EDT

[#9]

The yellow cyalume light sticks are the among the brightest, longest lasting, and easiest to find. The bad thing about lightsticks, is they are very impact sensitive, and must be kept in the foil wrapper until use.

They have a glass vial in them, that if it gets ruptured, even in the foil, will release its light (Thus not working when you need it). Also, if the foil gets damaged, the light will destroy the chemicals, rendering it useless when you need it.

I'd try one of those Krill light sticks with lithium batteries (10 year shelf life) instead.

Posted: 9/28/2001 6:32:25 AM EDT

[#10]

Shomer-Tec has these cool 3-lightstick launchers for 12ga. shotguns. you place 3 sticks in, UNactivated, place device on muzzle, and fire a 12ga. blank. they say it goes at least 300m, and activates from the force of impact on ground or whatever. pretty cool, especially while using IR sticks! but i can't find them on the website - go and request a catalog, its in there.

[url]www.shomer-tec.com[/url]

Posted: 9/28/2001 6:47:38 AM EDT

[#11]

Some light sticks: [url]www.shomer-tec.com/page.cfm?variable=9[/url]
[url]www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/tame.exe/agcatalog/results.tam?rlk=4442580[/url]
Be aware that the intensity of the light output of most of the 8 and 12 hour ones is low. In fact I tried using these in place of a small candle in jack-o-lanterns a couple years ago at Halloween and they were not bright enough for ever the smallest pumpkin.
[url]www.cyalume.com[/url]

Posted: 9/28/2001 7:04:27 AM EDT

[#12]

They work well when night diving. Not enough light to see around but they will light up your gauges and you can see your dive partner's light.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Best Light Sticks, Best Colors

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