# Personal equipment preferences



## emtmike11 (Jun 20, 2010)

I am in the market for a good flashlight to carry on my belt. I don't want a big bulky one and I'd rather not cough up more than $120 for a good "tactical" light. Would anyone care to share their thoughts or preferences on this? What do you carry?


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## TransportJockey (Jun 20, 2010)

I carry a $2 Rayovac LED penlight that I picked up at wal-mart in my right leg pocket (the EMS pants part) and have a $7 multi-led flashlight that I picked up at Auto-Zone in my backpack. 
EDIT: Make sure to also ask about what steth is the best, which belt to wear, if you can carry a weapon on shift, and what kind of boots you wear


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## MMiz (Jun 20, 2010)

Mike,

You may want to search, as we've discussed this a number of times.  One good thread is:

Give me your best flashlight recomendation...

I carried a Maglite Mini on my belt when I worked overnight shifts, and it was the most common one I saw working in EMS.


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## mycrofft (Jun 21, 2010)

*Roger that JT Paintball!*

I carried a $3 Skil brand nine LED light from Kragen Auto, a $4  two-AA incandescent flashlight with the bulb switched out for Krypton (another $2.45), and a one LED $3 light from Walmart. Oh, and my oto-opthalmoscope.


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## atticrat (Jun 25, 2010)

Can't go wrong with the Mini-Mag lights!  Mine has an LED upgrade head and pushbutton tail switch with diff. levels. All total about $25.00, and works great.


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## citizensoldierny (Jun 25, 2010)

I personally like the Surefire 6p but plenty of good one's by Fenix, Streamlight, Inova, Pelican and others. Being the cheap type I ordered some rechargable batteries off the bay for the 6p. So I now get the get the Surefire goodness without having to replace those pricy batteries.


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## adamjh3 (Jun 27, 2010)

Eagletac P10A or P20A2 are what I carry at work for day shifts My Olight M20 goes on the belt for 24s or night shifts.

The Eagletacs both have pretty impressive output, and both run on AA batteries. 

Pick one of those up, plus some Eneloop rechargable batteries and you'll probably never have to buy another flashlight again.


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## LucidResq (Jun 27, 2010)




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## jjesusfreak01 (Jun 27, 2010)

http://www.wickedlasers.com/lasers/The_Torch-74-41.html

If it can't cauterize a wound it has no place on my belt!

In all seriousness, I love my LED mini-maglite.


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## Cawolf86 (Jun 27, 2010)

Imagine someone checking pupil reactivity with that thing....


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## TransportJockey (Jun 27, 2010)

LucidResq said:


>



One of my old partners used a little light designed like that (but a lizard) that she got at REI. It was awesome. And kids loved it


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## Trayos (Jun 28, 2010)

Cawolf86 said:


> Imagine someone checking pupil reactivity with that thing....


You dont have to h34r:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsIHyRyETKg&feature=related


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## TraprMike (Jun 28, 2010)

emtmike11 said:


> I am in the market for a good flashlight to carry on my belt. I don't want a big bulky one and I'd rather not cough up more than $120 for a good "tactical" light. Would anyone care to share their thoughts or preferences on this? What do you carry?



I'm always serching for the perfect flashlight.  I have the 100 buck Stinger, the new LED Stinger (which is a little bigger) and assorted old MagLights. 
I have SureFire G2 I used to use on duty. 
Right now, I use the LED Stinger every day, for cop'n work. while I'm on call for EMT, I have what I think Is the perfect little light. I got it at a hardware store for 15 bux.. it's an LED w/about 6 LeD's in it. about 3 inches long, rear switch. aluminum body and tactical silver color.. hihi,,,  and it uses 3 AA batteries. 
It's about the same size as the SureFire, but the G2 takes the expensive 123 batteries. 
I use this light as my search light, I carry the little cheapie pen lights for checking eyes, ears.


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## MrBrown (Jun 29, 2010)

I don't need a light, my orange "DOCTOR" jumpsuit is flouroscent enough to cause retinal necrosies  

Seriously, a good long heavy Maglite with D cell batteries.


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## DrParasite (Jun 29, 2010)

MrBrown said:


> Seriously, a good long heavy Maglite with D cell batteries.


I have two of three of these (one blue, one or two in black).  great lights, but they never go with me on an ambulance.  One is by the driver's seat of my car (with the batteries dead, I do need to get new ones), and the other one is somewhere in my home.  I used to think I wanted one for use on the truck, but after a while decided it was not worth it.

Currently I have a Fenix LD20 http://www.fenixlight.com/viewnproduct.asp?id=66 on my belt, for use on my city EMS shifts.  It's absurdly bright, but a little bit pricey.  but a good light is essential when you are walking up steps in urban settings when there are no lights in the stairways.

I also love the push button tail cap, because it makes it easier to turn on that by trying to find out how to turn it on in the dark.

If I work in the suburbs, I typically keep a cheap tactical LED flashlight in my pocket bought off ebay.  not as bright, not as expensive, but the burbs tend to be a little better lit.


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## Stew (Jun 29, 2010)

DrParasite said:


> Currently I have a Fenix LD20 http://www.fenixlight.com/viewnproduct.asp?id=66 on my belt, for use on my city EMS shifts.  It's absurdly bright, but a little bit pricey.  but a good light is essential when you are walking up steps in urban settings when there are no lights in the stairways.



Out of curiosity how much did you pay for the fenix flashlight? It retails for A$99 here but fairly certain when it was first release here I only paid A$50


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## DrParasite (Jun 29, 2010)

$54 US including shipping.


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## Stew (Jun 29, 2010)

Not bad, and I love that it doesn't need expensive lithium batteries.


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## leftysoftball (Aug 12, 2010)

LucidResq said:


>



LMAO! My kids have that exact flashlight! It even "roars" when you push the button.


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## Bosco836 (Sep 15, 2010)

emtmike11 said:


> Would anyone care to share their thoughts or preferences on this? What do you carry?



Mini-mag lite here.


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## Charmeck (Oct 8, 2010)

I like Fenix, but Dorcy makes some decent lights for a fraction of the price too!


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## C.T.E.M.R. (Nov 5, 2010)

Basics. Shears, notebook ,penlight, bandage scissors, stethoscope, pens, pager and cell phone, Just what i need on me, ill sometimes carry other stuff, but not all the time. everything else can stay in the bags that's what there for.


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## Bullets (Nov 8, 2010)

I carry:
2 trauma shears and a penlight in between on my left cargo pocket
a led mini mag, hemostat, and folding knife on the right pocket
Sked gloves in my right cargo pocket
boot knife on inside of right boot, 
radio and pelican 7060 on left hip
Glove pouch on right hip
pen-style handcuff key and lighter in right hip pocket
smart pad and two pens in left chest pocket
Droid X in right chest pocket
litman cardiology III w/ 1in tape around my neck, 
It doesn't seem like a lot when I work...


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## EMT11KDL (Nov 8, 2010)

1-Sheers (Pink, unless they had been stolen from last shift) 
1-Pen Light 
1-Pen (Has to be a clicky pen)
1-Radio 
1-pager
1-knife (folding)
2-Cell Phones (One Personal, one ambulance or engine phone) 

Money, DL, state Card and CPR card.  

Now reality, I usually loose the Pen Light after the first call, My pen always seems to get grow legs and walk away.  Half Way through the shift i leave my phone at the station, so now I am done to one phone.  Knife usually taken out around 3 o'clock aka Nap time.  and I forget to put it back into my pocket.  

So by the end of the day, its Sheers Unless they have also grown legs and walked away, which seems to happen alot.  1 Radio, 1 Pager and hopefully 1 cell phone.  DL, State Card and CPR Card.  Money (Wait I never had money, we dont even make enough money to survive and pay our bills)


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## EMT11KDL (Nov 8, 2010)

IF you need light on a scene, call the Fire Department, we have big trucks designed to give off great light, also if you do not need that much light, the blue canaries are very good at holding a flashlight up for me at least..  and they always have one or two on them


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## JPINFV (Nov 8, 2010)

EMT11KDL said:


> IF you need light on a scene, call the Fire Department, we have big trucks designed to give off great light


....and every ambulance I've ever been on have been factory equipped with exterior scene lights.


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## EMT11KDL (Nov 8, 2010)

JPINFV said:


> ....and every ambulance I've ever been on have been factory equipped with exterior scene lights.



Yes, but sometimes we need more light...


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## Bullets (Nov 8, 2010)

EMT11KDL said:


> IF you need light on a scene, call the Fire Department, we have big trucks designed to give off great light, also if you do not need that much light, the blue canaries are very good at holding a flashlight up for me at least..  and they always have one or two on them



Most of our calls are inside, so big light trucks and engines aren't going to help light that scene. Plus, unless its an MVC with fluids or something with entrapment and we might need fire suppression fire stays at home, they usually just get in the way and cause problems

PD isn't around for most calls, and if they do come they only stay for combative our cpr patients. So we have to bring our own light to the scene. I carry alight on my belt for most and we have hand lanterns on the truck


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## EMT11KDL (Nov 8, 2010)

Bullets said:


> Most of our calls are inside, so big light trucks and engines aren't going to help light that scene. Plus, unless its an MVC with fluids or something with entrapment and we might need fire suppression fire stays at home, they usually just get in the way and cause problems
> 
> PD isn't around for most calls, and if they do come they only stay for combative our cpr patients. So we have to bring our own light to the scene. I carry alight on my belt for most and we have hand lanterns on the truck



that sucks for you huys. We have fire on every call. Also 90 percent of the time pd aso comes, most of the time I think they are bored and want to look useful


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## TransportJockey (Nov 8, 2010)

EMT11KDL said:


> that sucks for you huys. We have fire on every call. Also 90 percent of the time pd aso comes, most of the time I think they are bored and want to look useful



Heh, that sounds like a lot of the reason fire rolled on a lot of calls when I lived in NM. 
In my service area in Pecos, FD is a volunteer service that, on a good day, takes 30 minutes to get trucks out the door to a car or structure fire. I'm glad I don't have to have them on my scene, especially since none of them are EMTs. 
I guess that's the reason we have a paid EMS service and a vollie FD


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## EMT11KDL (Nov 8, 2010)

jtpaintball70 said:


> Heh, that sounds like a lot of the reason fire rolled on a lot of calls when I lived in NM.
> In my service area in Pecos, FD is a volunteer service that, on a good day, takes 30 minutes to get trucks out the door to a car or structure fire. I'm glad I don't have to have them on my scene, especially since none of them are EMTs.
> I guess that's the reason we have a paid EMS service and a vollie FD



fire and ems are both paid. So sometimes fire gets there before ems. Also we hae some als engines


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## Bullets (Nov 8, 2010)

EMT11KDL said:


> that sucks for you huys. We have fire on every call. Also 90 percent of the time pd aso comes, most of the time I think they are bored and want to look useful



Not really, fire service only causes problems because they feel they are always in charge on any emergency scene, if we had them all the time there would be fights

I like rolling by ourselves, lets us work at or own pace with minimal interference


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## Bullets (Nov 8, 2010)

double post


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## JPINFV (Nov 8, 2010)

EMT11KDL said:


> that sucks for you huys. We have fire on every call. Also 90 percent of the time pd aso comes, most of the time I think they are bored and want to look useful



...in addition to racking up "responses" in order to justify more funding.


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