Customer Reviews

Vector VEC144Y Tuff Brite Series Rechargeable Lantern

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

 

 

I purchased this item from a brick and mortar store, thinking I'd use it for reading in my car. It has a nice bright light and the lamp can be positioned at different angles - good for reading. But I'd be careful about purchasing it as emergency equipment. 1) It's heavy. 2) The tag is somewhat misleading in that it says that the *LED* area light (which isn't that bright) lasts for 100 hours on a single battery charge, but the main light lasts only 1.5 hrs. 3) It takes 26-28 hours to fully charge the battery from an electrical outlet and you have to recharge the battery every 60 days or you lose battery life. Not the kind of item you want to throw in your earthquake kit (but OK if you're going to use the light regularly). 4) You cannot (must not) run the light while it's plugged in to either the AC or auto charger (and as an aside, you may need an adapter to fit the charger into a short cigarette lighter socket - the charger didn't fit in my car.)

Directions (primarily warnings having to do with charging) were skimpy. There are all sorts of buttons and locks on this light, but no directions as to how to use them, only labels telling what they are. Finally, I bought the Husky Tough Brite Lantern, which other than the color, is obviously identical to the Vector product above. The plastic packaging was very difficult to remove, requiring one to cut in and around the irregularly shaped, difficult to reach nooks with heavy duty scissors. Overall I'm not dissatisfied b/c the light will do what I wanted it to do, but it wouldn't make a great addition to your emergency kit. If there were a way to give 1/2 stars, I'd actually rate as 3.5 b/c the packaging misleads you into thinking this would be good emergency equipment.

I have the "Husky Tuff Brite" model, which is the same. Worked great for a year, then the battery died. Finally found a replacement at Interstate Batteries... seach for SEL CB3-6 6V 3AH. $10. Hopefully that battery will last longer than the original...

I have owned one of these lanterns for about a year now. The battery SEL CB3-6 seems to have been manufactured for this lantern only. I have searched the internet for over an hour and cannout find a replacement. The Vector company was bought by Black & Decker in 2006. They are now owned by DeWalt. ServiceNet handles parts and is useless for parts for the Vector. Apparently, once the battery dies, so does the lantern.