Posted: 1/31/2009 9:04:35 PM EDT
|
Anybody know where i can get Chemlights for my BOB? Any website's you have done business with that i can order from? Besides CTD, They have failed me!
Thanks in advance! |
|
Quoted:
Good to have comfort lighting for short term SHTF-especially for kids. LED/battery lights are better for general purpose IMO though. That's kinda why i want them. My sister and her kids always come over here once stuff happens (Tornadoes, ice storms ETC.) so i figured i would buy some for myself and let them have some to play with aswell. |
|
Quoted: Quoted: They dont last long in storage and take up too much space. We used them all the time in the Army. This is the first I've heard of a short shelf life. Just how short are we talking here? You're probably getting a better product in the service than what's available on the shelves at China-Mart. |
|
Check with Cyalume, but I think they have a shelf life of @ 5 years. Chem lights are great for augmenting your primary illumination, and can be used/given away/traded freely.
Another use of chem-lights besides illumination is for signaling purposes. I show you red, counter sign me with blue, etc. Also good for medevac when you tie one off with some 550 cord and spin it like a lasso. Very good in IR flavors if your using NVGs. Plus, chem-lights come in a variety of sizes and shapes too. Safe to use in a emergency flammable environment/atmosphere too! When we go rafting/boating/canoing, all the life preservers have a Fox whistle and chem-light tethered to it. I used to mark camp sites with 3" diameter chem-light discs with a 'sharpie' to facilitate late night potty run for our guests, so as to prevent confusion. We also used beaucoup chem lights in the .mil to mark cleared paths; we would take a standard green light (plentiful) or IR (not as available, usually) and mask the whole thing with 100mph duct tape, except for a narrow lengthwise slit. The slit would face towards 'friendlies' without telegraphing the position of the path, and then we would stake 'em down with wire mounts. Only visible if you knew what to look for. Probably a good way to mark a couple miles of road/trail to a BOL or rendezvous point to link-up with friends and family and not attract unwanted attention. But everyone has to know the SOP, etc. Heck this is the Survival forum...we should probably have a sub-forum on 'alternate' illumination and signal sources, i.e. mirrors, chem lights, pencil flares, glow tape, tritium map reading lenses, etc. |
|
http://ameriglo.com/. A large producer and supplier of at least some of the chemlights used by the DoD. They say 4 year shelf life, 2 years for small ones.
I have no idea if the prices are really competitive, but I do know the product is good and you can buy in some huge quantities. At the very least they are a little cheaper then Walmar and ship right to your door. |
|
I've had better luck with the chemlights from Home Depot than the ones I've purchased from other big box stores. The Home Depot chemlights around here are the real Cyalume brand-rather than the flimsy "Ozark Trail" or whatever from my local Wal-Mart. Your local stores could very well be different, but the Cyalume lights seem to be constructed from better materials, last longer, and are much brighter.
I have a few of them stashed away at home for emergency lighting, but I prefer battery operated lightsticks. More than a decade ago during Halloween I was disgusted after observing the number of little kids walking around in black costumes without a flashlight, or any means at all of being seen by oncoming traffic. So, instead of passing out candy I starting passing out chemlights with lanyards. The kids love em-and it makes me feel good to keep the kiddos safe-in spite of their dipshit parents. In my neighborhood, you can always tell which trick-or-treaters have visited my house-because they're ALL wearing chemlights around their necks when they leave 
|
|
Quoted:
I've had better luck with the chemlights from Home Depot than the ones I've purchased from other big box stores. The Home Depot chemlights around here are the real Cyalume brand-rather than the flimsy "Ozark Trail" or whatever from my local Wal-Mart. Your local stores could very well be different, but the Cyalume lights seem to be constructed from better materials, last longer, and are much brighter. I have a few of them stashed away at home for emergency lighting, but I prefer battery operated lightsticks. More than a decade ago during Halloween I was disgusted after observing the number of little kids walking around in black costumes without a flashlight, or any means at all of being seen by oncoming traffic. So, instead of passing out candy I starting passing out chemlights with lanyards. The kids love em-and it makes me feel good to keep the kiddos safe-in spite of their dipshit parents. In my neighborhood, you can always which trick-or-treaters have visited my house-because they're ALL wearing chemlights around their necks when they leave
Now that is a neat idea. Kudos for looking after the kiddos. |
|
Quoted:
http://ameriglo.com/. A large producer and supplier of at least some of the chemlights used by the DoD. They say 4 year shelf life, 2 years for small ones. I have no idea if the prices are really competitive, but I do know the product is good and you can buy in some huge quantities. At the very least they are a little cheaper then Walmar and ship right to your door. this |
|
Quoted: Quoted: http://ameriglo.com/. A large producer and supplier of at least some of the chemlights used by the DoD. They say 4 year shelf life, 2 years for small ones. I have no idea if the prices are really competitive, but I do know the product is good and you can buy in some huge quantities. At the very least they are a little cheaper then Walmar and ship right to your door. this +1 and What color is most commonly used? |
|
and What color is most commonly used? Currently Obama martian green, not to be confused with pale transparent Gore green, or the dark green that used to be in my wallet... Think "Predator" (When Ahnold the Libtardinator/sell-out sporked the alien with his grenade/arrow...) and you are good to go. Green is as bright as you can go and not totally wreck your night vision. Stay away from white, blue and red, except for signal/tactical purposes. Well, red is useful for night use too, but KISS should prevail. Ameriglo is decent but Cyalume is the standard |
|
Quoted:
I've had better luck with the chemlights from Home Depot than the ones I've purchased from other big box stores. The Home Depot chemlights around here are the real Cyalume brand-rather than the flimsy "Ozark Trail" or whatever from my local Wal-Mart. Your local stores could very well be different, but the Cyalume lights seem to be constructed from better materials, last longer, and are much brighter. I have a few of them stashed away at home for emergency lighting, but I prefer battery operated lightsticks. More than a decade ago during Halloween I was disgusted after observing the number of little kids walking around in black costumes without a flashlight, or any means at all of being seen by oncoming traffic. So, instead of passing out candy I starting passing out chemlights with lanyards. The kids love em-and it makes me feel good to keep the kiddos safe-in spite of their dipshit parents. In my neighborhood, you can always tell which trick-or-treaters have visited my house-because they're ALL wearing chemlights around their necks when they leave
I dont know who started it, but all the kids in my neighborhood have chemlights on them for halloween. They last the night but not much longer, probably from China-Mart. But they still do the required job. |
|
http://www.extremeglow.com/Merchant4/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=EGSAFETY
and i've even grabbed a bunch of the 5min high-intensity stuff off ebay, expired for 4 years, and they light up still, although probably 80% of their real output, but for 50 cents a stick i wasnt complainging |
|
if your wanting Cyalumes (milspec) i've got over 500 of the 6" and maybe 50 of the 15". various colors and such... (no IR's)
i'd be willing to let go of some... but I have to check the dates on them before I post a WTS ad. they are great for: marking paths LZ's yourself and others during night hikes or kayaking mark camp location Use one for inside the tent so you can see your way around tack one inside your ruck so you can see what's inside with out having to blind yourself with a flashlight mark your boat/canoe a 1" on the trigger guard of your rifle helps to find it in the tent if something goes bump in the night they can be used for emergency lighting if you have enough of them. they can be hard to read by after about an hour though. tons of other uses... but not an essential by any means. |
|
Kept in wrappers & protected from temperature extremes they can last several years. Ive had lights kept in the house that were 2 years past the use by date that worked fine.
Ive pulled 6 month old ones from storage on my boat & had them be weak & short lived. UV supposedly can weaken the chemicals so buy units in wrappers if possible. CDNN has good prices on them sometimes but Ive bought from them twice & both times I recieved lights within a few months of their use by date. If you do a Google search you can find good bulk prices online. |
|
Quoted:
Check with Cyalume, but I think they have a shelf life of @ 5 years. All chem's are not made the same. hit and miss on storage life. pulled 2 out last year 1 morning before work since they were used as emergncy's in the truck (had switched them over from the previous w/ out checking the exp's)... dated exp 03 or 05?(can't remember, i know it shocked me on the first lite up thou) .. 1 dead / 1 lit up, in the direct morning sun.. |
|
The cheapest, for small quantities, has been Wally World......They sell 2, twelve hour green sticks for $2.00....Works out to a buck apiece, not bad for small quantity.
I bough two packages, and they appear to be totally new stock. There are other sites that sell them cheaper, but you have to buy quantity to get the lower price. Happy Trails! |