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Candles are hands free, and nice lighting. I don’t get why you’d try tell me a phone is “better”? A candle costs almost nothing and can also be useful to burn t

Candles are hands free, and nice lighting. I don’t get why you’d try tell me a phone is “better”? A candle costs almost nothing and can also be useful to burn things. I know it seems hard to imagine now but bad shit will happen and why but have a few $1 candles in a survival kit in your house ? Seems like a no brainer.

ben_w 3y ago
Candles are more expensive than torches of similar luminosity (I've bought multiple extremely bright torches from PoundLand and EuroShop; can you even find a merely-one-candle-power torch in a pound-shop/dollar-store? Or anywhere else when torches are usually advertised by the biggest brightness number possible?) Candles are less hands-free than torches because they are a fire hazard when unattended; also, you can turn an iPhone light on or off with "hey Siri torch on" etc., unlike a candle where you need to find both it and the matches first before you get started, instead of simply vocalising in the darkness to summon forth illumination like a wizard. In fact, that fire hazard thing makes candles more likely to be the cause of rather than the solution to any serious problems I might face.
- ChatGTP 3y ago
  Why not just have both? I cannot tell you how many LED camp lights I have that have broken or batteries that have failed, including LED Lenser which apparently are a quality brand. Randomly I've been lucky and some have lasted a long time, but that's been rare. In fact, that fire hazard thing makes candles more likely to be the cause of rather than the solution to any serious problems I might face. Use a candle lantern [1] makes the candle quite hands free and much safer, they're invaluable. They also sell a citronella candle so it can double for keeping the bugs away as well as lighting. There's no way I'm skipping on the candles for any reason at all. Of course I have LED head torches but not having candles seems kind of silly, I just have both. What brand of lanterns do you use? [1] https://www.amazon.com/UCO-Original-Lantern-Candles-Storage/dp/B094DVYM2V https://www.amazon.com/UCO-Original-Lantern-Candles-Storage/...
  - thrashh 3y ago
    I go cave exploring and camping all the time so I have to rely on flashlights and lanterns and to be honest, I've never had one fail in the past 10 years. I've never had a battery fail on me either -- sure, forgetting to charge is one thing but you can carry multiple batteries. An overkill lantern that would serve anyone well could be this one: https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Lantern-Rehargeable-Runtime-flaslight/dp/B097MN6P1B https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Lantern-Rehargeable-Runtime-f... designed by budgetlightforum.com Or if you want to search for lanterns and flashlights: http://flashlights.parametrek.com/ http://flashlights.parametrek.com/
    - ChatGTP 3y ago
      I've never had a battery fail on me either -- sure, forgetting to charge is one thing but you can carry multiple batteries. How do we reconcile our differences here? :) It's just something that has happened to me. I also do a lot of camping in sub zero temperatures, lithium ion is pretty hopeless when it gets cold. Lot of managing the batteries, keeping them in your clothes etc.
      - ben_w 3y ago
        > I also do a lot of camping in sub zero temperatures, lithium ion is pretty hopeless when it gets cold. That's probably the key difference. I never camp in less than a comfortable summer.
    - TeMPOraL 3y ago
      > I go cave exploring and camping all the time so I have to rely on flashlights and lanterns Which means you both regularly test/use the flashlights, and have an overall maintenance discipline around them that's so habituated that you're probably not consciously aware of it. For most people, a flashlight would be something that you may have one or two of, stored in a drawer somewhere... maybe, since last you saw one of them was 2 years ago. Batteries are probably long dead already, and you might not have spares. Candles win by price and maintenance simplicity. They are cheap enough that you may have dozens of them (some for emergency in your emergency pack, some for romantic evening in the kitchen, a few buried in random drawers around the house, a few more for... what follows the romantic evening, etc.), and when you find some, they're pretty much guaranteed to work. As a bonus, candles come with a clear, visual indicator of remaining "charge" - something most flashlights don't have.
- gnicholas 3y ago
  I do agree that candles present a fire hazard, especially when used by modern people who are not used to using candles. But batteries lose charge over time, whereas candles retain their 'charge' indefinitely. We have some candles for that reason.

ben_w 3y ago

Candles are more expensive than torches of similar luminosity (I've bought multiple extremely bright torches from PoundLand and EuroShop; can you even find a merely-one-candle-power torch in a pound-shop/dollar-store? Or anywhere else when torches are usually advertised by the biggest brightness number possible?) Candles are less hands-free than torches because they are a fire hazard when unattended; also, you can turn an iPhone light on or off with "hey Siri torch on" etc., unlike a candle where you need to find both it and the matches first before you get started, instead of simply vocalising in the darkness to summon forth illumination like a wizard. In fact, that fire hazard thing makes candles more likely to be the cause of rather than the solution to any serious problems I might face.

ChatGTP 3y ago
Why not just have both? I cannot tell you how many LED camp lights I have that have broken or batteries that have failed, including LED Lenser which apparently are a quality brand. Randomly I've been lucky and some have lasted a long time, but that's been rare. In fact, that fire hazard thing makes candles more likely to be the cause of rather than the solution to any serious problems I might face. Use a candle lantern [1] makes the candle quite hands free and much safer, they're invaluable. They also sell a citronella candle so it can double for keeping the bugs away as well as lighting. There's no way I'm skipping on the candles for any reason at all. Of course I have LED head torches but not having candles seems kind of silly, I just have both. What brand of lanterns do you use? [1] https://www.amazon.com/UCO-Original-Lantern-Candles-Storage/dp/B094DVYM2V https://www.amazon.com/UCO-Original-Lantern-Candles-Storage/...
- thrashh 3y ago
  I go cave exploring and camping all the time so I have to rely on flashlights and lanterns and to be honest, I've never had one fail in the past 10 years. I've never had a battery fail on me either -- sure, forgetting to charge is one thing but you can carry multiple batteries. An overkill lantern that would serve anyone well could be this one: https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Lantern-Rehargeable-Runtime-flaslight/dp/B097MN6P1B https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Lantern-Rehargeable-Runtime-f... designed by budgetlightforum.com Or if you want to search for lanterns and flashlights: http://flashlights.parametrek.com/ http://flashlights.parametrek.com/
  - ChatGTP 3y ago
    I've never had a battery fail on me either -- sure, forgetting to charge is one thing but you can carry multiple batteries. How do we reconcile our differences here? :) It's just something that has happened to me. I also do a lot of camping in sub zero temperatures, lithium ion is pretty hopeless when it gets cold. Lot of managing the batteries, keeping them in your clothes etc.
    - ben_w 3y ago
      > I also do a lot of camping in sub zero temperatures, lithium ion is pretty hopeless when it gets cold. That's probably the key difference. I never camp in less than a comfortable summer.
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    > I go cave exploring and camping all the time so I have to rely on flashlights and lanterns Which means you both regularly test/use the flashlights, and have an overall maintenance discipline around them that's so habituated that you're probably not consciously aware of it. For most people, a flashlight would be something that you may have one or two of, stored in a drawer somewhere... maybe, since last you saw one of them was 2 years ago. Batteries are probably long dead already, and you might not have spares. Candles win by price and maintenance simplicity. They are cheap enough that you may have dozens of them (some for emergency in your emergency pack, some for romantic evening in the kitchen, a few buried in random drawers around the house, a few more for... what follows the romantic evening, etc.), and when you find some, they're pretty much guaranteed to work. As a bonus, candles come with a clear, visual indicator of remaining "charge" - something most flashlights don't have.
gnicholas 3y ago
I do agree that candles present a fire hazard, especially when used by modern people who are not used to using candles. But batteries lose charge over time, whereas candles retain their 'charge' indefinitely. We have some candles for that reason.