Olympic National Forest is located 100 miles west of Seattle, Washington, and covers over 600,000 acres.
It has a landscape that varies from rainforest to the high peaks of Mount Washington.
One day, while hiking with a friend through the Olympic National Forest, Richard A. fell more than 1,200 feet down a ravine on Mount Ellinor.
After the fall, Richard’s hiking partner was unable to find him.
Around 6:30 p.m. a search and rescue crew were dispatched from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
While searching the ravine, the helicopter crew noticed a small flashing light.
It turns out that Richard had been hurt in the fall but was able to use his flashlight to alert the helicopter to his position.
Once the helicopter noticed the flashlight, they lowered a crew member down to Richard.
Richard was safely lifted into the helicopter and transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
He was treated for hypothermia and a broken arm.
A quality flashlight helped save Richard after he fell nearly 1,200 feet down a mountainside.
There are many different options when it comes to “tactical” or “survival” flashlights.
But one aspect that is often overlooked is the candela and lumens of the flashlight.
Here’s what these two factors mean, and a few reasons why they’re so important:
What does candela mean?:
The word candela is Latin for candle. One candela is equal to the amount of light produced from one candle.
Candela measures the intensity of the light, giving you an idea of whether the flashlight has a wide or focused beam.
A good rule of thumb is the higher the candela, the more focused the light beam from the flashlight is.
If you want a flashlight that will go through dense fog or smoke, you want one with a higher candela.
Conversely, if you need to read a map you would likely want a lower candela.
What are lumens?:
Lumens are the brightness of the light. The number of lumens needed will depend on the situation.
For instance, 20 lumens might be enough when reading a map.
But if you are searching a large piece of property you might want a flashlight with 1000 lumens or more.
In simple terms, more lumens mean more light. Fewer lumens mean less light.
What kind of light do you want in a tactical situation?:
When choosing a flashlight for survival or tactical purposes there are a lot of factors to consider such as cost, battery life, and durability.
But don’t overlook aspects such as lumens and candela.
If you are mounting a flashlight to a weapon these factors also come into play.
For instance, with a light mounted on a rifle, you will want a higher candela light.
This is because most rifles are used for longer distance shooting and a higher candela will allow you to see a further distance.
For a pistol mounted light, it would be better to have a light with higher lumens and less candela because it will provide a wider light.
For example, it would light up a room instead of being a straight beam.
What kind of light do you want for everyday use?:
Well, I believe it only takes about 100 lumens to blind an attacker so you would want that at the very least.
Plus, you want a metal flashlight that won’t fall apart like a cheap, plastic one.
And you don’t want one that takes some crazy batteries that are hard to find.
