Pen Flares

[jet]

anyone carry pen flares? was watching survivorman earlier and they are pretty small, but never saw then at west marine, etc. wouldnt be a bad idea considering their size

[john from md]

I carry the Skyblazer flares which are pretty portable. I don't like pen gun flares because you have to open a container and put a flare on the launcher when you want to use it. If I need to use it, I will be in the water hanging onto a yak or just floating along in the water. I don't want to do anything but take out the flare pull the handle and launch. Additionally, Skyblazers are not very bright as aerial flares go but they are much brighter than pen flares.

Regards,

John

[kanvery]

I carry pen flares because they came with a used kayak that I bought. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy them though. The failure rate can be pretty high if you get a crappy brand. I used them a lot in the past and the two failure points were the spring and the plastic body. The spring rusts easily on the lower end brands and can break under pressure or not give enough power to the firing pin to ignite the percussion cap. The plastic if exposed to sun and heat tends to get compromised and can crack in critical sections; again not allowing you to put enough pressure on the spring to ignite the percussion cap. Lastly, while the cartridge on the flare itself is fairly waterproof its not perfect in hot/humid environments. Moist powder on the inside means it'll never ignite the flare. I'd bet $100 that at least 50% of the flares I have with my unit wont fire assuming the spring and plastic can still hold up.

So why do I carry them? No idea...I guess because I got em for free and they're always there.