Glow Stick vs Flashlight - Urban Survival

Which is better to pack in an emergency kit, a glow stick or a flashlight? Watch this video and find out.

Glowsticks, or lightsticks as Coghlan's call them, have several drawbacks. First, they're disposable and create a considerable amount of toxic (?) waste. Second, they have a shelf life and I have had "duds" before that didn't work. Third, they aren't the best light to do tasks by, like reading, sewing, camp chores, etc. Fourth and final, they are one use only and only last 6-8 hours.

So, in the application I would use emergency lighting, I would rather an led flashlight. They're very small and light and would pack well, they're reusable and have changeable batteries, and are much better suited to lighting for tasks and navigation. The l.e.d. flash light that I used in this video was actually cheaper than the glowstick.

In an emergency kit where you'd want to be able to signal SAR (Search & Rescue) a glow stick is a great idea. Though for my application of emergency lighting or EDC (every day carry) , the LED flashlight is my first choice for my BOB (bug out bag).

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• glow
• stick
• glowstick
• light
• lightstick
• emergency
• lighting
• head
• lamp
• headlamp
• led
• l.e.d.
• flashlight
• flash
• prepper
• preparedness
• urban
• survival
• survivor
• surviving
• survived
• survivalism
• bug
• out
• bag
• man
• wild
• bob
• b.o.b.
• mag
• lite
• coghlan's
• review
• demonstration
• demo
• 2012
• zombie
• shtf
• teotwawki
• pandemic
• shortage
• food
• crisis
• earthquake
• tornado
• flood
• disaster
• natural

[myladderhand]

To the glow stick expert:As a former army Ranger for 7 1/2 years the only advice I can give an expert such as yourself is, You might want to go to your local surplus store and purchase a military manual. Its easy to see you don't know much about light sticks or their many uses. You might ask some Vets(Especialy Special Op people)all the many things they are good for. If you're a teenager like you sound maybe you shouldn't make any more videos until you have the experience to qualify you to do so

[SurvivalRox]

I see your point, an EMP aid is a possibility,,,stay prepped

[ZombifyIt]

I got 15 mini glow sticks per pack, the packs were only €1,50 so I bought 3 packs of them, if they were more expensive I would've left them, but they were cheap so why not? They're not heavy at all so I'll keep them in my emergency pack. :)

I'd use my crank LED lights for daily tasks tho.

[MrLeonidas0001]

As much waste as they leave behind - I still think the glowsticks are always a nice thing to carry just in case of emergency. As Original50 said - good shelf life, hard to destroy (I've seen ppl shoot them with no damage) and they are super lightweight. You do have good points to consider but I would still tie on a few to my pack :)

[klintmane]

@Derail07 Yea hydrogen peroxide can heal wounds but the other ingredient phenol was used during WWII as a mean of execution. Guess i made my point :P

[BiohazardDingleberry]

Fuck you hippy



[Original50]

Just bought myself a handful, to trial as a potential BOB componant. A few things attract me to their use - 1) shelf-life, 2) impervious to water/rain, 3) practically indestructible, 4) provision of ambient, rather than directional illumination, 5) light-weight. You can hang one of these round your neck and do hands-free, close-in work (read, repair, give first aid) and the object of your attention remains lit-up regardless of where you point your head or hand (unlike head-lamp/hand-torch).

[Derail07]

I believe it contains Hydrogen peroxide. I wonder if it’s possible to treat a wound with the spent contents.

[Derail07]

I bought over 100 6" Glow sticks from Wal-Mart after Halloween red yellow green blue orange (pink for my daughter). 75% off Like 25 cents each. Filled a .50 bmg ammo can then stored in weapons cache. You will wish you had a 12+ hour glow stick instead of a flashlight if you ever entered a cave...

[wcresponder]

Chem light safe in hazardous enviroment, cheap flashlight have possible sparking hazard. agree with you on the enviromental garbage aspect, remember those batteries need to be tossed out at some point.