Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Handy item, great price, but a little overrated, March 9, 2007
Although the marketing for these things raises our expectations a bit too high, it's still very handy for certain applications. You never have to worry about dead batteries or changing bulbs. However, you cannot store it with a charge on it, or the rechargable battery develops a "memory" and will not hold much of a charge thereafter. It is fantastic for stashing (fully discharged) in a car or boat or any other of those places where a conventional flashlight always has dead batteries when you need it. The only drawback is a minute or three of winding before it's recharged (not a great inconvenience when you really need light!). Some of these have a built in compass, but don't consider this a selling point. I've gotten better compasses out of boxes of cracker-jacks.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Output quickly deteriorates. Other options available, December 11, 2008
We purchased two units. Our kids love reading in bed, and they sometimes prefer using a flashlight rather than a reading lamp. Plus, there are all the other good reasons to have dependable emergency lights.
These units provided a moderate amount of light - a bit dimmer than typical 2 D cell flashlights. And, that was OK with me.
However, the amount of time that the unit would provide light quickly decreased. After just 5 or 6 uses, light output would last only 90 seconds or so, and the brightness level also decreased. It soon became too much hassle to try to sustain light output for more than a few minutes - the frequent cranking was annoying, and every use further decreased battery life and light output.
The light's concept is appealing - but the implementation is poor. The light might be OK for a few uses, but based on the quick deterioration of performance I would not feel very confident that it would dependably work when needed and as long as needed in an emergency. Maybe the best use is in a car when you are unlikely to need light for a long period.
Another OPTION, if also less than perfect: Amazon is selling slow self-discharge rechargeable NiMH batteries. These cells retain 85% of their charge level after 1 year of sitting on a shelf. So, there is the option of buying Sanyo Eneloop (or similar) AA NiMH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries and adding them to a few quality flashlights. Recharge once per year, and you have viable emergency lights, and perhaps keep some extra batteries around. These long shelf-life batteries are selling like hotcakes to photo enthusiasts, because you can immediately shoot photos even if your camera has been stored for 12 days or 12 months.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good stuff to have, August 31, 2007
This is a handy light for emergency times which never runs out of battery, cause you can charge its internal battery just by turning it's swivel.
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