Customer Reviews

Coghlan's Lightsticks Family Pack (Pack of 8)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These work just as described, and react for a decent amount of time (throughout the evening and into the next morning).

I didn't have any leakage problems whatsoever, and they held up well even though my nephews kept tossing them up into the air.

One thing to note is that these are 4" and not 6" sticks.

Face it, kids love colored light sticks in the dark! I was very happy to have these after the recent storm left us without power for almost a week. We were cranking the emergency lanterns till our arms got tired, and ripping through batteries for the regular flashlights (not to mention burning all my best scented mood candles . . .) but these little lights were perfect for leaving around the house after bed time. The kids had fun with them right up till bed (each person was identified by a different color light). After bed, they could be left in bathrooms and hallways to provide a break in the darkness to move around safely all night long. Reasonable price and color variety make this an item I will repeat-buy for camping and sleepovers as well as the emergency preparedness kit!

These lightsticks had vibrant colors and lasted a good 12 hours. I'm ordering another box to use them as stocking stuffers. Just be careful: toddlers can easily chew through the plastic, causing the liquid to leak.

These so call 4" stick is really only 2". When standing up the liquid inside only measure 2". There are only 8 in the package so it comes out to almost $1 for each. I finally ordered the 6" ones ( 50 6" Glow Sticks, Premium Quality ) and are so regretful for ever getting these.

We bought these for our Christmas Eve Service at our church. The kids loved it! The price is great - I believe all the sticks lit as expected. Great fun for little kids!

Not long ago it occurred to me how little I was prepared for even the simplest emergency. Even a short-term power outage would mean a scramble to try and find a working flashlight (something I have since corrected). Lightsticks seemed like a great addition, but after a little searching I really couldn't find much advice as to what color was the "best" for emergency lighting purposes. Although these are obviously not meant to be high-quality, I hoped that they would at least give me a decent way of comparing the benefits of different colors.

These are more meant for family fun than serious emergency lighting so I decided to focus on comparing the more standard colors: yellow, green, blue, red, and orange (there is no white included and the other colors: purple, pink, and aqua are not commonly available). These are shorter, 4-inch lightsticks. They have flattened sides to prevent rolling, a hook on the top for hanging, and a hole for a rope lanyard. They are loose in the box rather than individually wrapped so easier to open in an emergency, but lack the protection that being individually wrapped provides (from light and moisture) so keep them in the box or another dark area.

(1) Red (G): This one I had high hopes for. Red is suppose to help you keep your night vision and so I wanted to see how effective these were with that. Unfortunately, this was the worse of the lot so far. It does glow a passably nice, intense red but did not actually project much light. This may be a good option for a discrete light or as an emergency marker, but the actual output was barely suitable to read something at a really close range. It was definitely not good enough to walk in a dark area with.
(2) Aqua (Y?): This is what I ended up using instead of the orange simply because it looked like it should be orange until I cracked it. Ooops. I didn't want to be left with nothing for an emergency so until I get more my testing of the actual orange one will have to wait. This gave off a more subtle, but passable glow. I would prefer to not have to navigate far using this as my sole light, but it would be possible as long as one walked with care. On a side note, by the next morning the aqua became indiscernible to me from the blue in color.
(3) Blue (B?): Prior to use this one looks ALMOST clear so it is easy to discern. Once cracked it gave off a barely passable glow. It would probably be decent in a small area like a tent. Mostly I think this one has real potential for camping with a young child that is nervous of the dark. It gave off a comforting glow without being so bright that I couldn't sleep through it.
(4) Green (M): This one definitely projected the most light in the package by a noticeable margin. For walking this would be my first choice without a doubt.
(5) Yellow (S): I have mixed feelings about this one. It wasn't quite as good for lighting up the room as the above green (although noticeably better than the blue, aqua, and red), and yet for reading this one was superior to the green.

(The letters in brackets () are directly under the lanyard hole and hopefully are the color codes. Unfortunately, the Blue and Aqua are so similar in color now that I can't tell which is which. Hence the question mark next to those two.)

My conclusion from all this is that while a better quality cyalume lightstick may perform more consistently across the different colors, based on this brand alone I would rank:
Green for emergency lighting
Blue for comfort lighting
Yellow for reading

As a side note, it has now been over 14 hours and they are all still (barely) glowing. The green is the only one still usable as a light in any manner though (can use it to read from extremely close). Not bad at all for cheap lightsticks.

Bought these for trick-or-treating around the neighborhood (and the kids love them). They were nice colors, bright, and lasted several hours, as advertised. I only wish they came with a lanyard or clip.