Equipment

Equipment are special items that can be used in Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3.

All three games feature equipment that is immediately activated upon collection; these are known as power-ups. Halo 3 introduced equipment items that can be collected and carried by a player; these items could be activated at any time with a button press. When the term "equipment" is used, it usually refers to the items introduced in Halo 3.

Halo: Combat Evolved
There were two powerups in Halo: Combat Evolved: active camouflage and overshield. Active camo provides temporary invisibility to players, and Overshield temporarily triples the strength of a player's shield.

Halo 2
Halo 2 featured power-ups as well. It also retained the Master Chief's flashlight, and added another ability. When playing as the Arbiter, players could activate active camouflage with the press of a button.

Halo 3
Halo 3 introduced a new kind of equipment item. These items are immediately picked up when a player walks over them. The player can carry these items, and deploy them at any time with a button press. Only one equipment item can be carried at a time, however (though power-ups do not count toward this limit). The items appear in both Multiplayer and Campaign; in the latter, Brutes can use Equipment as well.

While most of the equipment is Covenant-manufactured, some is human-made, such as the Trip Mine. Others, such as the Auto Turret, were made by the Forerunners.

All playable characters are equipped with flashlights when used in Campaign. The Arbiter no longer has built-in cloaking.

Halo 3: ODST
Players in Halo 3: ODST cannot use equipment. Brutes, however, can still carry and use it.

Halo: Combat Evolved
Campaign and Multiplayer: Campaign Only
 * Active Camouflage
 * Overshield
 * Flashlight

Halo 2
Campaign Only:
 * Flashlight (When Playing as Master Chief)
 * Active Camouflage (When Playing as the Arbiter)

Multiplayer:
 * Overshield
 * Active Camouflage

Halo 3
Available in Campaign and Multiplayer:
 * Bubble Shield
 * Power Drain
 * Gravity Lift
 * Trip Mine
 * Regenerator
 * Active Camouflage
 * Overshield
 * Flare
 * Deployable Cover
 * Radar Jammer

Campaign Only:
 * Automated Turret
 * Cloaking
 * Invincibility

Custom Maps Only:
 * Custom Powerup

Trivia

 * In the January 2008 issue of EGM, in an interview with Brian Jarrard and Tyson Green, it was revealed that there was a piece of equipment cut from the final game known as The Vortex. It was said to be deployed the same as a Power Drain, but would instead create a mini black hole that would "suck" in any object within range, and diverting its course into the black hole, and away from your face. It was even able to affect nearby objects such as the Fusion Coil and even other players. The design was cut due to the fact that it was too "expensive" from a networking and performance standpoint.
 * The Radar Jammer, Flare, and Deployable Cover are no longer usable in Matchmaking, as all three could be used to reach unfairly high places; the former two using the Equipment Jumping glitch, and the latter by simply jumping on it after deployment.
 * In the new 2009 Halo 3 Action Figures wave, equipment are included, and it should be noted that they all can be moved in some way as if they were activated; for example, the Bubble Shield can be folded into a way that allows it to stand by itself.

Glitches

 * The Radar Jammer, Flare, and Power Drain can all be used to "double jump".
 * In Forge, players often set equipment items to Instant Respawn, resulting in various interesting effects. Among other things, Instant Respawn Trip Mines can be used to overload a map. Overloading makes some forged objects disappear and disables all stage elements such as lifts and Guardian turrets. However, the effects will only last for the duration of that particular game; saving a map after overloading it will not preserve the effects. Instant Respawn Overshields can make the player invincible, so long as the player continues to stand on the Overshield.