toob lite

TOOB LITE
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[John, I got your very generous and very welcome care package.  Already read the relocation book, and watched "tomorrow when the war began"-which was much better than I thought it would be.  Much better than the Red Dawn remake.  That will be a "re-watch".  Many thanks!! :) ]

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I’m pretty sure it was a minion who focused my attention on a Toob Lite, one of those tubes of minerals that, when exposed to sunlight, emits green like a chemical glow tube.  The difference being, this bitch is re-useable.  Forever.  Of course, I was excited about it and so a year or so ago I ordered one for about $13 from Amazon.  After a trial, I ascertained that I could, indeed, see were a Toob Lite was in the dark.  Which was about it, schooling me that a fascinating parlor trick is not worth $13.  Of course, to be fair, the company makes no claim as to it being anything other than a marker, certainly not an illuminator.  It was my expectations which disappointed me, not their claims ( a common problem when I eagerly await an anticipated book, then open it to discover poor writing and a dull presentation to what should have been the most exciting idea since sliced bread ).  Now, frankly, I can’t really see what all the excitement in the survivalist field is about as far as glow sticks go, be they chemically impermanent or rechargeable.  You have the one guy going on and on about how he could use one to go through his gear in his backpack, as they did give off a scant amount of light if held right next to an item.  Okay, I’ll give him that.  But still, just another Nice To Have items you don’t need to be lugging around ( like 90% of all the bug out bag crap out there- do NOT get me started on that again ), and not worth the $13, even if I don’t have something better to spend it on at the moment. 

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Well, that wonderful minion kept going on about the thing.  Which I certainly don’t mind and actually appreciate because my mind wanders as it is always overloaded and unrelenting repetition keeps me from forgetting or keeps reminding me of a sound idea ( Vlad, I still haven’t gotten airless bike tires, but I don’t forget I need to get them, either.  Thanks to you, on that ).  So, every once in awhile I’d check on the Amazon product or check in with the companies web site ( dudes, if you ever read this, that ad at Survival Blog certainly does help ).  That was when I noticed the decreased price I told you about a month ago.  I started buying one or two a payday, not because I necessarily suddenly thought glow sticks were a better idea, but because $9.95 was a lot more palatable than $13 ( I know it is only physiological ) and I figure two things.  One, a handful of them, as suggested by said minion, will provide SOME illumination and be invaluable in a future where animal fat is needed for eating and sanitation rather than illumination and after batteries are getting scarce.  And two, even if they are only markers rather than illumination, you buy more than one because two is one and one is none and they have got go come in handy for something.  Honestly, the only thing I could fathom was hanging one strategically above the urinal for night time elimination without light or splatter.  But that could just be me in a period of low imaginative properties.  I certainly don’t think you’ll lose money stockpiling them, since they do last forever.  I’m going to say that despite my fault in recognizing uses, they are so revolutionary a consumer item it seems silly to ignore them.  What other stuff performs forever?  Perhaps a solar oven, but that is a bit much more fragile.

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Now, at one time they were talking about a combo of a Toob and a pulsing LED bulb.  The LED was programmed to pulse at whatever interval and it recharged the Toob, so a single battery lasted a very long time.  It was advertised on the site with a note it was undergoing redevelopment and so not for sale currently.  I didn’t see that this time, but I could have scanned by too quick.  This is something I was lusting after, a Toob at its brightest, all night long.  Usually, you leave it lying in the sun and it shoots out a strong green glow.  Strong enough that at an inch or two you actually get illumination.  Alas, after ten minutes it fades significantly.  So I was looking forward to their flashlight/glow combo.  I guess it just wasn’t feasible for whatever reason.  Perhaps those Chinese bastards can’t make a sturdy enough one.  Anyway, the site does have a video ( I don’t know if it is recent or not-you know I don’t have enough online time ) showing a do-it-yourself version.  Not as handy, granted, but without cost.  They show a flashlight being waved over the Toob and then shut off, and the green being bright enough to read their map by.  They claim ten minutes of practical use, then the need for another flashlight wave.  Obviously, you use less than a minute of flashlight battery verses an hour.  Kind of obvious, which is embarrassing.  Well, I can’t come up with every good idea out there.  You all don’t pay me THAT much.

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So, obviously, I rushed home to try it.  First off, you need a powerful flashlight.  As luck, the planetary alignment, and Baby Jesus’ love would have it, earlier this week as I wandered down my Amazon Commission purchase list, I noticed a kind and forever more beloved minion had purchased a 1,000 lumen LED flashlight for around $28.  Good God!  I didn’t know they made the suckers so bright.  I’m used to far less, even from my 12v bulb.  Alas, it used C batteries and I’m trying to stick with just the A’s.  So my wish list has a 250 lumen that uses those.  Or maybe it’s a 500.  Anyway, 250 is plenty, and I think that the price of $25 is for three units.  I forget details.  Brand name, also.  I used my penlight and it did squat for charging the Toob.  I tried the overhead bulb and that worked.  I could hold the Toob under each line of text, actually touching the page, and comfortably enough read it.  Good enough test for me.  I didn’t see how long it lasted because I had a bit of glare from the initial light messing with the comfort of reading ( that damn dancing spot you get from looking at a bright light-more pronounced now with age and my need for reading glasses.  I don’t want to break the LED with the Toob waving it around without direction, so I had to look at what I was doing and blinded myself ).  I’ll get the high output flashlight and point it down and away, like they do in the video, muffling the light.  So, there you have it.  As long as your flashlights still work and your solar rechargeable AA batteries keep taking juice ( at a thousand charges, and each charge holding hours of high output light, a battery only used to recharge the Toob could last you years on its lonesome.  With a dozen batteries- a lifetime of light? ), a nice candle substitute indeed.

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