Sub 1oz SUL Essentials – Flashlight, Knife, Wipes

most all of those or lighter alternatives have been discussed but still a good reminder.

What are the lighter alternatives? Would love to know

An Opinel no.4 is 9.3g – folding 5cm blade. It doesn’t have a lock. I’ve done (vege) meal prep with it a few times on long trips where we hade a few overnights in village campgrounds and wanted to make a “real” meal. This is enough if you’re doing “some” things that might need a blade, but a bit dinky. If doing much more then… If you’re a cheese and salami snacker, this might be a pretty great option.

An Opinel slimline no.8 is 32g – 8cm blade. Probably one of the lightest options if you want a “proper” knife that folds and locks.

If you’re not doing any food prep, then all you need is the 2.5″ westcott scissors at 9g. I mostly use them as nail clippers, but they fill the need a knife would most of the time while hiking. But, if all you want is to slice open a packet and maybe cut a bit of cord, that 0.15oz/4g knife is pretty neat.

Another good option is the classic victorinox serrated red parring knives. As seen in kitchens everywhere, I’ve picked them up for a few bucks. I can’t remember the weight, but they’re competitive, and the best option for food prep. Very sharp

A Nitecore Tube V2.0 is my SUL light of choice. USB rechargeable and 9.6 grams. You can add a velcro dot to it and whatever you want to stick it to, also.

Wow the portawipes are really interesting, thanks!

S Long: Yeah, the NiteCore Tube is a bit lighter, much cheaper and I find I can do a 2-3 night trip on an established trail with it.   It’s form-factor is better for keeping in a pocket.  I usually tied my emergency shoelace length of 2 mm cordage around the black one I have to make it easier to find.  All the ones I’ve ordered since have been yellow or orange.

Another Tube fan here.

The photos with the knife crack me up – I grew up believing that those were collars in the photos and that you had lapels on jackets.  Carrying a sharp knife in such proximity to a rather important artery seems a little nuts.

A little chunky compared to some of the suggestions here, but the Petzl e+LITE just barely breaks the <1 oz. mark and has so much functionality…I’ve had it in my kit as a backup for years, have also done a few trips relying on it. And spare batterries (CR2032) weigh next to nothing.

9.64 grams photon freedom microlight with swivel clip. Also uses CR 2032

I like the clip for attaching to a hat brim and for doing a little reading before bedtime. Takes a long time evidently to wear out the battery. I guess if you had it on continuously and were trying to night hike.

18 grams spyderco ladybug folding knife

That opinel # 4 looks interesting to this gram weenie. Photos and specs

Hadn’t heard of those ‘dry’ wipes before. Save the weight of hauling the liquid. Seems like a good idea along with the bidet. Beats Clelland’s smooth water worn heart shaped rock. ermmm. ;)

Say whatcha looking for in the stream there? Ahmmm … I’m looking for a particular rock. What kind of rock are ya looking for? Ahhh,…. nevermind. Just looking at all the pretty rocks.

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks! For those using the Nitecore Tube, do you find that 50 lumens is enough as your main light for camp chores? How about night hiking? Has anyone tried the YSMART flashlight (80 lumens, 4.5g, ~$25) or similar? I’d be worried that it would be too easy to lose, but I guess that’s the case for all of these and maybe attaching length of bright cord would remedy that.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the E+Lite (anyone want to buy an older one and a newer one :)?) But being able to carry spare CR2032 batteries on a longer hike is nice. Those RovyVon flashlights have all the same features, half the weight, and are much brighter.

And yeah, the knife under the collar is a bit hilarious.. better hope you’re wearing a kevlar shirt!

Any first-aid kit solutions?

Swiss Army Knife Classic weighs in at .7 ounce, I believe.  For me it has been hard to beat and I find the scissors to be invaluable.  I wouldn’t want to process food with it though.

Personally, I’m a fan of an Olight i1R 2 Eos. 13g, 5Lm to 150Lm. I have velcro sticker on mine so it nests under the bill of my hat.

Cool option, does it stay at 150 lumens, or does it dim due to heat buildup? How much battery life do you typically get from it?

Ryan,  I find the low setting on the Tube sufficient for an established trail. That’s partially skills/knowledge over gear.  36 years ago (I remember on which hike), I figured out that hiking with a light at my waist is much more effective than with one on my head.

– it’s half the distance to the ground, so candle-power on the ground is 4 times as much

– on your head, a light washes out all the contours – you see no shadows from dips and bumps because your eyes and light see/illuminate the same things.  I find I stumble more (or have to hike slower) with a headlamp than a waist light.

– Light doesn’t illuminate the edges of my hair, my long flowing locks (hah!) nor attract bugs (and therefore bats*) to my face.

So, yeah, I find the 51-hour low setting on the Tube fine for night hiking (they claimed 48 hours on my model, but I’ve measured it at the start of two seasons now, and got 51 hours).  I prefer it, in most settings, to a brighter light because it doesn’t destroy my night vision for stars, surrounding terrain in the twilight, etc.

For looking further down a trail or scouting for a tent or poop site, I use the 45-lumen, 1-hour setting.

* only had that happen twice, but it’s quite unnerving to have a bat make a u-turn 7 inches from your face.

Ian: Yeah, A Victorinox Classic is 0.74 ounces.  I also value the scissors the most – it’s a safer way to open food packaging and great for trimming first-aid tape, sewing thread or fingernails.  Leukotape and Moleskin stays on your feet better with rounded corners.

And the nail file isn’t a great sapphire-dusted one, but it’s okay and lets me smooth a burr on my fingernail before it catches on something and tears badly.

Around town, I used to use it mostly for opening letters and the occasional package, but now I use to open all those Amazon packages and the occasional letter.

Re: the classic. I have one but never bring it any more. The little knife is too little to be useful for me, and the westcott 2.5″ scissors are much more useful. So for my needs, a better tool at half the weight. But, we are of course talking about less weight than a tiny sip of water.

The nail file is probably useful – I have been known to scratch my nails againt a rock to blunt a sharp corner hah.

I bring the opinel 4 or slimline 8 if I need a knife.

Does anyone find the knife on the classic useful? What do you use it for?

I find the little blade on the Classic suffices for cutting cordage too big for the scissors and sharpening pencils.  It’s not ideal for a large block of cheese or wide salami because goo gets into the pivot, but it can be done.  In a pinch, one could make some tinder for a fire, but I would want more blade than that.

I agree that you can get a better blade and better scissors in the same or lower weight.  The nail file and it all being in one package with no need to cover pointy tips sways me, but when I’m bringing a dedicated repair kit, then I go for the separate items.

But at $5 for a TSA-seized one, the Classic is hard to beat, bang for the buck.

If I have a lot of cheese, salami or a few caribou to cut up, then I bring a $6, 0.6 ounce Little Vicky paring knife.

If I was doing prepper / woodcraft stuff, I’d call a $12 Mora my luxury item and pound the crap out of it.  But I don’t.

Yeah, from a cost and availability perspective the classic is pretty unbeatable. I haven’t needed to cut cord any thicker than 3mm poly cord, so I guess the scissors have been fine for that. A knife is better though. And having the option for the odd bit of cheese or salami as a treat is nice as well. I have vague memories of dicing carrot and onion with it once – technically possible, but not recommended. If you’re a regular cheese eater a dedicated knife makes sense.

I used a small bit of that stretchy plumbing tape to make a cap for my scissors. I’ve seen others use a heat seal end of a straw, but i found that popped open easily and fell off with ease.

For the amount of research I did to settle on the 2.5″ westcott scissors + the cost of shipping them to me, to save maybe 10g – i’m a little embarrassed. But that was a few years ago, when I’d gone fully down the shaving grams hole, and I’m glad I have them now and can suggest it to other people who might be looking for maybe the lightest (functional) scissors so they don’t spend the same ridiculous number of hours reading 15 years of BPL deep-dive threads.

Nice feedback, thanks guys! Scissors make sense as a useful alternative to a knife.

I forgot to add one thing (which I’m sure has been discussed, but worth mentioning again):

~1oz multitool, the (sadly discontinued, but often available on eBay) Buck 350 “MiniBuck”. Pretty much the same functionality as the perennial favorite Leatherman Squirt PS4 at half the weight. Pliers as the main tool, and tiny (useless?) fold out scissors. I’m super impressed with the quality on mine, here’s an in-depth review.

Ryan thanks for starting this thread. Based on what I’ve read I picked up an opinel # 4 and also some of those ‘pill’ dry towels. I’m going to follow up later with photos and etc. The opinel weighs 10 grams and is sharp enough to split a sheet of paper or roughly shave your forearm and feels really secure. I’m pleased and impressed so thanks to opagobalus.

The pill towels weigh 3g. They are BIG and sturdy. Be really good for taking a ‘sailors bath’ at the end of a dusty day. They are multiples of the size of a typical wipe.

Here’s the pill:

and on edge

expanded beside typical wipe. The towel is @ 90″2 the wipe @ 36’2

so if you get 2 bigger wipes at 45″2 out of the towel at 1.5 grams each vs @ 5 grams each saving 7 grams, and you’ve got something you can use intact for one thing like a sailor’s bath and then split it or whatever and use as a wipe. Plus they pack really small :) and obviously I’ll do just about anything to keep my mind off the election :( like sucking on a Fat Tire mmmm

Glad the opinel has a good first impression. You’re probably the first one who’s taken my suggestion ;) They have smaller ones, but by that point you don’t gain much functionality over the Vic “classic”

So glad folks are finding this useful! Let’s keep the suggestions coming guys! Anyone know of any lighter bidet options that are as easy to use as the culoclean?

Yeah the Opinels are great options, the usability is no doubt worth the few grams over that titanium lapel knife, and the price is right!

I have been using the Hygienna Solo Portable Bidet for a number of years and I like it better than the culoclean that I also have, for me it works better and yes it is 5 grams lighter.