Recommendations for tiny lights
I've been looking for a couple of small lights and I haven't found quite the perfect ones for me yet. You guys have any good ideas?
Light the first: A tiny lantern to illuminate the inside of a backpack.
My pack has a standard MOLLE width strap with a tri-glide to dangle a hydration bladder from. A teeny tiny little lantern that would give just enough light to illuminate the inside of the pack dangling from that strap would be a neat addition, allowing me to find things inside the pack with more ease. Requirements: must survive living inside the pack that goes pretty much everywhere I do, so must be somewhat weather resistant, must be small enough to be out of the way, has to give out a useful, not overbearing amount of light - no nucular level retina searing turbo modes, no tactical strobes, no strategic strobes, no bloody strobes of any bloody kind, no built-in garrotte, beer opener, and kettlebell... Just a wee little lantern to give out a wee little amount of light. Light that's directed downwards into the pack, not into my face. Would be neat if it took a somewhat common battery, so 2032 preferred over other button cells (if the light takes button cells). A key chain light might work here, but I keep breaking those and the beam patterns usually aren't quite perfect for this task.
Light the second: A small MOLLE mounted utility light.
I'd like to mount a light onto my tactical kit for hands-free illumination of administrative tasks. (So if we're being honest here, patching targets at the range when it's dark. :) And yes, I do own a headlamp, but for reasons I'd like to try a kit mounted light.) The light would probably be mounted onto the shoulder strap of my chest rig, as it has a few bits of MOLLE that are fairly well out of the way. This will only be used for administrative tasks, so once again no retina searing strategic strobes etc., just a bit of light so I can see what I am doing. Must survive inclement weather conditions. As small, light weight and unobtrusive as possible. Taking common batteries is again a plus. I've been thinking about a Princeton Tec Switch or Point, but I keep seeing unfavorable reviews of their durability and weather resistance so I'm not sure I want to spend $50 or so to find out whether one of those would survive in my use or not. Plus, you know, they take different batteries than all the other electronics I have, so I would have to buy spare batteries specifically for that light. Which is probably not that big of a hassle, but still a small complication in logistics.
It's surprisingly difficult to find simple, light weight, small size, moderate amount of light, simple user interface lights that aren't utter Chinese garbage. And ones that are preferably relatively cheap ones, to boot. :)
