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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

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.
- ben_w 3y ago
  > They are cheap enough that you may have dozens of them You're describing my LED situation here :) (Well, except for romance; LEDs are too stark and cold, and I'm no longer a goth).
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    IDK, if you asked me out for a LED-light dinner, with the eating place brightly lit by cold LEDs... I'd consider proposing to you, regardless of any other preference I may have for a partner. Seriously, I hate warm lights. They're gloomy and make me spend 90% of my energy fighting to stay awake. I don't get why people are so fond of them (and why they're always keeping their places way underlit). I must be just wired differently.
gnicholas 3y ago
You're going out on a trip and planning to bring charged batteries. When comparing against candles for emergency purposes, you have to adjust for the fact that emergencies are unplanned. Batteries lose charge over time (especially the rechargeable ones we use), which makes them much less useful for emergencies. Compare with candles, which do not lose 'charge' over time.

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.

ben_w 3y ago
> They are cheap enough that you may have dozens of them You're describing my LED situation here :) (Well, except for romance; LEDs are too stark and cold, and I'm no longer a goth).
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  IDK, if you asked me out for a LED-light dinner, with the eating place brightly lit by cold LEDs... I'd consider proposing to you, regardless of any other preference I may have for a partner. Seriously, I hate warm lights. They're gloomy and make me spend 90% of my energy fighting to stay awake. I don't get why people are so fond of them (and why they're always keeping their places way underlit). I must be just wired differently.

gnicholas 3y ago

You're going out on a trip and planning to bring charged batteries. When comparing against candles for emergency purposes, you have to adjust for the fact that emergencies are unplanned. Batteries lose charge over time (especially the rechargeable ones we use), which makes them much less useful for emergencies. Compare with candles, which do not lose 'charge' over time.