The Gun Counter

All are familiar with the ubiquitous snaplight, also referred to as chemlights or chemsticks, the most popular manufacturers of which are Cyalume and Coghlan.

I read a review some time ago, and am now unable to find it. The individuals, if I recall correctly, descended into a cave system, and decided to test their backup lights: these chemlights. One by one, they cracked their sticks open and nothing happened. The author's main problem with the design is that it is not possible to know if you have a working light until you use it, and that it's a one-time use design. This Catch-22 seemed reasonable, and I stopped carrying them.

I did, however, buy three of them several years ago and put them in my trunk box. I pulled them out tonight and broke them open, and they all went off without a hitch. Green took a lot longer, and was a lot dimmer, than the two orange ones, but they certainly did work. What say you? Do you still buy them, and where do you keep them? How do you view their reliability?

i get a handfull every year for halloween for the kids to carry while out trick or treating... ive never once had one that didnt work... though i have opened a few packages and had ones that were already broken...

i wonder if the guys in the cave didnt have the same problem, that theirs were broken before the package was opened and they never checked until they were in the cave...

I've never encountered one that didn't activate, not even the cheapy 2 for a buck ones from the dollar store.

That said, of course, I haven't tried hundreds upon hundreds of them before, so my sample size may be somewhat limited.

Maybe they got IR Chemlights by mistake?

Mud_Dog wrote:Maybe they got IR Chemlights by mistake?

now that is a real possibility, especially if the got their gear at a milsurp store...

I have had broken ones but not ones that didn't go off. i am guessing IR. I have used thousands in my life too.

No problem here. I have used many bunches of the little ones on a bobber for night fishing for cat fish.

A light stick should never be your primary light source. I have had failures from the little skinny "bracelet" style, but never the big green ones.

As an aside they are really fun to throw around at night. Scouts love to go running after a hurled light stick after dark.

I tested a couple out of my patrol car about a month ago
They date of expiration was 11/98.
The green was still glowing nicely 6 hours later when I went home.
The blue was a bit dim, but that's blue.

They must have had IR.

One by one, they cracked their sticks open and nothing happened. The author's main problem with the design is that it is not possible to know if you have a working light until you use it, and that it's a one-time use design. This Catch-22 seemed reasonable, and I stopped carrying them.

Having been an UNREP guy for 1.5 years, I have literally used thousands of them. Chem lights on kapoks, shot lines, messengers, probes, signal paddles, just about anything you could possibly imagine.

I've never had an un-broken one not work.

The guy in the anecdote had IR chemlights.