Brightest Longest-Lasting Glow Sticks?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

For old, forgetful, people with bad night vision 🙂

I'd stick some in an elastic door pouch. The car flashlight is forever being borrowed, returned and stowed still switched on - you get the idea.

Held down low, a glow stick would reveal rocks, bedsprings, nails, glass, and holes with chinese noises coming out of them...

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Ever had a 5-year-old clutch a badly skinned knee and stare at you like you are Hannibal Lectur? "It was dark! I tripped!" Kids do not remember to bring stuff. Zero planning.

Full sun! "Let's go to grandpa's and ask him to make french fries and fish sticks!"

Then comes endless Facebook, Twitter et al on the computer.

"Ooooo it's dark! It's pitch black"

"Pilar? Where is your flashlight?"
"Down at the Enramada"
"Dalia where is your flashlight?"
"I forgot it"
"Hermalinda?" (age 5)
She kept playing with it and the batteries are dead.

Or other kids snatch the lights. Or they get stepped on, or left at tia Lupe's, or.....or...or...

I am faced with skinned knees, abraded hands on gravel, cut sandals or feet.

Was I this much a pain in the rear? Probably more so.

So, I came up with the idea of one-shot glow sticks. Enough to last 20-minutes and get them home, and for me to unload groceries and avoid doing a Walenza Bros. on the steps.

[JoeTampa]

I bought my kids some inexpensive hand-crank flashlights. They aren't permitted to borrow mine; they have their own. Saves some sanity for everyone!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

"Oohh grandpa it's sooo late and we can't see to go home" so they loot the toad. Because they know they'll find a light. With "bengazis" they won't realize what they really are. I bought. A pair of rechargeable lights the ones with a button to slide and a pair of receptacle prongs slide out. Forget flashlight I'll give the grumblimgs imps a votive candle and matches to light their way. The three musketeers have all my toad hiding places mapped out. Amazon and eBay are just about unreachable due to Santa.

[NinerBikes]

Neither lend, nor borrow, nor steal. Or store spare batteries in the glove box instead. Or loan out with the condition that person who borrows it needs to provide you with a new battery, every time. Let them get their own flashlight.

Or hand the flashlight to them, and make them return it to you, you will put it away, to make sure it comes back.

[DrewE]

I suspect, but without actual proof, that glow time and brightness are inversely proportional. That is, you can get relatively bright but short-lived glowsticks, and relatively dim but longer-lived ones. (You can probably also get dim short-lived ones, come to think of it.)

One potential alternative: A hand-crank flashlight. I do realize that it may be difficult for you to operate one-and-a-half-handed, so perhaps this is the one that gets loaned out to everybody else and the nice battery-powered one is stored in a super secret place only you know about...and of course you (and I) would never forget to turn a flashlight off before putting it away, unlike some other people.

[mkirsch]

...until you forget to replenish the supply of glow sticks too.