In preparation for my amazing trip to Costa Rica and its dark rainforests, I spent a lot of time investigating flashlight options. And I came up with two winners.
1. The $11 URPOWER LED Tactical Flashlight. It’s lightweight and bright. And it features a convenient zoom within easy reach of your thumb, so you can light a broad path in front of you and quickly zoom in on anything you see. It takes 3 AA batteries or an included rechargeable battery.
This was perfect for walking around the rainforest at night, and now I always travel with one.
Dozens of brands seem to offer the same flashlight: URPOWER (which I bought), Anker, Gearlight, PeakPlus, and more. I assume they’re all basically the same.
The light is bright, but, in spite of the official specs, nowhere near 1,000 lumens. For that, you want:
2. The Coast Polysteel 1000, $60 direct from Coast or a bit less from Amazon. This was the light that got me my frog photos at night, including this one:
(Yes, that’s ISO 250. At night.)
The Coast Polysteel 1000 is truly 1,000 lumens, and it’s zoomable, dimable, dropable, submergeable, and almost anything-elseable. It takes 9 AA batteries that are not included. Unlike the cheap Chinese units, this light is made to last, and it really delivers. You will notice its weight, though: 21.2oz (602g), plus the batteries.
According to Coast, the light’s temperature is about 7200K. My measurements are similar: 7300K with +41 tint in Lightroom gives me true whites in the center; 9400K at +13 is appropriate for the periphery.
If you’re headed anywhere dark — the rainforest, of course, or really any place with nightfall at the end of the day — you want this with you. (On my final daytime walk through the rainforest, my guides mocked me at first for bringing this along, but then when their flashlights weren’t powerful enough, they insisted on borrowing it.)
Here’s another Coast-lit frog shot:
Next time you head out to shoot in the dark, take these with you. You won’t regret it.
