The flashlight/phone debate reminds me of the multi tool/knife debate. Do one thing well, or 20 things okay…
Modern flashlights are bright AF in a decently small form factor. This isn’t a 5D-Cell Maglite he’s hauling around.
There’s always a trade in EDC for practicality, reliability, weight, size, etc.
A decent modern flashlight with an 18650 battery is a nice pocket sized light that’s streets ahead of anything a phone could do, and a lot of them can also be used as a USB power bank, so you can get some other use out of it.
The flashlight/phone debate reminds me of the multi tool/knife debate. Do one thing well, or 20 things okay…
I have a tool bag with a nice flashlight in my car for bigger jobs, for random quick stuff my phone and Leatherman cover 95% of what comes up. Best of both worlds. Not that I’m really going to debate anyone about the shit they carry around. If someone present has a better tool for the job I’ll applaud their preparedness. I just don’t personally find it worthwhile to carry the extra items on me all the time. I’m still more prepared than most with just the Leatherman.
I carry a Gerber Dime, just right for a quick little fix on something, and a Kershaw Brawler because I find the knife on the Dime frustrating for anything besides cutting tape on boxes.
Just having a bottle opener makes you more prepared than most people nowadays.
I carry a skeletool. It’s only slightly larger than the folder I replaced with it and it works great for everything I use a knife for while also having the pliers, screwdriver bits, and bottle opener. There’s also an extension for the screwdriver that makes it a little more useful but I don’t keep that on my person and honestly most times I’ve used it I haven’t even bothered putting it into the tool. I did get a Milwaukee Fastback when I was doing a lot of box opening to preserve the blade on the skeletool, but otherwise I’ve been using it for everything for over a decade. Probably one of my favorite possessions.
There’s even little (tiny) lipo rechargeable ones these days that are stupid bright. I’ve got an OLight OClip on my backpack that’s very small and way brighter than I’d ever need for simple “find something in the dark” purposes
I’m having trouble thinking of something to compare it to size wise … Maybe 5cm x 2cm x 2cm?
I don’t carry the 1200 lumen surefire edc2 around anymore because I just don’t ever need a mini sun.
I’m too old to remember that my phone has a light, but I do remember there’s a flashlight in my pocket.
Though in another comment I said :
But I also always forget phones can do light as well. That said, I’m not shoving my phone down in an engine bay to get a better look at wiring, but that $15, 20 year old flashlight, sure.
Werid that guy is carrying around an actual flashlight. Modern people just use their phones.
The flashlight/phone debate reminds me of the multi tool/knife debate. Do one thing well, or 20 things okay…
Modern flashlights are bright AF in a decently small form factor. This isn’t a 5D-Cell Maglite he’s hauling around.
There’s always a trade in EDC for practicality, reliability, weight, size, etc.
A decent modern flashlight with an 18650 battery is a nice pocket sized light that’s streets ahead of anything a phone could do, and a lot of them can also be used as a USB power bank, so you can get some other use out of it.
I have a tool bag with a nice flashlight in my car for bigger jobs, for random quick stuff my phone and Leatherman cover 95% of what comes up. Best of both worlds. Not that I’m really going to debate anyone about the shit they carry around. If someone present has a better tool for the job I’ll applaud their preparedness. I just don’t personally find it worthwhile to carry the extra items on me all the time. I’m still more prepared than most with just the Leatherman.
I carry a Gerber Dime, just right for a quick little fix on something, and a Kershaw Brawler because I find the knife on the Dime frustrating for anything besides cutting tape on boxes.
Just having a bottle opener makes you more prepared than most people nowadays.
I carry a skeletool. It’s only slightly larger than the folder I replaced with it and it works great for everything I use a knife for while also having the pliers, screwdriver bits, and bottle opener. There’s also an extension for the screwdriver that makes it a little more useful but I don’t keep that on my person and honestly most times I’ve used it I haven’t even bothered putting it into the tool. I did get a Milwaukee Fastback when I was doing a lot of box opening to preserve the blade on the skeletool, but otherwise I’ve been using it for everything for over a decade. Probably one of my favorite possessions.
There’s even little (tiny) lipo rechargeable ones these days that are stupid bright. I’ve got an OLight OClip on my backpack that’s very small and way brighter than I’d ever need for simple “find something in the dark” purposes
I’m having trouble thinking of something to compare it to size wise … Maybe 5cm x 2cm x 2cm?
I don’t carry the 1200 lumen surefire edc2 around anymore because I just don’t ever need a mini sun.
… Shit, am I a “flashlight guy”?
But the flashlight of your phone doesn’t have the ability to take down a fighter jet when pointing at it.
I’m too old to remember that my phone has a light, but I do remember there’s a flashlight in my pocket.
Though in another comment I said :
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0C54ZH8WW?psc=1