Ultimate Guide to the Best LED Emergency Road Flares

Selecting LED road isn’t that complicated. You’ll just have to keep some practical considerations in mind.

Road flares are a safety essential, but disposable flares have pretty clear drawbacks. Reusable road flares can be used as equally effective emergency lights, or even superior lighting thanks to the addition of attention-grabbing flashing patterns. They’re useful for novelty lights, workshop safety, industrial equipment identifiers, and even for party lights.

All in all, they’re a perfect replacement for incendiary flares, and have applications to virtually all of the same safety circumstances. Compared to incendiary flares, you face no toxic emissions and dangerous environmental byproducts, and you don’t end up littering disposable products.

Truly bright flares may be visible from a mile away, making them great for search and rescue situations. You can place them around a dangerous area on the side of the road, and effectively triple the quality of your hazard lights. And when you’re not having a bad day, LED road flares are still a good way to light your way home from talking a walk in the country.

And it’s not hard to find LED flares built to comply with Department of Transportation Standards, or the various safety codes outlined by government offices. LED flares are used by firefighters, first responders, police, and dozens of similar professions doing emergency work. Even individual motorists can benefit from having safety flares. In conditions where it might seem silly to break out a disposable flare, the reusability of LED road flares make them highly pragmatic, cost effective, and protective.

Choosing LED Road Flares

Fortunately, selecting LED road isn’t that complicated. You’ll just have to keep some practical considerations in mind. For example, how many flares will you end up needing? Two or three is typically enough for roadside or emergency applications, but depending on your intended use, you may need a larger or smaller kit.

Brightness and Safety

Brightness is a concern that can vary by region and intended use. You may care more about brightness if you live in a place where it’s ordinary to encounter dense fog, haze, storms, and similar low-visibility conditions. Which brings us to our second biggest concern, can the road flare stand up against exposure to the elements?

For a roadside emergency kit, you’re going to want flares with great waterproofing. And for flares positioned in stationary cold outdoor places, or used in exceptionally cold below freezing conditions, you’ll want to pay attention to protection provided to the batteries. When poor battery shielding is used, extreme temperatures are going to have substantial impacts on battery performance. The result isn’t just batteries that don’t last very long. When poor shielding is provided, the weather can actually have a substantial impact on the brightness output of the flare!

Battery Life

What kind of batteries are used? Is replacing the battery a tedious process that requires special tools, or can you quickly pop in replacements with ease? Moreover, you’ll want to think about the battery life for each flare. The fact you’re not burning through disposable flares means you’ll end up with immense cost savings no matter what you choose, but you don’t want to end up changing batteries more than necessary. Brighter LEDs will burn through battery power at greater rates, so be sure to include that in your considerations as you compare two LED road flares.

Bonus Points

And then there are the intricate details. Are the flares easy to store and carry? Most road flare sets will include some kind of storage bag, but some leave you to work out storage problems for yourself. Sometimes the best way to get someone’s attention isn’t one light, sometimes it’s some type of strobe pattern. You can find many road flares will provide added features like light patterns, which may or may not be useful depending on your application.

TRIPLE TREE LED Road Flares

From a glance, the TRIPLE TREE LED Road Flare kit looks like a basic collection. It includes 3 LED flares, which is enough to provide strong visibility around any roadside accident. And thanks to the disc-based design using a magnetic base, you won’t encounter problems with things like windy conditions.

Place two by the roadside and one directly on the metallic chassis of your vehicle, and you’ll have drastically improved your protection compared to hazards alone. The metallic base makes these flares are ideal for boats, cars, and really mode of transportation where you might attach a flare straight to the body of the vehicle. And the -40°F to 212°F operating range is generally reflective of the impressive and sturdy build of these flares.

Build & Design

TRIPLE TREE uses a circular design with a roughly a 4-inch diameter. Each road flare weighs about six ounces individually, or one pound as a set. The build of each flare consists of ABS plastic, which is exceptionally strong against corrosive chemicals and physical impact. It’s also relatively harmless and doesn’t contain any known carcinogens. The result is a crushproof, shatterproof, and rainproof LED light. And the lightweight build makes these flares equally good for bikes and larger vehicles.

The flares can be set to 9 flashing modes, the SOS rescue mode, and 3 flashlight modes. It’s powered by 3 AAA alkaline batteries, which are included with the kit. Those batteries allow up to 36 hours of continuous operation, though that does depend on the LED modes you’re using. With more frequent use of the light, you’re going eat through the battery quicker. For example, the rotate mode will burn through the battery in about 8 hours, while you can get about 10 hours from the basic flashlight.

Other Considerations

TRIPLE TREE Road Flares are easy to keep together thanks to the inclusion of a storage bag. The bag uses the same highly-visible bright orange design as the flares themselves, making it easy to quickly spot inside a dark trunk. Their sturdy ABS build is what allows TRIPLE TREE to claim these flairs have a 10-year shelf life. This flare shoots light in a full 360-degree radius, making it useful for essentially any of the most common purposes for an LED flare.