Flashlights and Knives
I’ve mentioned flashlights and knives as part of your kits, but not in any detail.
First I highly recommend that you purchase at least one of the high quality new technology professional style LED flashlights that are available. I’m partial to the flashlights made by Surefire with those by Streamlight being close behind. You can see what each company has available at www.surefire.com, www.streamlight.com, and www.ebay.com.
My recommendations from Surefire are: the G2L (about $65), 6P Led ($80), E2D LED ($130), or their Nitrolon/Xenon bulb counterparts. The Nitrolon/Xenon versions are fantastic, extremely bright first generation professional lights, but they only have a couple of hours of useable battery life. The LED versions increase useful battery life and if it is a duel output version you get about 6 hours of continuous use on the low/administrative level. I own and carry both versions.
The Streamlight models I would recommend are: the Stinger DS LED ($90-130), Scorpion ($25-50), Twin Task LED ($60), and Strion LED ($90).
I have also found off brand LED type flashlights at Costco and on EBay at lesser cost, but I use them as spares/backups to my primary lights.
All the lights I’ve recommended are personal size carry lights (except the Scorpion DS which is a small patrol size), that way they can be kept with you at all times. Remember it can get dark inside a building when the lights go out even during the day, which is why emergency personnel carry lights with them at all times.
Both companies offer larger and smaller lights, so you can chose additional lights based on your needs. Keep in mind I’ve recommended that you have more than one flashlight in your gear bag supplies.
Besides providing light when needed, a good LED flashlight can be used as a self defense weapon. They are used to blind an assailant with the light beam or they can be used as impact weapons with some proper training.
As for knives my recommendation is that they must be high quality with a strong sharp blade. Here again you should have more than one, be it folding versions or a combination of folding and fixed blade, depending on what you determine your overall needs to be.
There are many good brands of custom production knives available; my brand preference is Benchmade. They offer a wide verity of models by well known knife makers at reasonable prices, at www.benchmade.com. As foor true production makers your best choices would be knives by Spyderco (www.spyderco.com), Buck, Gerber, Case, and Victornox (Swiss Army), all offer a wide verity of folding and fixed blade knives as well as hatchets and folding saws. You can also check EBay for potential deals on any of these knives.
Folding knives are very convenient for every day carry, be sure to check local laws so that you know what you pick is legal for you to carry where you live. A good folding knife can come in handy for many everyday uses and are very important in emergency situations. Fixed blade knives are handy for heavier type work in emergency/survival situations and for this reason should be part of your 72 hour and/or long term kit(s).
In addition to regular knives don’t forget about multi-tools. You should have a small one for every day pocket/purse carry and a larger one in your 72 hour bag. Gerber, Leatherman, and Schrade are your best choices for good quality multi-tools.
Remember flashlights and knives are important tools that you should have with you at all times. You also need more than one of each based on your needs in your go bags. So take a look at what’s available and start acquiring what you need.
Chewy says don’t forget those extra batteries, you should have one or two twelve packs of the Surefire 123A 3v batteries (10 year shelf life) and several packs of other batteries if you get a light that requires another type.
