How Often and What for Do You Use Your Flashlight(s)?

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Depends on the time of day/year for me, but this is what I mostly use lights for:

Got a couple of larger ones which are for checking out strange noises at night or walking the dog in the dark.
My true EDC tends to be a 123 sized light and gets used in and out of the house on a regular basis.
My evening/PJ light is a Preon I with a clicky and I use it instead of house lights through the night. I'm an insomniac and find that's it's much easier to use this instead of putting lights on all over the place.... cheaper too

I do exactly the same thing... all my late night puttering around the house tends to be with one of my pocket lights, and I also tend to use them on my desk at night for general lighting as well.  Causes less disturbance, and doesn't run up the energy bill.

[nuphoria]

I don't really like overhead lights and mostly don't need them on.... vampirious tendencies I think

One little rechargeable AAA seems to be very cost effective for me

[dks]

Using mine to check on the Barbecue

[N_N_R]

Using mine to check on the Barbecue

  Will you later try cutting it..

[Jors]

I do EDC the LED Lenser P5 (1 X AA @ 90 Lumens) constantly, as well as a small 1 X AAA Stainles steel Maratac (3 modes, max 80 Lumens). The Maratac slide into the side pouch of my Leatherman ST300 and is only to play with. I carry the P5 with me on my Fanny bag. I use it about 4 - 5 times a day. In the evening when I go outside to change sprinklers and in the day when I check something in dark spaces or to highlight bad contrast.

When I work as a police officer I also carry a 120 Lumens Lightsaver Commando that is my primary Law Enforcement flashlight. But for small jobbies I still use the P5.

I am issued with a Maglight 3 X D flashlight, but I don't use it at all. Too big.

[jock1]

My e-01 gets the most use at home as I frequently can't sleep and use it to navigate round the house without wakening my darling wife .For work I have a Lumens Master 3AAA which does what I require and if i gets broken /covered in nasty stuff or stolen I won't be heartbroken

[AimlessWanderer]

Work:
Bore inspections, gearbox/maintenance inspections, checking parts clearance (if light goes through it's not touching), locking up at night during the darker months, looking for that small little widget that just fell off the bench/desk and went .... wherever

Boat:
Engine bay work including wiring, walking down the moorings at night (off grid), going outside for logs/coal, entering the boat at night till I get to the battery lanterns (wiring not finished), checking across the water for the occasional "undesirable" (though just having a decent torch keeps them away usually) and occasional perimeter checks, checking water levels the other side of the lock at night during heavy rain (floodwatch)

Home:
Going down into the cellar (there's a light but I don't rely on it), if out in the garden at night, finding that little widget that just dropped down the back of the ... whatever. Nightlight use occasionally. Pottering about in the early hours when "big light" not needed.

Other uses: walking, camping, rooting through the bottom of a rucksak or big cupboard, power failures

generally just making dark places light 

[mtool78]

Beerplumber- I've tried several times (well, it was necessary) to hold a flashlight in my teeth, but I must say I absolutely hate it

That's the reason why I have Underwater Kinetics 4AA in my car, it's the only one of my lights which can be held in mouth of you need both hands to fix something.

I actually found that one with original nylon sheath from flee market for 2 euro - nowadays they also have led version, mine is older but batteries still last pretty nice. They should make a conversion set for that model.

[Lynn LeFey]

Huh. I carried one of those exact dive lights for years until it died on me. Yes, very comfortable to hold in your teeth. I did it more than once.

I... umm... do NOT recommend holding it in your teeth underwater, though. Probably better to keep  a snorkel or respirator in your teeth in such instances.

I mostly use my light to find the lock on our front door at night, to take out the garbage on Thursday nights, and, less often, to find stuff that's fallen under/behind some piece of furniture.

[sergemaster]

Amici,
I carry and use mine everyday for a variety of reasons. From crawling under a raised floor checking ethernet jacks and cables, to navigating around a server farm that has just lost all power, to even the mundane as illuminating a lock as I jumble for the correct key to insert into the lock.

Once again, I'd rather have a torch and not need it, than to need a torch and not have it. That's why I carry 3!

Cheers,
Serge

[N_N_R]

Yep, I still use my flashlights daily *happy me*

Now that I've had to live in a house for a few months, I use mine to:

- go out and throw out the garbage, navigating in the dark yard;
- look for my naughty dog if she doesn't come inside when called;
- inside the room on a lower mode whent he windows are open for some fresh air to come at night and we don't want to attract mosquitoes at night;
- to have a look at darker corners during the day in a generally darkish house

[Aleister]

In-house: Check the kids at night, move around without turning the lights on, search under or behind furniture, check kids throat (when they are sick and throat is in pain), lux meter flashlights , do in-computer-case work or in-something-dark work, search inside boxes / bags / closets, light house in case of power outage.

Outside: walk in the dark, search in the dark, blind aggressive dogs, check the surroundings of my pitch black yard / garage, search for keyhole.

How often? I use flashlights every single day. And if I don't have a reason, I find one

[N_N_R]

blind aggressive dogs,

I've always wondered if that works, but thank God I never had to check it out myself. So.... have you ever done it? With what success? How bright was the flashlight?

[Aleister]

blind aggressive dogs,

I've always wondered if that works, but thank God I never had to check it out myself. So.... have you ever done it? With what success? How bright was the flashlight?

It seems to work, I tried it three times at three different aggressive dogs and all times the dogs just froze until I turned off the flashlight and then they left, head down (all the times I was using a Sunwayman V10R XML at ~500 lumens).

The first dog's owner told me the next day that the dog (a very big and angry shepherd) was so scared that spend all night at a corner of her yard, trembling, but a couple of days later he was back to normal.

That's the good news, the bad news are that I don't think it'll work on a company of many angry dogs at once

[dks]

Word on BLF etc is that the flashing modes work well on dogs.

From my testing they have no effect on cats but annoy people.

[N_N_R]

Wow, I see Anyway, I hope I won't have to use a flashlight for sefl-defence... unless I can distract the dog by making it chase the beam of my E01