getting rid of buying my daughter (6 years) one cheap flashlight after another (the 1 € lights only last a week or two, until they fall into pieces) i want to spend more money.
Caution! To prevent my kids (6 and 2) beeing blinded, only a low mode (< 10 lumen or so) light is allowed or the light must have the capability of beeing programmed into low mode only. It should have the roughness of the lights we are all love here so much.
right now, the only quality light with low mode only (8 lumen) i am aware of is the fenix cl05
What a bout feeding the said flashlight with a nearly empty alka ?
You could buy a Lumintop Tool for example and give the TV remote batteries a “new” life ^:)
- programmable AAA? look at skylumen ToolVN with driver VN2 (programmabkle to any (number of) modes with any lumen you want) -> it is a little bit pricy by the way
btw: using an empty battery to decreasing the brightness of common AAA-lights (A01, Tool) is not an option, cause the light will be in heavy daily use (reading under the blanket for hours )
That’s what I do with my “bobofett” light. Eats dead AAs that won’t even power an optical mouse. It’s a “moonlight” light, but that’s fine late at night.
If your handy with soldering & modding, a simple resistor would work in any good solid 2-AA flashlight to lower its output to non-blinding levels. a 100 ~ 150 ohm 1/4 watt resistor soldered in one of the LED leads would bring a low-cost 10-dollar (but tough) hugsby XP2 down to 10 to 20 lumens, (or any low cost LED light) and increase the run time by days. Add a coule rechargeable AA cells and kids are happy for days between charges. Also as Jerommel mentioned, some frosted scotch tape on the lens will help reduce the blinding beam to a floody glow.
reading under the covers with a flashlight, I would also consider warm tint and high CRI
not a fan of diffusers, or any system that shines light on my eyes when Im trying to light up a book page
it might also be useful to find a light that is USB rechargeable
for a simple answer to your wishlist, I agree the Fenix E01 is a contender. It happens to have one of the most disgusting tints of any of the options, but you did not, yet, specify tint and cri goals
I would rather give them a good 3 mode Tool w Nichia, and teach them how to change modes responsibly… YMMV
Go to fenix official website. Select AAA flashlight from their list within your budget. I am a big fan of fenix and i will not recommend any other brand over fenix.
Fenix E12 flashlight (130 lumens) would be great choice. https://theeffectiveguide.com/best-aaa-flashlight/ However, I have found there a few good aaa flashlight list.
or stick with a maglight solitaire, 2 lumen single mode,
and skip all the talk about LED, CCT, CRI and PWM
the Nitecore tube has some good points, but, would you give your kids a light that is strobing their brain, at any speed?
at 1.06 in this video you can see the tube PWM https://youtu.be/0i-EoDToHZM?t=1m6s
maybe the Made in USA maglight solitaire has everything you need
the kids can each have a different color
Maybe you could tighten the tailcaps enough that they won’t be able to eat the batteries
Plus I have faith that the kids can learn safe operation of flashlights, and will enjoy being included and trusted, to use flashlights, like their Hero Dad does
I think its really cool that you are thinking about what to give them
share your outcomes
in led lights, PWM is hard to avoid, but I have managed to find a few lights that don’t use it
I think there is a nice soothing effect to be had from a warm incandescent tint late at night before sleeping
the cool white end of the spectrum is not as good to helping a kid get ready to sleep
)
