Posted: 2/8/2016 5:22:10 AM EDT
There is a very good deal on flashlights in the sporting goods department at Walmart. They offer a ten-pack of these very cheap flashlights, PLUS BATTERIES. The cost is $10 plus tax.
These are not whiz-bang tactical, but hey... the light that works and is in your hand is far better than the one you have stuffed in your BOB, right? These are cheap enough that you can scatter them around your house, put 2 or 3 in your car, and give one to each family member to keep by their bedside. Given that 1/2 of your life is spent in the dark, doesn't it make sense to keep some emergency light around? They are also surpisingly bright. |
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I bought a pack of those 3 years ago after we had a house fire. I have one hanging in every room of the house. If you have a fire, and it doesn't completely destroy your home, the electricity will be shut off for a long time afterwards. Flashlights are a must in power outages. |
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They also have the rubberized version of those for $1 each around the store, "batteries" (more of timed leak bombs) included. They're good to leave laying around all over the place, "just in case". Runnings had a version with a single high(er) power LED and batteries for <$2 before, too. |
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While we're talking good, cheap flashlights...
Big Lots sells the Rayovac 2 AA cell LED flashlight for 2 bucks - and it includes a pair of carbon-zinc batteries. 
Claimed run-time is 23 hours, and claimed brightness is 12 lumens. With a pair of AA cells, the LED draws around 55 mA, so the claimed run-time seems about right for carbon-zinc cells. (If you went with alkalines instead, you'd get closer to 40 hours of run-time). The LED is mounted in a standard PR bulb base, so you could install it in a different flashlight that used C or D cells instead. With a pair of alkaline D-cells, the run time would be in the 400 hour range... 
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