A friend of mine told me today that his wife wants to get a "flashlight that doesn't take batteries".
I have been looking at different dynamo lights and can't decide on what would be a good reliable light for them to keep in an emergency. I tried to talk them in to something dead reliable that would take common cells but they weren't having it.
I found this: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/3-led-dynamo-battery-free-flashlight-3383
Does anyone here have any experience with this light? Also, do you have any recommendations for them? (only dynamo lights please, I tried to convince them to get a Fenix LD25, they weren't having it.)
I think everyone knows it's a gimmick meant to appeal to the lets go green crowd ..the way you help them is tell them the truth and maybe not push such an expensive light at them ..always start people with a flood to throw ..it's the perfect bang for your buck light . I have a C-30 from years ago that is still pretty sweet except it's output is about 70 lumens ,but the tint is nice and their isn't a ring in the thing .
flood to throw or keychain cow/ pig .... crank lights, solar lights,shake lights are way to lame to have an actual discussion about //// go pig or stay at home .:P
I don't know. I am trying to explain this to them and they won't have to find a somewhat decent quality gimmick light that will break when they need it most.
Fifty dollars for a high quality light is not that much. I don't want to stick them with a 10 dollar Manafont special that will have a failure in the tail switch when they really need the light.
I am thinking about picking up a nice 4Sevens or Fenix light for them as a gift along with a pack of lithium paimaries to go with it.
Romisen is similar to fenix build quality, w/ simple design for $10-20. Basically anyone with enough confidence to anodize their threads probably know what they're doing.
But those button cell fauxton are like 10 for $5. The probability of all 10 failing simultaneously is much lower than any flashlight in existence. Or get 5 excellent cow lights for the same amount as that dynamo.
Correction: 10 cow lights are same price as the crappy looking pull-cord light if you buy 10 (bulkrate). Moooooo!!!!
Buy them a $6 QVC shake-it piece of junk and let them see how terrible it is. Then Go grab them a mini-mag and a pack of AA Energizer lithium primary’s. Tell them you’ve put on your calendar that in 2026 when those batts are supposedly bad, you’ll bring them another fresh pack.
The LED one is kinda expensive and not very bright or all that great in general. For 20 you can get the terralux aa lights w/ cree if you want a retail brand, which are supposed to be pretty good.
For a gift, personally I like to get something that they'll be pleasantly surprised by, and mags are just meh IMO.
I own a 2AA MiniMag 3 led model....and it is not bright at all, maybe 25 lumens. I keep it in the car for an as needed basis. Here is my idea....I understand what you are trying to do and also what they think they want. Here is how I see it:
they are not flashlight people, so they just want "a light".
they will want something simple, so complex modes are out
they will want/need a unit with easy to get batteries
I think that a quality yet not to expensive AA light would be great for them. My vote is for Romisen lights. They are well made, you can get them locally Online,and about the same price as that Maglite. I know you can get this brand of light cheaper at a place such as Deal Extreme, but you also will wait a month to get it. I say have a look at www.shiningbeam.com and look at their Romisen lights.
I feel they are a good bang for the buck They are not the brightest in the world and are not super cheap in cost. However they are well made and they just work, they are also simple with no complex modes and Shiningbeam is a great place to buy from. Chances are that if you order from them tomorrow, you will have it by the end of the week.
The problem with most dynamo lights is that they still have a rechargeable battery inside. And that battery will be stored with no charge for most of the time, so it will go bad faster than most rechargeable batteries. If you get Eneloop batteries (or anything else LSD) then you can have a long shelf life and still not use disposable batteries. Lithium primaries are nice because of the long shelf life, so if it is an emergency light, that might be the way to go.
