The best emergency equipment for the home (2021): flashlights, heaters, chargers and more

Flashlights do poorly when you need to light an entire room or when you need to have your hands free for a task. Diffused light is what you want, and the Coleman Divide + Push Lantern does a really good job. It’s smaller than the typical Coleman lantern, which is nice because it’ll likely spend most of its life in storage. There are two settings: 425 lumens on high for 40 hours runtime and 50 lumens on low for 330 hours runtime. It uses three D-cell batteries, which sounds like a lot, but in addition to other full-size battery-powered lanterns, such as the Coleman Twin LED lantern that uses eight D cells, it is economical.

You can leave the batteries in this one, even if you’re using alkaline. When you’re not using the Divide +, rotate the battery compartment to separate the batteries from the terminals so they don’t corrode during storage (smart!). There is also a foldable wire handle, so you can hang it on a carabiner or hook.

A water purifier

Usually your water supply will work even if the power goes out. But in major natural disasters, it can be disabled or damaged, and you may just end up with dirty water. The Grayl Ultralight Compact Purifier Bottle is a solid and fast one-person filter that lasts 300 times – a total of 40 gallons – before you need to change the filter. That’s what I trust when I travel to countries without a guarantee on water treatment.

Another option is the Katadyn Steripen Adventurer ($ 100), which purifies with ultraviolet light. Dip it in your water and stir. It doesn’t filter out sediment, but it’s small, lightweight, and runs on replaceable CR123 batteries. You can also try Katadyn Micropur Tablets ($ 14). They are inexpensive and easy to store. Drop them in water and wait a while. The taste is not great, but not water treatment tablets or drops in my experience. Another option is LifeStraw’s Personal Water Filter ($ 30) – you can just take a sip like a regular straw and it filters 99.99 percent of the bacteria dispersed in the water from up to 1000 gallons of water. If you have a large household, you may prefer something like the MSR AutoFlow XL Gravity Filter ($ 100). Gravity filters take longer to purify water.

You can boil water, but it won’t filter out sediment, and cooking takes fuel and takes time.

A Propane Camp Stove