18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant concept; mediocre execution, February 6, 2006
One of my passions is motorcycle touring. But one of the realities of the adventure is limited space for stowing gear. (Think about it - the biggest touring motorcycle has wimpy trunk space compared with the average automobile. When you're traveling with throw-over saddlebags and a bedroll, space and weight become even more critical.) So - I'd LOVE a flashlight that doubles as a tent lantern for reading, finding my stuff, etc.
This Brunton isn't too bad. It operates on three AAA-size batteries, and since the light is generated by a bluish-white LED, I would expect the batteries to last for substantially longer than an incandescent flashlight. (I'm still on my first set of batteries... which are included in the purchase price.)
The Lamplight is translucent blue plastic construction, with what appears to be a textured aluminum outer skin over the main body. The LED is encased in a clear plastic housing. The distinguishing feature of this light is a sliding blue-plastic sleeve. When the sleeve is retracted, the lamp works like a conventional flashlight, projecting a fairly tight beam from the front. When the sleeve is extended, the lamp works more like a minature lantern, projecting a soft blue-white light 360 degrees around the sides of the lamp, plus a less-intense beam out of the front. The only other "control" of the light is an on-off switch.
Unfortunately, it ends up with neither mode being particularly good. The standard-flashlight beam is fairly weak. (LEDs have come a long way in the last few years, and are getting brighter all the time, but this light isn't particularly bright. A little AA-battery Mag-Lite is WAY brighter by comparison.) And the "lantern mode" is too dim to provide a comfortable amount of light for reading or most any other detail-oriented activity. If you like a bluish-white "mood" lighting, however, lantern-mode might be just the ticket.
The Lamplight is attractively small, at about 4.5 inches long and 1.3 inches in diameter. (It looks like it could be smaller yet, if they improved on battery-compartment configuration.)
As LED technology continues to improve, I hope that other manufacturers come up with dual-purpose designs to compete with, and improve upon, the Lamplight. There's not much available currently that is designed to serve both "beam" and "lantern" functions, but surely there's a market for such devices among bike and motorcycle tourists, hikers, backpackers, and others who have to economize on space and weight. (Being somewhat of a small-flashlight fetishist, I'd be willing to lay down some bucks for a nice, sturdy, beam/lantern LED that's small, bright, and well-constructed.)
For now, if you're shopping I'd probably recommend that you take a look at a Petzl "Zipka" light, my favorite motorcycle-travel camping light. It's a tiny little thing with 3 (or 4) LEDS and 3 AAA batteries (that last for hours and hours and hours), and it has an ingenious retractable spring-loaded nylon string, that enables use as a "headlight," or on your wrist, or wherever. It's about twice as expensive as the Lamplight, but is smaller, substantially brighter, and the "headlight" function makes it very handy for multiple uses - even tent activities like reading or finding all the stuff that just fell out of your pocket when you took your britches off.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Light, but a little painful, January 12, 2009
This is a good, bright flashlight. I was surprised at how bright the beam was. The lantern functionality is also bright enough to read by, but does not have a very large diameter, so you'll have to sit very close to it.
The only thing that could be better is that the metal casing on the handle is rather sharp. Gripping it too hard is rather painful as all the little metal bumps dig into your skin. This wouldn't be much of a problem except that, to turn it on and off, you twist the ring right between the light and metal, and it's rather tight. So you have to grip the metal solidly and twist, which makes me afraid I'm going to be tearing up my hand each time. Sometimes I have to hold the light inside my t-shirt in order to get a good grip to be able to turn it on and off.
Other than that, it's light and portable. I just got it, so I'm not sure how long the battery will last (hopefully a long time, since the battery cover is also very tight and difficult to remove), but it seems it will be a good flashlight for camping or emergencies.
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