I12BLittle89 said:
I did as part of my EDC: Every Day Carry but the clip wore out and kept falling out my pocket. It presented a safety risk when working on helicopters. It’s called FOD: Foreign Object Debris. It can cause a crash. Caught up in mechanical parts or sucked up into a jet engine. I bought new clips for them but they don’t seem to last long enough. Usually catches on something bends out of shape. I’ve tried reforming it but it never holds. So I quit wearing it. Using my phone flashlight anymore. Not preferred but I haven’t found a reason to spend money on yet another new clip. My wife calls it my security blanket. I don’t care to have a stubbed toe when walking in the dark. She’s constantly leaving the lights off in the entire house.
I would suggest you try looking at climbing supplies. You can get robust "locking carabiners" that way. There are two main types I'm familiar with. One has a threaded collar that you screw into place to link the gate and loop to each other. It's slow, but practically foolproof (as long as you actually remember to manually lock it; so...foolproof once it's locked). That can take a couple seconds to operate, and requires conscious thought to use.
Much more practical for your application is the style that has a spring-loaded tube that does the same thing. Rotate the tube slightly to unlock the tube itself, then slide the tube up or down, to unlock the carabiner's gate. This variety automatically locks itself, and only adds maybe a quarter of a second to the process of opening it. As I recall, however (been years since I've used one), you do have to hold it in the unlocked position for it to properly close, but once you're used to it, that's trivial.
Locking carabiners (I think British English may use a different word than "carabiner," probably "clip") are definitely a bit fiddly, but ideal for when having things not fall off is absolutely critical.
A theoretically less-expensive alternative to locking carabiners, which would probably be impractical for you, is to take two non-locking carabiners and use them together, with their orientation reversed from each other (one hinge at the top, one hinge at the bottom), so that when the gates open, they cross and make an X. Anything trying to escape has to get past two gates. Once again, you'd want climbing-grade stuff, so they actually last, stay aligned, and the gates can't reverse (open outward), not the cheap things you find on Amazon or at a typical sporting goods store. Once you're buying two climbing-grade non-locking carabiners instead of one locking one, I'm not sure how much money you'd actually save, however. You wouldn't want to be trying to remove things from that setup regularly (it's a bad way to try and hang a flashlight from a belt), but it would be a good way to mount a tether for your flashlight, if you just wanted to keep your flashlight in your pocket or something. Honestly, even with locking carabiners, if you're working on aircraft, and can make sure your tether isn't going to go snagging on things, a tether is a good idea, anyway.
I also have another type of carabiner (if you can call it that); non-locking, but with redundant closures, kind of like the crossed gates I just described... I wouldn't know what to call it, but it has two overlapping hooks on pivots, so it's kind of like a big pair of claws. Squeeze the two levers and they open up... It kind of resembles a lobster claw. I think mine is honestly a miniature novelty version of an actual similar piece of climbing equipment, but it's got a nice metal shell and the two hooks, and at the bottom of it, it has some webbing with two split rings (key rings) permanently attached. My only issue with mine is that the hooks have a little too much play in them, they wobble a little when open, and don't always seat where they should when you close it, bumping into the shell instead, and staying slightly open. But that redundancy of having two overlapping hooks keeps that from being a significant issue. The shell of mine also has a number of slightly sharp edges that would probably wear on my clothing if I wore it regularly, as well. If you're working on aircraft, you'd probably want a higher quality version. I'd send a picture, if I knew where I'd put the thing. lol
Petzl (that last character is an L) and Black Diamond are great brands for climbing equipment (as is Singing Rock, but I only know their harnesses, which are godly; they have a "Rock 'n Lock" buckle system that's simply amazing). I believe both Petzl and Black Diamond make carabiners, both locking and non-locking (though I must admit, I've never bought any of my own, so I'm not certain). Of course, same as with aircraft, climbing supplies can and do wear out, and require regular inspection, as well as regular replacement, before they break. Nothing will last forever.
I love it!
