Hi Friends!
Several years ago my brother and I bought our elderly mother a Streamlight as a gift. I forget which model but it was a compact one with a charging cradle. It was very good quality but of course overpriced for what we got. Despite this we were pleased with our choice because she raved about its ruggedness and how bright it was and she used it quite frequently to look for things and such.
Recently, unfortunately, the switch broke on her Streamlight. My brother has collected it to see if it can be repaired, but in the mean time my mom needs a decent rechargable flashlight. My brother gave her an incandescent AA Maglite, but it’s a bit pathetic and it is hard for her to twist the head to get it to light up. I gave her the XANES WT518 that I wrote a review about here a while back, but it’s low quality and I’d like to get her something a little bit better. I am also afraid if she leaves the XANES on the charger all the time as she is apt to do, it will explode or something.
My ideal flashlight for mother would be…
a) in the $20-30 USD range
b) 500 or so lumens
c) taking an 18650 battery, but whatever battery it uses it MUST be rechargable either in a cradle or via USB connector or perhaps both! She really liked the cradle the Streamlight had because it gave her a place to put her flashlight and she always knew it was there, but that’s no longer a common feature.
d) It will not work for my mom to have to remove and switch 18650 batteries, as she would have a hard time twisting the cover off. My brother or I will change batteries if this is ever needed.
e) It will need to be something that can be left on the charger at all times when not in use and not be in danger of overcharging.
f) It does not need a lot of modes or anything fancy like that. Single mode ON/OFF would be perfect, as would HI/LO/OFF, but we don’t need turbo, firefly, strobe, etc as this will confuse my mother.
g) The switch must be easy to press, but not in danger of being pressed by accident (the XANES button is easy to press but it sticks out and is easily pressed by accident).
h) And it would be nice if it did not roll.
I know this is a lot of things, but there are so many flashlights out there! Surely one fits the bill! Maybe you can think of it!
At first I thought of the Convoy S9, but it may have too many modes which might confuse my mother, and it is round and might roll off the table.
Perhaps you have a better recommendation! Thank you all so much!