What kind of portable light is going to be effective at illuminating my path?
Currently I own what I would call the most basic flashlight. It's a small cylinder with a single bulb within a reflective cone. It seems to do a very poor job at helping me follow the dirt path from my cabin to the main road. The path is winding, sloped, uneven, muddy and has holes and rocks, so it is easy to trip.
What type of light would be more effective in helping illuminate my way?
Obviously it has to be portable, not too heavy and powered by commonly available batteries.
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I would recommend any LED headlamp, it's a huge difference to old school flashlights (much brighter and batteries last much longer). Headlamp because you want to have your hands free if you got to carry something or if the path is slippy after rain. I would make sure it has at least two light modes (dimmed and full) to be flexible and use it for reading too. Almost all of them take AA/AAA batteries, if you just plan to use it for short walks between cabin and car only the batteries probably will last for months.
Personally I have good experiences with Petzl but any other brand probably will do too (just look into reviews if the promised brightness and battery life is real).
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I would recommend a tactical military-grade flashlight. I personally use one and will not go back to any other style now. Not only do they have the option of going from a strong beam light to a wide surface light, but they are small and can fit in your pocket.
Here is an example image of the one I use and keep in my vehicle at all time can be seen here.
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I can see the appeal of headlamps, but personally I think they are best suited to activities where you need to have your hands free. That doesn't seem to be the case here, since you don't mention that you have to carry things to or from your cabin.
The downside of a headlamp is that although it points in the direction you are facing, you don't really have the same control over it that you do over a hand-held torch. You can't alter the elevation of it, for example. The other aspect is that you'll probably find the beam bobs a lot while you're walking, which can be wearying. A few years ago I did a long-distance walk overnight wearing a headlamp, and after a few miles I had to stop because I was feeling nauseous - I'm pretty sure that was from constantly watching the bobbing circle of light in front of me.
I don't have a particular brand of torch to recommend, but it seems to me you want something with a wide cone of illumination - you shouldn't need to see all that far ahead of you, especially on a route you know well.
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