Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Cheap LED torches/flashlights - any good?

<< < (2/6) > >>

Renegade:
I have a small "fits in the palm of your hand" crank LED flashlight, so it doesn't need batteries. It's good for things like peering into a computer case and the like. Seems pretty decent to me. Better than regular bulb ones anyways.

app103:
I have an additional requirement for LED flashlights and would not consider buying one that wasn't the crank style dynamo type. Nothing worse than having a flashlight but no working batteries, when you really need it. That's pretty much like not having a flashlight at all. Also, the cost of batteries over time, can really add up.

Now, in the dynamo type, there are plenty of brands available and not all of them are good or priced within reason. After buying a pair of them to get me through an extended power outage, when I basically had to take what I could get and didn't have the chance to research or shop around, I have learned a lot.

That first set didn't have a very long life. They stopped being able to hold a charge rather quickly. And on one of them, the crank broke off, making it completely unusable.

Before the other one had a chance to completely die on me, I did my homework and found what I believed was the best combination of battery life, durability, and price.

This is the one I settled on (I bought 2): Garrity Power Lite 3 LED Crank Light

I couldn't be happier with my choice. I have had them for a number of years now and they are just as good as the day I bought them. They still hold a charge well and the cranks haven't broken off. And living in a dimly lit environment, I use these flashlights a lot. (if you drop something on my living room floor, you'll never find it again, without a flashlight, even with both table lamps turned on.)

Despite being so happy with my crank style LED flashlights, I still miss and long for a replacement to my little Energizer fluorescent tube flashlight, even though they eat batteries like crazy. There was nothing better for lighting up an entire room during a power failure. Tried to replace it with a similar type of battery operated fluorescent tube closet light, but it didn't even come close to being as good. You might like using an LED to light the inside of your PC case, but I LOVED this flashlight for that purpose, more than an LED. Just set it down in the bottom of the case and you could see every inch of the inside. And it's the only flashlight I have come across that you could turn on and hang from the light fixture in the bathroom and have enough light to take a shower. Or set on the kitchen table and have enough light to cook on the other side of the room while your kid did her homework at the table.

I did just find something that looks a lot like my old one and I might just try it. Would be great if it turned out to be just as good.

gameaddict20:
I had a really cheap one from pound-land and it was extremely bright but the on and off button broke within half a week and it wouldn't turn off, so I would stay awake from dirt-cheap multi-LED torches, there not worth the hassle.

pilgrim:
Cheap LED torches are like everything else, some are good some are bad.

I bought half a dozen some time ago for the princely sum of 20p each, that included 2 x AA batteries with each.
They only have a single LED but they are bright enough to read by if it should be necessary.
I keep one in each room ready for the inevitable power cuts we get from time to time.

If you wanted one to use outdoors on a regular basis I expect the expensive ones are a better bet, if not the cheap ones are usually adequate.

I used to use fairly large quantities of LED's some years ago but back then High Powered LED's were very expensive compared to others, blue LED's were only just appearing on the market and only low powered ones were available, and trying to find any that emitted a 'white' light (the sort found in most LED torches) was impossible.

It's like the capacity of small rechargeable batteries the technology has improved considerably in recent years.

skwire:
I'm sure I can't be the only one that doesn't like the type of light that LED's put out.  How do I explain this?  I mean...I don't like the glowy, overall subdued light that most LED flashlights give off.  I much prefer the type of light that a traditional incandescent flashlight produces.  I feel that they illuminate much better than LEDs.  More detail, IMO.  Maybe I'm alone here?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page