Flashlights For The Outdoors – 6 Lightweight Flashlights
Whether you are fishing, camping, hunting or hiking, a flashlight is important for safety and general use.
With a small flashlight, like a penlight or key-chain flashlight, you are more likely to carry it on you, or have it in your backpack.
If you are sitting around the campfire at night time and you want to check something out, unfortunately the campfire light only shines out so far. So a flashlight is handy, even if it is for peace of mind to shine the light into the woods.
For more information on the best Olight models for the outdoors, click on – Best Olight Flashlights For Camping 2021
For details on the best torches, click on – Best Flashlights For Camping 2021
Getting out of the tent in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, a torch is useful. You can find your clothes and shoes easier. It save you stepping on sticks and tripping over tent guy lines and waking everyone up.
Also if you are out fishing or hunting and walking back to the car in the dark, you can shine it on the trail to help you see. This helps you avoid getting lost by wandering off the trail.
For hot nights you can see that you aren’t stepping on any nasty biting and stinging wildlife like scorpions or snakes.
A flashlight is also essential for safety if you do twist an ankle and have to signal for help and shine it for emergency services to help find you.
For hiking and backpacking, a flashlight is also useful for down time.
Perhaps you have set up your tent before dark and cooked something to eat. The light is now fading, so you head to bed. You use the torch to look at the map for the different hiking trails you are going to walk tomorrow.
The light can help you study the contour lines and terrain on the map and measure the distance you intend to travel.
6 lightweight flashlights for the outdoors.
Here is a list of some light weight flashlights, ideal for camping, backpacking and fishing, etc.
| Brand | Lumens | Weight (Approx.) | |
| Hatori Super Small Mini LED Flashlight | 150 lumens | 0.8 ounces | 23 grams |
| Fenix LD02 Mini Pen Light LED Flashlight | 100 lumens | .6 ounces | 17 grams |
| Nightcore Thumb Rechargeable Keychain Light | 85 lumens | .88 ounces | 25 grams |
| Olight i3E EOS key ring flashlight | 90 lumens | .27 ounces | 7.9 grams |
| WdtPro Super Bright Flashlight | 30 lumens | 1.44 ounces | 40 grams |
| Olight I3T EOS EDC flashlight | 180 lumens | 1.45 ounces | 41 grams |
Flashlights for hiking?
For hikers, the weight and size is very important. Especially for ultralight hikers, as every ounce of weight can quickly add up to pounds.
For hikers who don’t need a real powerful light and aren’t wondering the trails at night, even a little keychain flashlight will work.
If you are going to be hiking in low light a headlamp or more powerful torch would be better. But for general use, some lightweight and small model torches work well.
Are all flashlights waterproof?
No, unfortunately not all flashlights are waterproof. Luckily today more flashlights are waterproof. The quality torches will advertise if they are waterproof.
I remember one of my early fishing trips. I was wading in the water trying to get out a bit further, so I could fish in the deeper waters.
It was getting towards dark, and I got a tangle. I took the torch out my fishing vest, accidentally fumbled with it and splash, the torch was in the water. I quickly retrieved the torch and got it back and tried to turn it on, but no luck it didn’t work. It was a slow and cautious walk back to the car, as I had no flashlight to see. Luckily is there was a bit of moon light so I could just make the walking trail out.
This fishing trip also taught me an important lesson for the outdoors, always have a backup flashlight.
For hunting, fishing and camping, I will a lot of time have two torches or more. One is a headlamp which makes hands free fishing easier. For more information on fishing in the dark, click on Night Fishing.
The other torch is a little Olight i3E EOS key ring flashlight that puts out an impressive 90 lumens for its small size. See my field test on this light at Olight i3E EOS Flashlight Review
Why do flashlights have strobe?
A strobe function can help for an emergency signal for search and rescue.
Some flashlights also have a SOS (Morse code associated with “Save Our Ship”, or “Save Our Souls.”) function.
The strobe light can also save battery time.
Why do flashlights use concave mirrors?
A flashlight uses a concave mirror to help focus the light into a beam, rather than spreading the light out.
What is a lumen?
A lumen is basically how bright it is. It is a unit of flux or a measurement of quantity of visible light.
One lumen is roughly about ten times brighter than the moonlight.
Around 10 lumens is for close up tasks. Such as getting items out of the back pack, low light reading, etc.
With around 60 lumens or above this is enough light to temporally impair a person’s vision for a few seconds.
Around 100 lumens can light up a backyard.
A flashlight with a 1000 lumens is a very powerful light. It might be used for search and rescue and law enforcement.
Extra Resources – Olight Flashlight Models
