Customer Reviews

Nightstar Magnetic Force Flashlight Hi-Tech

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's not really fair to compare this to a normal flashlight, anymore than it would be to compare a normal flashlight to a plugged in floodlight.

This flashlight, of course, uses no batteries. A little bit of shaking gives you bright light that will slowly taper down in power until you give it some more shakes. A few notes:
1) "20 minutes of light" is somewhat arbitrary. The light slowly diminishes over time. You'll need to shake it more often if you're trying to, for example, read a book, but if you're just trying to see your way to the bathroom because the power went out then after 20 minutes you can still use it to find the doorknob before you need to shake it some more. For outdoor use I think you'd want to shake it fairly frequently to keep the trail lit.
2) For those who don't read the manual (like me at first!), note that you should shake it from side-to-side, not up-and-down. The repulsor magnets in the casing do half the work for you as long as you're shaking it horizontally (and the main magnet won't bang against anything that way). Shaking it vertically won't damage it but you'll end up doing more work.
3) Maybe this is common knowledge, but I didn't know: the capacitor stays charged so you can charge up the light, keep it switched off, stick it in a drawer and it'll be ready to go when you need it, pre-shaken.
4) The on-off switch glows in the dark, so you can find it when the lights go out.

As for a measurement of how bright the light is, I'd say it's a bit less than a regular flashlight with brand new batteries but it's certainly sufficient to read with and it's bright enough that you don't want to look directly into it.

I'd say this light is a must-have both for home use and camping. While it might not be as bright as a latern or battery light, it has the advantage of being free to use and will still work if all your other light sources run out of juice.

This is certainly a great one for the kids, who can now play with the flashlight all they want and you don't have to keep buying expensive replacement batteries or rechargers! Make with the shadow puppets, cause it's free.

Oh, incidentally:
* It floats and is very waterproof.
* Because of the magnents, if you dangle it from a string it will orient itself to point north.
* Case is a sturdy plastic, seems fairly indestructible short of setting it on fire.

I'm a sucker for cool toys and this is definiately a cool toy that happens to double as something useful.

You have to see this flashlight to truly appreciate it. The mousing is a single piece of transparent plastic material (some sort of acrylic, I suppose). I haven't tried to break it, but it is very substantial, and feels tough. The only seam is where the lense is attached to the body. The switch glows in the dark, and does not penetrate through the body of the flashlight (This light is *waterproof*). Though the light has a single LED, it uses a lens to focus the beam; this light has the most uniform beam of any flashlight I have ever seen. It is as bright as any of the single LED lights you will find; not as bright as a halogen or krypton bulb, but plenty bright enough for typical use (if you own LED flashlight, it will not dissapoint you). I get *plenty* of burntime for just a few shakes, and the LED will never burn out.
The quality of manufacturing is superb; this is truly impressive piece of engineering.

Bottom line: as an emergency light, the Nightstar is profoundly useful; bright enough, no batteries, no bulb to burn out, waterproof, lightweight, and simple. As a general purpose flashlight, it is more than adequate. As an extra bonus, you never need to buy batteries or bulbs, which will easily pay for the light in just a few years' use, and is environmentally friendly.

I strongly recommend this product.

-- UPDATE --
The LED flashlight has come a long way since I wrote this review ... I own several that draw 1 to 3 Watts. My remarks that this light would compare favorably to the typical LED flashlight are no longer true. If you own a 3 watt LED MagLite, you will find that there is no comparison ... this light is *dim*. However, I stand by my review: given the purpose of a light like this, it is still adequately bright, and still profoundly useful.
Also, my suspicions about this light's toughness proved true ... this light has spent considerable time being stomped in the floorboard of my car, and has received its share of abuse, but is still as good as the day I bought it.

So this product still gets a strong "buy" recommendation from me.

This flashlight is amazing. It is very bright, and provides usable light for much longer than stated by the manufacturer. Their estimates of continuous bright light are about right. The light is a very white - almost blue, fairly tightly focused beam. It's easily enough to light up a dark hiking trail at night and will brightly illuminate the far wall in a darkened room. By the way, shake it in a horizontal manner instead of up and down - no need to fight gravity!

I've seen the imitators products (like the forever flashlight, etc.) They are garbage compared to this one, especially in terms of light output and build quality. There's a lot of confusion about the particular brands. For instance, if you click on the "buy new or used" link at amazon, they give you links to sellers who are selling the imitation products. The kind of junk imitation they are selling can be bought on 3bay for 8 bucks. The original nightstar light is worth 80 dollars in my opinion. I'm buying tons of these for christmas and birthday gifts. So far, they have been incredibly popular.

Good flashlight overall. It's about the size of a 2D cell light with a nice white round spotlight, not as bright as regular flashlights. The light diminishes after about four or five minutes and continues to dim until almost 20 minutes. Only wished they added some more storage capacitors to make the light last longer since there's so much room.

Obviously, you never have to replace batteries or bulbs, but here are my other favorite features:

It's made of polycarbonate, aka LEXAN. That's right, the stuff they make bulletproof windows from. You could probably run over it with a tank and not break it.

The switch is a magnetic reed switch, which is sealed from the environment (won't corrode) and is rated for over 1,000,000 cycles.

The LED is rated for 100,000 hours of output, which is over 11 years.

It FLOATS!

Some other reviewers were dismayed by that fact that it doesn't shake itself. Yes, you do have to shake it -- this flashlight does not have magical properties, nor does it come with a person to shake it for you. If you are disabled, a weakling, or just plain lazy, it's probably not the flashlight for you.

I've found that the easiest way to shake it is to hold it near your head with your elbow bent and your forearm vertical, like you're doing an "angry fist shake".

I picked-up one of these flashlights at a boat show for slightly less than the Amazon price, and am quite satisfied with it. Construction quality is very high, and it really does work as advertised. The clear case provides a "cool-factor", too.
The "bulb" is a blue-white LED, and isn't quite as bright as a regular flashlight (hence, four stars). Still, it is quite adequate for general use. The brightness deminishes slowly over about a half-hour, but a few shakes brings it back to full power.

After have owning a Forever Light and the Nightstar for 6 months I can say the Nightstar is better in every way. In pitch black nights the Nightstar light is useable for the full 20 minutes, but in low light (like at dusk or at dawn) the Nightstar gives a good bright light for the first 10 minutes and then slowly fades out. That is still 5 minutes longer than the Forever Light which is not as bright. If you need a good walking light and hate having to mess with batteries than you really need to try this light.

If you need a flashlight whose switch glows in the dark, doesn't take batteries, and is rugged and waterproof, look no further. Even if you think you'll NEVER need something like this, just spend the money on a one-time safety investment.

Other reviews go into its stats, so I'll hit the soft-science side of things:

1. You'll never need to worry about not having a light if you keep it in a logical place, in an area where you spend a lot of time.

2. You can let kids play with it, and you'll never be without power when you need it the most (like an emergency?).


I was a fishing guide in Alaska for 9 years, and if I'd known that this thing existed, I would have kept it in every cabin, shed, boat, and vehicle throughout the entire lodge complex.

I bought a bunch as groomsmen's gifts for my wedding, and all of the guys say that they find themselves actually using them, unlike other "blah" gifts, and lights that are heavy or use a lot of batteries.

Get this, as I've found the old saying to be quite true:

It's better to have and not want, than to want and not have.

Upon initial inspection I was impressed with this flashlight. It is very sturdy and would probably sustain multiple beatings. Obviously not as heavy duty as a maglight, but for something that is plastic it feels very solid. It would be a great tools for anyone needing a flashlight in an area where water or keeping batteries long term is an issue.

That being said, it is not very practical. Shaking the light isn't so bad, but the power you get from it is nowhere near the claims made by the manufacturer. Indeed, you could probably get light out of a full charge for 5-10 mins, but after a minute or so it becomes so dim that you need to shake it again.

After a year of use, I have come to the belief that these magnetic induction "shake" lights are a flawed technology. The amount of energy expended is obscene compared to the power gotten out of the light. A simple collapsable hand crank attached to a gearing system would produce tons more energy than this unit with very little effort.

I would pass on these type of products and look at battery powered LED flashlights which last a lot longer and use less energy than traditional flashlight bulbs.

I bought this several years ago.
It is not very bright, but it still
works. Even in sub-zero weather
the light works. There are brighter
flashlights available, so 4 stars.