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There are entire sites dedicated to everyday carry (EDC) with some sites focused on flashlights, knives, Atwood tools, etc. You can spend a lot of time and money on EDC "research" :-)

Front pocket (in approx. order of use)

• Cell phone with $20 behind cover
• ---
• Burt's Bees lip balm with a keyring cap
• Victorinox Swiss Army Manager Pocket Knife w/ toothpick on a McGizmo Nano clip (20mm #1)
• Olight i3S EOS LED flaslight with lithium AAA battery
• some inch-wide Gorilla Tape and elecrical tape wrapped around a black Sharpie Mini
• 64 GB USB 3.0 flash drive (Kanguru for write-protect switch; FlashBlu30 but considering SS3) on split ring and metal #0 Nite Ize S-biner
• silicon ear plugs and half a Q-tip in a key fob (approx. same diamater as lip balm, slightly shorter)
• $20 bill wrapped around BIC Mini lighter on a Keeep-It holder
• all connected with other split rings and clips on an older Munroe Mega Dangler
• -

Other front pocket (in approx order of use)

• white LED Photon freedom with car keys on the snap ring
• True Utility TU245 key shackle with 3 keys, #2 Phillips key, grocery card, and Uncle Bill's Sliver Gripper Tweezer
• house key cut on green KeyLights on clip that came with True Utility key shackle
• $20 wrapped around a 0.5 oz (15 mL) Purell hand sanitizer in jelly wrap holder
• all connected with a split ring
• ---
• leather billfold with slots for six cards; cash $1s/5s/10s/20s, bandaids, a hair pin, and Plop Boot Manager on a credit-card sized CD-R
• -

Shirt pocket--you *always* have a shirt pocket, right?

• Zebra Clip-On four-color pen + 0.5 mm pencil
• Monteverde Stylus Tool Pen with ruler, level, and screwdriver
• a handkercheif wrapped around a small (2.5" x 4") Moleskine book

This flashlight uses resistance variation. The LED is on 100% of the time it is receiving power but the brightness can be varied by controlling the current allowed to flow through it and therefore the lumen output of the emitter.

This one uses PWM. The light can be made to appear dimmer to the eye by varying the amount of time it is on versus off despite the fact that when on it is always emitting the same number of lumens.

Which way is better depends on who you ask. A lot of people claim that PWM reduces the life of the phosphor in an LED by cycling it on and off so much. I have no idea and the LED manufacturers don't seem motivated to comment one way or the other.

I think the big stumbling block for LED acceptance on a larger scale are the inconsistencies in manufacturing them. For a given LED, say a 1 watt Luxeon, the color quality and the lumen output at a given voltage can vary quite a bit. Luxeon 'bins' each LED based on those 2 measurements and the cost of a 'high binned' LED, one with high output and good color, can be triple that of a 'low bin'. One of the reasons why a Surefire flashlight costs so much more than a similar hardware store equivalent even though both use a 1W Luxeon LED.

They just came out with a new one, the Freedom Micro. Like the Photon 3, but smarter, and easier to use. So they say, at least. I still have my II (red) and 3 (white), but might "upgrade" sometime. :)

So Gilmore and his crew have been giving out lights for a couple of years that with stickers saying "Linux Freeswan.org" on them, originally in colors and later in white LED when that came out. By now they'd like you to buy your own Photon lights (:-), but in the crypto-geek community they're fairly common keychain accessories. Aside from using them as blinky-light toys, I've found them useful for looking inside and under things, repairing cars in the dark, etc., and the keychain size means I've always got one with me.

You can find the advantages and disadvantages of all the different coloured LEDs here.

You can find the advantages and disadvantages of all the different coloured LEDs here.

LOL,when I used to work A-10's on the flightline,80% of my work was done with a comm headset and a pencil. Sure,you can adjust radio squelches from the cockpit. C-N-D,what's that? ;-)

My Swiss Army knife (a top-of-the-range one) includes a small ballpoint pen - so I don't need the fountain pen...but I have a tiny LED flashlight.

I carry a mini Swiss Army too,but those red LEDs on the Midnight series are too dim. I carry a white Photon instead.
Much brighter,and you see everything in true color.

I'ld recommend that you go with LEDs instead. Lots more flexibility. Far more options.
Let me give you a few of the links from the upcoming LED section of my site. (Yep, that was a plug.)

American Science and Surplus
Inner Mountain Outfitters
Gilway
Superbright LEDs
Overall you'll find that they'll work with any decent source of 3.5 to 6 volt (depending on the LED) current, which includes the cheesy little plug-in transformers that you can buy at Radio Shack. But they'll work better off battery power or some other means that is truly DC. I ran a tiny custom jobbie in my bathroom as a functional light source for weeks, all running off standard nine-volt batteries. I just turned it on and left it on to see how long it would last. These, BTW, were rebuilt versions of the LED-based clip-on lights that they sell for bike riders.
Of course if you've got a cheap supply of watch batteries or have a recharger for them then you could just hang photons about the place.
Lastly, if you're just going for cool low-level lighting, good old FLAME can be plenty of fun. In other words, don't dismiss the possibilities of oil lamps and such until you've tried them. Properly set up, especially if they're indirect, they give a just variable enough glow to be quite satisfying. I've also had fun with building custom lamps based on isopropyl alcohol. You know, the stuff sold for 99 cents a bottle to put on small cuts. A big (say, two inches around) alcohol flame in a deep container with a well setup oxygen supply will last for hours. Since the flame isn't very hot, is non-toxic, and blows out readily it's easy to experiment using things like soup bowls while you figure out what you want to do. Yo could cheat and go somewhere like Illuminations (I'm not providing a link, there are too many mall businesses as it is) and buy wicks, but you shouldn't need to bother.
And with all of this the fire department has only come by here once (damn those witnesses!).
Rustin

There are some purple LEDs that emit UV. You can buy some handheld UV LED flashlights at photonlight.com.

UVmarking pen, and an LED flashlight in her care package.

In order for the UV marker to be really effective, add an Ultraviolet microlight. Together they can be very effective against, um... misplaced items.

How about 'A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer?'

Failing that, 'The Anarchist's Cookbook' made for some interesting (if often incorrect) reading.

Oh, and make sure you get her one of those cool UV LED photonlights to go with her UV marking pen, you never know when you might want to check for forgeries, stains on the bedsheets (ugh!), etc...(just make sure she doesn't stare into it or point it at anyone).

Thinkgeek is great, but why not buy directly from the family that makes these things: http://www.photonlight.com

I've owned two Photon Lights for 2 years now... carry it with me every day. Probably use it once evevery two weeks, and man does it come in handy. Nice small profile, about as bulky as a typical housekey.

They also make an IR version, for those of you with night vision goggles. And no, I don't work for the company, but I'm really impressed with their product.

not photon style... Photon Light Style

1. A photon light for my mom. It was a turquoise photon II.

2. A Sarah Brightman CD for my dad as well as a micro-tapemeasure so he won't have to lug one of his big ones around anymore when he wants to measure something at a store. I can hear the CD playing right now.

3. A set of nice gel pens for my sister as well as this really fancy popcorn she'd been eyeing. She was more pleased with the popcorn, haha.

4. Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed for my brother. He was more thrilled by the new drum set our parents got him ;-)

I guess David Allen (inventor of the photon light ) is kicking himself now because he's been one-upped when it comes to lighting technology!

I wonder what kind of picture would come up if you used a Photon micro-light that emitted IR? Here's what their web page says about the IR light:

"Used by members of the Secret Service, this Photon light creates a powerful infrared beam invisible to the naked eye. Rated at 11mW, this little light is quite a bit more powerful than your average IR illuminator. When used in conjunction with night vision equipment, it will illuminate a large area. This Photon light is ONLY useful when used with night vision equipment or other equipment sensitive to infrared light."

If you don't have a LED light, go get one - it's compact, durable, extremely bright, and battery life is awesome. Quite enjoyable! I personally love the Photon II, but be sure to read Brock's LED Flashlight Page first, before buying a dud like the NightHawk, which is not bright at all.

Now that I'm done with links - I'll say this - while LED lights are great for directional lighting, they are not good at all for omni-directional lighting. This is because the reflector is housed inside the LED itself, and the light will always be facing the direction of the LED plate.

Now... I wonder how difficult it would be to get that LED plate inside the plastic/resin housing into a shape of a cylinder, and install it in place of a standard tungsten filament? If that is possible, then the LED light will truly be able to replace all lightbulbs... Not just the directional ones.

Hmm, I guess I don't have much to say other than the good links up top, and my hope for tomorrow's LED, household lightbulb. If you experts have something to say about the possibility of the cylindrical LED plate, I'm all ears. I surely don't know if it's possible or not.

If you want your own personal LED flashlight, you can check out Photonlight. Way cool LED flaghlights that are visible for one mile and not much bigger around that a quarter.
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You can easily read with them. You can find your way down a path in the woods, or find that keyhole to put your key into. They don't throw a focused beam for a long distance though. The most practical color for reading, etc is white, though the others are prettier for decorating yourself. It's easy to spot your friends in the dark if they hang one of these on their jacket.

At retail they're about $20 each. Serious geek givers can get them wholesale for close to half price, in quantity.

I gave one of these (with a www.freeswan.org logo) to each participant at the recent Hackers' Conference.

Get one for yourself too -- if you only get one, you'll hate to give it away!

Love the different colours. (Red for keeping your night vision intact etc.)