Help pick a light for an elderly neighbor

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I would like to avoid a zoomie because I’m afraid it might confuse her. The Higsby looks like it ticks off a lot of the boxes, though maybe a bit bight. I knew they made a AAA light but had no idea there was also a AA, thanks Jack.

The nearest Home Depot or Lowes is about 75 miles away; even the closest Walmart is about 60 miles from here. We do have a local Hardware store and I seem to remember seeing some Nebo lights in a display by the cash register.

I think I’ll take a stroll into town and see what they have, I kind of forgot you could buy flashlights from any place other than a Chinese retailer. :person_facepalming: If I don’t find anything I might order one of those Higsbys.

Thanks again everyone, in the words of Young Mr. Grace

Main thing is — put in Energizer Lithium primary cell, and a spare in the drawer for five years from now when the first one is tired.
They won’t leak.

LED lights with alkalines can go on cheerfully looking bright while alkaline cells are corroding away inside them, unlike incandescents that went dim orange as corrosion started to leak.

Yes, the Energizer lithium primary cells will cost more than the flashlight.
But they’re apt to last longer as well.

Good pro tip there, thanks Hank.

If you get the Hugsby and put some DC-Fix behind the lens , it will tame the lumens somewhat and create a beautiful flood beam .

Are you sure that a 13 lumen E01 wouldn’t be the simple and not too bright bathroom light for her?

Do you need to buy one, or is making one an option?

Lend her one, take the Mag, do a Match-mod on it with 800mA boost driver (Fasttech) and 90deg TIR lens (Amazon/uxcell) for something nice and floody. It’ll have some decent lumens, but they’ll be nicely spread out over a wide area.

Or if you don’t mind an angry blue color, a Nite-Ize LED replacement.

Both will be simple twisties.

Thanks again everyone, I picked up a Nebo CSI LUMA50, it was less than 10 bucks and has a crenulated bezel so she can look tactical. :laughing:

Hahaha, neat! Looks suspiciously like those infamous Police 5w ones albeit has a different colour and has the rubber grip thingy. :smiley:

This is apparently the deluxe model the Crime Scene Investigators use. I think those Police 5w models are intended more for your average beat cop. :smiling_imp:

Woah! Group buy? :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

Please refrain from using foul language on the forum ……

the word NEBO is not to be uttered .

i like the $2 #3 zoomies …gas de-domed while still in the light and 1/8th of the slider filed down to make both the flood super wide and laserlike in throw mode . mod takes 10 minutes.

you’re right about old people not being able to push a button…. you might want to try a super light AA twisty off ebay for about 5$

Beauty of these cheap lights is if they get lost or ruined with an alkaline it’s no great loss .

As in, dunk the light LED side down in a glass of petrol? Won’t it hurt the driver electronics, etc? How long does it take and is the gas warmed?

I didn’t mean the gas de doming only took 10 minutes ….

I de dome emitters in lights by adding a little gas to a 2 shot shot glass. then add paper towel and make a small ball of the paper towel to act like a wick …and i just set the emitter on top of the ball . next morning i knock of the emitter clean it up with some alcohol and let it air dry … done it to about a half dozen #3 zoomies …there is nothing to lose and the improvement is pretty dramatic …. the flood is as big or bigger than any other Flood to throw light I’ve ever seen. A good NW xpg2 doesn’t hurt these lights at all either

Appreciate the details, Boaz. Will try it myself asap. I ruined a latticebright from an sk68 clone by dunking it in petrol overnight. The bond wires came right off by themselves, and I’ve been hesitant to dedome cheapies ever since.

I replaced the incan bulbs in a pair of Granny’s 2D plastic Duracell brand flashlights with the Dorcy LED replacement bulb and she loved them. They will run for days on lightly used batteries.

I think it needs to be simple, and vote for the Hugsby xp1. I have given a lot of them, and am not aware of any failures.
Jerry

One thought — older people (and babies) have easily disrupted sleep patterns, and the blue emission spike in LEDs is the signal that interrupts sleep.
Using an amber emitter (or just a piece of yellow plastic film, like Rosco theatrical filter gel) can block that narrow band — roughly in the 400-500nm range.
Little old incandescent bulbs emit virtually nothing in that band.

Rather than go back to low-brightness incandescent, you can filter the LED, or now finally even buy lights that specifically don’t interrupt sleep.

I gave some of those (and over-the-eyeglasses light yellow safety glasses) to one of my neighbors who was just about to be given heavy duty sleeping pills and a CPAP machine.
She says it’s helped a lot to change the evening lights, and has held off the $$$ medical intervention.

These are really effective, and premade:

http://www.mrbeams.com/stick-anywhere-amber-led-night-light-mb720a
They are very bright, using rechargeable NiMH C cells (or using AA-to-C adapters). Yeah, it’s appalling from my cheap side to spend $15 apiece, but well worth it for the nighttime safety.

You can find the same thing much cheaper with the usual blue-white emitter, and cover that with an amber/yellow filter fairly easily.

I’ve had no luck zero nada finding any lights from China using amber 590nm LED emitters in motion sensor nightlights
(possibly because they don’t translate “amber” — and “yellow” means “warm white” which has a blue spike)

I see, so it’s my blue LED night lights that are keeping me awake at night and not my thoughts of Jessica Alba, good to know.

Hmmm, you too??? :wink:
I don’t have a blue LED night light either. :slight_smile:

haha.

But lest anyone coming along not understand, here’s the spectrum — the spike is the blue light part of the white LED spectrum.
LEDs are fluorescent lights, remember — a blue/UV source underneath a phosphor that absorbs some of the energy and re-emits photons in the warmer part of the visible range

No offense, I know you guys know this.

Please don’t post pictures of what you’re dreaming about that keeps you awake. Family friendly site here.