Fred Fuller
Moderator Emeritus
Our old Garrity Lantern Model 90050 is finally giving up the ghost after a decade or more of use and at least one new rechargeable battery replacement. This lantern was the first one I ever saw that combined the functions of night light and power failure light in one package. This makes it really handy for normal everyday use.
And IMHO it makes this sort of lantern invaluable as an HD tool as well. In a home defense situation, you want light where and when you need it and nowhere else. You want the approaches to your saferoom lit and the saferoom itself dark inside. You want to have anyone who appears in the saferoom door backlit so you can se them without them seeing you.
The old Garrity 90050 uses a green glow screen as a night light, and that's the part that is dying. It's 5" long, 3" high and 1 3/4" thick and its oval shape is arranged so its fold-out plug fits the bottom of any handy wall outlet. It uses a regular E10 flashlight battery and two AA nicads to provide automatic backup light in the event of a power failure. But with its night light function on the wane, I've been looking for replacements.
So far, I've had no luck finding any on the shelf. I did locate a cople of options on Garrity's website, but so far I haven't seen one on the shelf at the hardware store. I'll have to look around in the Big City big-box building supply stores next time I get up that way I guess. I'd like to see one before I buy it... .
On the web you can see the alternatives at http://www.garritylites.com/page96.html and http://www.garritylites.com/page613.html . There may well be others out there I don't know about, if you've seen any other alternatives please post them here.
One thing I did run across intrigued me enough to bring it home. It's a battery-powered LED (so no outlet is needed) night light that is tripped by a little built-in motion detector. Now my wife says I'm a sucker for a gadget, and she might well be right. But this thing looked like a useful addition to the arsenal of light here at Casa Lapin.
I'm not finding this company or product anywhere on the web that I can point you to. I ran across it on the rack at wallyworld- it's a Meridian Electric Co. LED motion sensor light, Item # PHMO01. It uses 3 AA alkaline batteries and is contained in a molded plastic arched housing that is about 3 1/4" high by 3 1/4" wide by 1 3/4" thick. It can sit on a flat surface on its base or hang on the wall from a screw or nail. It has a sensor that keeps it from coming on when there's available light, but motion from a warm object within 15' or so will trip on the LED for 20 seconds or so.
Again, there may be a dozen other options like this out there that I don't know about, and if you know of any I'd appreciate seeing them here.
One other option I have often mentioned for emergency lighting in home defense is the technology offered under the X-10 remote control protocol ( http://www.homeseer.com/support/faqs/faqs_x-10.htm ). Widely available, simple and relatively inexpensive, this hardware allows you to use existing home wiring to control lamps and other appliances simply by plugging in control panels and control modules. Vastly more expensive, complicated, intelligent and technically sophisticated offerings are available now, but the simple stuff still works well.
Light can be your strongest ally in defending your home and family, but you need to explore your lighting options and incorporate them into your plans for home defense.
hth,
lpl/nc
And IMHO it makes this sort of lantern invaluable as an HD tool as well. In a home defense situation, you want light where and when you need it and nowhere else. You want the approaches to your saferoom lit and the saferoom itself dark inside. You want to have anyone who appears in the saferoom door backlit so you can se them without them seeing you.
The old Garrity 90050 uses a green glow screen as a night light, and that's the part that is dying. It's 5" long, 3" high and 1 3/4" thick and its oval shape is arranged so its fold-out plug fits the bottom of any handy wall outlet. It uses a regular E10 flashlight battery and two AA nicads to provide automatic backup light in the event of a power failure. But with its night light function on the wane, I've been looking for replacements.
So far, I've had no luck finding any on the shelf. I did locate a cople of options on Garrity's website, but so far I haven't seen one on the shelf at the hardware store. I'll have to look around in the Big City big-box building supply stores next time I get up that way I guess. I'd like to see one before I buy it... .
On the web you can see the alternatives at http://www.garritylites.com/page96.html and http://www.garritylites.com/page613.html . There may well be others out there I don't know about, if you've seen any other alternatives please post them here.
One thing I did run across intrigued me enough to bring it home. It's a battery-powered LED (so no outlet is needed) night light that is tripped by a little built-in motion detector. Now my wife says I'm a sucker for a gadget, and she might well be right. But this thing looked like a useful addition to the arsenal of light here at Casa Lapin.
I'm not finding this company or product anywhere on the web that I can point you to. I ran across it on the rack at wallyworld- it's a Meridian Electric Co. LED motion sensor light, Item # PHMO01. It uses 3 AA alkaline batteries and is contained in a molded plastic arched housing that is about 3 1/4" high by 3 1/4" wide by 1 3/4" thick. It can sit on a flat surface on its base or hang on the wall from a screw or nail. It has a sensor that keeps it from coming on when there's available light, but motion from a warm object within 15' or so will trip on the LED for 20 seconds or so.
Again, there may be a dozen other options like this out there that I don't know about, and if you know of any I'd appreciate seeing them here.
One other option I have often mentioned for emergency lighting in home defense is the technology offered under the X-10 remote control protocol ( http://www.homeseer.com/support/faqs/faqs_x-10.htm ). Widely available, simple and relatively inexpensive, this hardware allows you to use existing home wiring to control lamps and other appliances simply by plugging in control panels and control modules. Vastly more expensive, complicated, intelligent and technically sophisticated offerings are available now, but the simple stuff still works well.
Light can be your strongest ally in defending your home and family, but you need to explore your lighting options and incorporate them into your plans for home defense.
hth,
lpl/nc
