Performance With Traditional Flashlights
From the doctor's office to wilderness hikes, flashlights have evolved from bulky, single-purpose devices into multi-purpose wonders.
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Flashlights are so ubiquitous and so useful that it's hard to imagine what life must've been like before Conrad Hubert invented the first "electric hand torch" in 1898. Since Hubert's history-changing creation, flashlight technology has evolved in incredible ways. Flashlights now use super-bright bulbs, have long battery life and even combine multiple lights with other types of tools.
These multi-purpose flashlights are often called all-in-one or 3-in-1 flashlights, and they blend several useful gadgets into one device. Think of a 3-in-1 flashlight as the Swiss Army knife of flashlights. Fittingly, Victorinox, the maker of Swiss Army knives, actually sells versions of their cutting-edge multi-purpose tools with built-in LED flashlights. Dozens of other companies create similar hybrid products. Why are they integrating more than one type of bulb into one flashlight body? And how do these products compare in quality. Performance with traditional flashlights?
Quite simply, manufacturers are merging flashlights and tools technologies because, well, they can. Where flashlights with any real lighting power used to be bulky and expensive, contemporary flashlights can be tiny yet bright, and very cheap to produce and sell. Best of all, even high-quality multi-purpose lights have low price tags in comparison to flashlights of the past.
For consumers, it means inexpensive lights that are small and powerful and suited to just about any day-to-day or emergency situation. When those lights are combined with other useful tools, such as a tripod, knife and scissors, they are just that much handier. Keep reading to see just how creative, practical and in some cases, outlandish, these 3-in-1 flashlights have become. Each light can be separated from the others.
Courtesy Stanley Tools
3-in-1 flashlights come in a mind-boggling array of shapes, sizes and configurations. Some products are literally three different colors of lights in one flashlight body; other flashlights merge various light technologies into one unit. If you do a quick Web search, you'll see a wacky range of tools matched with lights, too.
Then there's the Stanley Tools 3-in-1 Tripod LED Flashlight, which combines three individual flashlights into one. You can use the three lights as a single powerful beam, or you can separate each unit for three smaller lights. The product incorporates a tripod and swiveling light heads for an adaptable lighting system that runs on just six AA batteries. With the light banded to your forehead, you can quickly cycle through these modes to find light that's appropriate for your current needs. In darkness, the red LED, or night-vision mode, helps you find your way with a low red glow that doesn't affect your low-light vision the way bright white lights do.
Another Energizer flashlight, called the Night Strike, is designed with hunters in mind. This product is loaded with white, red, blue, ultraviolet and green LEDs. The green lights are best for reading maps and tracking game, and UV helps you see without scaring away fish. The blue mode provides light that makes blood easier to see in the dark, so you can find wounded prey.
Flashlights are obviously great for nighttime safety, but the Streetwise 3-in-1 Flashlight Stun Gun takes safety to the level of self-defense. This product looks a lot like a big and sturdy flashlight, and indeed, it uses a bright halogen bulb for illumination. However, it's also equipped with an ear-shattering 130-decibel alarm to frighten would-be attackers. If the sound isn't enough to drive them away, the stun gun capability ought to do the trick. Jab an assailant and he or she'll receive a 600,000-volt surprise. Red light works well at night and helps preserve night vision, unlike bright white light.
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Other 3-in-1 flashlight combinations abound. Some join both LED. Halogen bulbs into one product. Use the LED mode for a bright light that conserves power, or switch to halogen mode for a flashlight with extra reach. Other flashlights let you click through modes that engage ever-increasing numbers of LEDs to provide more light. Still other products add a bright red laser pointer to regular LED light functionality.
If that's not enough, you'll also find flashlights that combine LEDs, cold-cathode fluorescent and xenon bulbs into one product. The LED mode is great for all-purpose use, the fluorescent bulb helps light a small work area and the piercing xenon bulb uses a lot of power but gives you an immense amount of illumination. This LED-based light remains plugged into an electrical outlet, automatically providing a safety light when your house is dark or if there's a power outage. Better yet, if you need immediate light, you can grab this one off of the outlet and switch it to flashlight mode.
Victorinox's Swiss Army-branded products integrate lights into an assortment of clever designs. One product, called the SwissCard Lite, combines a mini LED light with a letter opener, scissors, straight pin, ball-point pen, magnifying glass, screwdrivers and a ruler, all into a credit card-sized case that you can take anywhere.
Life Gear sells oodles of flashlights with all sorts of bells and whistles. In fact, the company's 200-Hour Glow Sticks literally have an emergency whistle built in. The glow sticks use colored LEDs for long-lasting light, and you can switch to flashlight mode, too. You can also switch this product to an emergency flasher mode.
Life Gear's AutoLight is intended for use in your car. You can use the white LED flashlight when you need to change a tire at night, and the flashing red LEDs will warn other drivers to your presence on the roadside. What's more, the AutoLight has a window spike so you can break safety glass, and the seat-belt cutter will help you escape a wrecked vehicle.
The list of innovative flashlights is a long one, and thanks to continuing technological advances and creative engineers, that list will only expand. Whether you're a casual flashlight users or a connoisseur of combination tools, the future of all-in-one lights is bright indeed.
Energizer. "Lighting Products." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://www.energizerlightingproducts.com/Pages/Home. Energizer. "Outdoor Lighting Products. Battery Lanterns." (Nov. "Outdoor Lighting Products and Battery Lanterns." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://www.energizer.com/products/flashlights/outdoor-lights/Pages/batteries-lantern-headlamp.aspx
Greenlite. "LED Nightlites & Flashlights." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://www.greenliteusa.com/PDF/lednitelitesflashlites.pdf
Life+Gear. "AutoLight EP." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://www.lifegearcompany.com/autolightep.html
Life+Gear. "Glowsticks." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://www.lifegearcompany.com/glowsticks.html
Mach5 Self Defense. "Streetwise 3-in-1 Flashlight Stun Gun." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://mach5selfdefense.com/sw3n1. Meritline.com "3-in-1 LED. Flashlight Laser Pointer." (Nov.com "3-in-1 LED and Flashlight Laser Pointer." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://www.meritline.com/3-in-1-led-flashlight-laser-pointer-403---p-34998.aspx
Nitro-Pak Preparedness Center. "LED 3-in-1 Flashlight." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://www.nitro-pak.com/product_info.php?products_id=1031
Stanley Tools. "Stanley 3-in-1 Tripod LED Flashlight." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?CATEGORY=FLASHLIGHTS&TYPE=PRODUCT&PARTNUMBER=95-155&SDesc=Stanley%26%23174%3B+3-in-1+Tripod+LED+Flashlight
Victorinox. "Swiss Card lite translucent." (Nov. 4, 2009)http://www.swissarmy.com/MultiTools/Pages/Product.aspx?category=multitoollights&product=53851&
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