Let There Be Light, from a flashlight aficianado that knows.

Just some random thoughts on flashlights here, because there was a wide-spread power outage caused by a power pole being hit this morning. It was kind of weird to see Belden Village Mall in the dark with no working lights.

The Mag-Lite XL100 is easy to use and is powerful for a little AAA battery model. Nice and bright too. But the only thing that I have a real problem with is the tail cap activating when kept in a pocket. Several times I've taken it out to use it, only to have - surprise, surprise - the light be almost dead. So I would keep the tailcap unscrewed a part of the way when keeping in a pocket to rectify this problem.

The AA model Victorinox/Inova mash-up is the best handheld flashlight you can own in my opinion, bar none. My first model of this lasted almost five years and was dropped, smashed, thrown in frustration, went through the washer and dryer, and took countless other abuses I can't remember. A set of batteries lasts forever and the light spill is bright as hell. These are sold at the sporting goods section at Target, usually packaged with a handy Swiss Army Knife. Don't wait. Run out and buy one or two right now.

The LED version of the Pelican MityLite I have is also great, and I'm happy when I found this one collecting dust at a garage sale. Runs on 4 AA's and the sucker is bright and lasts forever.

The Inova X1 was great, but they don't make them like they used to anymore. The single-cell AA flashlight used to have a focused "spotlight" beam that was handy for looking down a pipe or at the end of a dark alleyway, for example. Now they've gone back to a regular wide beam. Just pick your preference here.

I usually eschew flashlights such as Surefires which typically run on CR123 batteries. Even with me being steadily employed Surefires are outside of my budget and the CR123's are less common (and also more expensive) than your widely-found AA or AAA batteries. Plus the nice thing is that with a more common battery, you can take the drycells out of electronics you don't need (a CD player for instance) and put them into your flashlight in an emergency.

Just some thoughts for now. Long story short it's not a good idea to go into a blacked-out mall without some form of being able to see what's in front of you.