EMERGENCY ILLUMINATION

DIVERSIFYING YOUR LIGHTING OPTIONS

- JIM COBB

The dark can be foreboding, even outright dangerous. The boogeyman might not be there, but that coffee table just might jump out and trip you if you're not careful. In a power outage, it is important to be able to shed some light on the situation.

Even if there aren't issues with the electricity, there are always jobs to be done that require you to be able to see what you're doing, such as swapping out an alternator or changing brake pads on the family car or even checking out a weird noise in the backyard late at night.

There is a wide range of illumination options available on the market today. As you explore the different options, you're going to run into the term lumens. This is how the brightness of light is measured. Simply put, the higher the lumens, the brighter the light. However, you can't necessarily go by lumens alone, as several other factors will determine the actual performance, including run time, battery type, beam distance and beam type, such as spotlight versus flood.

We're going to cover several of the basic categories of portable illumination, and pass along a few recommendations along the way.

HEADLAMP

These have come a long way since the old days of a hot, heavy light weighing down your forehead. Today, they're small, lightweight LEDs that are far brighter than anything they had back then. Headlamps are great for when you want or need both hands free to work and there's not an easy place to rest a light.

The downside is that the light shines only where you're pointing your head, so not only will you not be able to see as well off to the side of where you're working, there's a tendency to blind anyone you look at until you get in the habit of turning the light off first. Look for one with a comfortable, adjustable elastic band. Some models allow you to switch between white light and a red filter, which can preserve your night vision.