Do You Really Need a $300 Flashlight?

Okay, so next March you can buy the mPower Emergency Illuminator which will go for $250-$300. Now the promise of a 20 year storage lifetime on the reserve battery is amazing and it certainly fills an obvious niche, long term kit storage.


On the other hand, that will buy you a lot of Maglites and batteries. They are also built really tough.


It isn't like there aren't other expensive flashlights, SureFire flashlights can be as expensive or even more, but they are designed to be mounted to guns and designing for that kind of shock is a big deal. 


I have an explosion proof flashlight for working in near volatiles. Those aren't cheap either.


I am not wild about fancy batteries, while CR123s are pretty common now, they are not nearly as common as AA/AAAs, which you can get at virtually any convenience or dollar store. Besides you can get lithium primary batteries in regular cell sizes now too. Store those with you emergency flashlights and they will last as long.


Flashlights are like any other kind of tool, you need to get the right one for what you are trying to do.