When the Lights Go Out

I really had not considered writing a review on this  product, but last night I changed my mind. I arrived home from the long weekend and was preparing to get my household back in order. But, my plans went awry when thunderstorms rolled across the area. One loud BOOM! and my power was out.

What to do? It was dark outside because of the clouds and my apartment has few windows. I needed to find my way to the phone (I keep a real corded one around) to call in the outage. Luckily, I had set out my little battery free flashlight the week before so I cranked it up and made my way to the phone.

This flashlight has a "self-generating lithium storage". You just turn the little crank on the flashlight for a minute and you get up to 30 minutes of light. This one has two different settings - one light or three lights. I was really grateful to have this little flashlight - not only could I call the power company, but I was able to entertain myself by reading a novel.

I bought this flashlight on a whim thinking I might give it to my dad or my mom to keep in their cars, but had forgotten about it until a week or so ago. I'm glad I had it because I am bad about keeping batteries around (gotta get some rechargables) so even if I had found my regular flashlight, it probably would not have worked.

My only complaint was that I seemed to have to keep charging it up. I don't think it lasted a full 30 minutes, but it could have been that I either did not crank it long enough or because I was using all three lights, the charge wore down faster. Probably a combination of both. I'll be purchasing several more of these little flashlights - and maybe actually give them away this time.

I've seen other brands, so I may check around for a better price or maybe one with a longer lasting charge.