Customer Reviews

Duracell 3in1 Crank Light (Flash, Radio, Charger)-2 Pks

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

All crank LED lights I previously used (including the Dynamo Illuminator and Garrity Power Lite) have an inherent problem: they contain very wimpy internal rechargeable cells. As a result, you can easily over-charge those cells, causing permanent damage and shorten their life span.

Why? From the user's point of view, you want to charge up the battery very quickly (such that one minute of winding can give 30 minutes of light). But from the battery's point of view, charging at such a high rate (30X) can be murderous - especially since the user has no way to know when the battery is fully charged.

The Duracell Crank Light solved this problem by giving it a much larger capacity rechargeable battery. It contains three 300mAh NiMH cells. In comparison, the Illuminator only contains a single 36mAh Lithium-ion cell, and the Garrity contains 3x 80mAh NiMH cells. Once fully recharged, this 300mAh battery pack can power the LED flash for more than three hours!

Of course, it takes a lot more cranking to charge up a 300mAh battery, because now you are charging it at 'only' 6-8X instead of 30X. Fortunately, you don't have to fully recharge the internal battery before using it. Just crank it for one minute and you'll get 30 minutes of light from it, as advertised. The slower charging rate also makes it less likely for you to damage the cells by over-charging.

If you want to fully recharge the internal battery, the best way is to use the provided cable to connect the 'DC in' port (see my 'Customer Image') to the USB port of your computer. It takes about 10 hours because the charging is very gentle at 0.1X (30mA).

Conversely, you can also use the 'USB out' port on the crank light to recharge your cell phone (provided it has the correct DC input port) or to power a USB battery charger. But beware: the 'USB out' power is only available when you are cranking the handle, and you may need to crank for 10 minutes just for 1-2 minute of talk time.

Finally, this Duracell crank light also has a built-in AM/FM/WB (weather band) radio. But even as just a LED flash light, it is already worth the price.

My wife tells me I have a problem and she's right. I've bought a lot of flashlights over the years and I like to see what's new and try it out, too. I bought these lights two days ago, the fourth set of hand-crank 'emergency' flashlights I've acquired. These have more features than any others I've seen, a very bright light and great radio features including AM/FM and best of all weather band reception. No other light I have has that feature and only one has the USB charging feature.

I bought it to try charging USB devices like our RAZR phones, small electronics like my PDA, MP3 player and so on. The instructions are confusing since they clearly say to detach any external devices prior to cranking, but tells you to charge external devices by attaching them and then cranking. It can also be charged from external sources, either with a 120V AC/DC that outputs 5v DC @ 300mA port or USB. No idea how easy it is to overcharge but instructions say it may take as long as 12 hours to fully charge. A green light comes on while it's charging. They claim that 1 minute of cranking = about 30 min of light, 12 min of radio or 2 1/2 hours of using the orange blinker light which seems to be accurate.

Specs from the back of the light: USB output is 5-5.6v DC @ 450mA.

It's superior to all but one of my other hand-crank lights and far far better than the so-called Faraday lights. As for emergency charging of other devices I'll edit this to show my experiences.

--1-22-08-- I don't understand the negative comments made about this light, it's still working great for me after several months.

No, you can't stand the flashlight up, as someone complained. But few flashlight offers that feature. It's plenty bright to walk on any outdoor path, trail or just thru the woods, let alone around your house. It has 3 very bright LEDs.

You can charge devices with this but it's better to charge the flashlight and then plug in the device to be charged. You can also just charge it via an AC/DC charger or a USB charger or port.

Nothing on either of my flashlights has broken or seemed loose and it's seen a lot of use and been roughly handled at times. I really don't understand the complaint about having to crank while using or constantly crank, 1 min of cranking gives over 30 min of light. At least on mine, maybe the assembly line is inconsistent. You can't fully charge a cellphone or iPod with this but that's clearly not the point - it can give you some talk time in an emergency when you otherwise wouldn't have any. Together with the radio the bright LED light this is very handy in an emergency.

[Updated Oct 7th, 2009]

Recently there seems to be a lot of complaints about poor duarability of this Duracell Crank Light. So I like to share my experience on this subject.

During the past 2-3 years, I have purchased at least two each of Dynamo Illuminator and Garrity Power Lite. All of them are essentially useless by now. The Dynamo can hardly sustain light output for 10 seconds immediately after cranking. The Garrity is slightly better, but only good for a minute or two. In contrast, the two Duracell crank lights are still performing very well. They have seen actions during several power outages, and during Halloween every year.

It is important to know that any rechargeable battery can be damaged if it is over-charged (cranking when the battery is already full), or left in completely discharged state for extended period.

At room temperature, a typical NiMH battery may self-discharge at a rate of 20-30% per month (some worse than others). This discharge rate doubles with every 10 degree C rise in temperature. What this means is: if you leave the crank light unused for a few months, its battery will be complete drained. When a battery is left in empty state over several months, it becomes 'aged' and unable to accept a full charge the next time you try to use it. Over-cranking will only damage the battery even further.

In case of loose batteries, you may try to revive aged cells by using an advanced battery charger such as La Crosse Technology BC-700. But unfortunately this is not possible for internal battery packs. So once the battery pack is damaged, the crank light basically becomes useless.

In my case, I prefer to use the USB cable to slow-charge my Duracell crank lights fully (to avoid over-charging from cranking). Then I'll re-check their status every few months, and apply a full charge if necessary. This explains why both of my Duracell crank lights are still working fine after two years.

Wow, this is really a good battery free flashlight with radio and charger, it is durable, heavy, bright. I brought it with me for the whole camping season, it is very handy when you are in the wood, the receiption of the radio is good too, I highly recommend it, for this price, you get two of the flashlights, it is definitely a good buy, plus free shipping by Amazon.

Sorry but although this flashlight is one of the best because it has excellent battery, heavy construction, quality crank, decent radio, and other features does not make up for high shipping costs. The flashlight price is comparable to stores, but the almost $10 in shipping will make you shop for it elsewhere. If they lower the shipping cost I will be back. Unfortunately my Amazon Prime shipping does not cover this item. BTW you sellers go ahead and vote negative if you like, I don't care. I am trying to alert the buyers here of your tactics.

Don't buy these for an auto emergency kit, these flashlights will fail you if you live in a cold climate. I live in Alaska, and after the first really cold spell(-20 for about a week) both of these were garbage. I'm assuming that the capacitor used has a water based electrolyte or something, because they wouldn't hold a charge after being frozen.

Probably OK for inside, but don't keep them in your car!

The Duracell Crank Light is all that others have written about it, and I agree with them except when one of them wrote that it is a bargain at $29.95!!

The same 2 pack item is readily available at Costco for $14.99 and no shipping charges. Now THAT is a bargain !!!

The only thing I would add to the previous review from Nlee the Engineer, is that the battery life is better than he claims. With Nimh batteries you have to break them in first before their performance kicks in. By charging it with the included usb to dc cable and then draining in to the point where the light dimms 3 or 4 times, you will discover than the battery life for the flash light function improves from 3 or 4 hours cited by Nlee, to over 8 hours for me. Be sure to put in on charge once the light starts to dim, as its never a good idea to fully drain a nimh batt, nor to over charge it. (10hrs on usb is fine).

Duracell has a real winner with this one, i keep one in my glove box, and the other next to my bed. Other crank/radios/flashlights lack good batteries, this one's is great, especially after you work them thru their paces first.

I lived in Nicaragua for a year. While there I was constantly in search of the best wind up LED flashlight because there is very limited electricity and a good one is invaluable. It turned out that I found a great deal on this light at Costco 2 for $15. I bought several and brought them back to Nicaragua. Between the Duracell LED wind up lights that I brought plus ones that other volunteers happened to bring down we had over 15 in our small community. All but one of them failed in within one month!

They failed in two main ways:

1. The button to turn on the light somehow would lose its connection and the light would first begin to flicker or run dim as if it were low on battery. However, when you pushed hard on the button the light would be bright. This lasted for a couple weeks until the button would have to be held down to turn on the light, and eventually the button didnt work at all.

2. The wind up crank gear would slip loose from the charger. On many of the Duracell lights the crank just stopped working and you could no longer charge the flashlight by crank, only by USB computer charging. (a method not useful in Nicaragua with no electricity)

We tried fixing many of these lights but you have to pretty much break the plastic shell to get them open and it just never goes back together again. I expected better quality from a trusted brand like Duracell. I was embarrassed and frustrated that the gifts I brought for the villagers were all junk. I would never recommend this flashlight to anyone. The illuminator or garity are both excellent flashlights with good durability.

I received this item as a gift last Christmas. I loved it. It worked well immediately and so I put it in the nightstand drawer for emergency purposes. We took it out 7 months later, and after many minutes of cranking the only thing that comes on is the blinker (very low power). As soon as I switch to use the light, it dies completely. So, I wouldn't count on these batteries lasting very long while in storage.

Oh well. It was a good concept.