Solar Light

[GhostHawk]

A week ago we had a storm roll through and lost power for some 4 hours.
Gave me a chance to check out some new lights I had bought back early spring. April 14th to be exact.

These are solar powered, and all I did was sit them in a window facing south for 2 days and let them charge up some. Then moved them to a shelf, solar panel down there they sat, waiting to be needed.

3 full months, and almost 4 they sat there.

When the power went out I grabbed one. Pushed the button to check for power expecting it to be dead or near dead. It showed over 2/3rds charged.

So I turned it on, hung it under my normal reading lamp and as we could do nothing else, went to reading.

At one point after the sun went down I picked up my bottle of root beer and realised I could read the fine print on the label. With just my little solar light.

They will recharge in 7 hours of full sunlight. Lasts up to 18 hours on low.
Have 4 modes, low, bright, super bright, and 1 second flash.

These are lightweight, not that expensive at around 20$ each. Inflatable.
The plastic seems to spread the light around well once inflated.

Deflated they are about an inch thick, weigh just 4.4 oz.

Have 2 buttons, a check charge button and a power button that cycles modes.

They have a simple strap on both ends for hanging upside down or right side up or any which way but loose.

I don't know how long they will last, but each has 10 led's that are quite bright enough to read by, yet not full of glare.

I have no connection with the company or the seller.
But to me they seem like a pretty handy alternative to a flashlight.
Especially for camping, night fishing, SHTF scenario's.

I started with 2 and after that power off experience bought 2 more.

YMMV.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Petrol & Powder]

Cool.

My girlfriend is notoriously bad at anything that even resembles maintenance. To her the definition of a flashlight is, "A metal tube used to store dead batteries".
So to alleviate the problem I got her one of the LED flashlights that you can shake to charge it up. It works well enough that you can use it to find the wind up LED lantern ! (another device that requires little maintenance) and the solar powered radio/light combination.
There are some good solutions out there.

[GhostHawk]

I have a wind up LED lantern. Works for about 30 seconds after you stop cranking.
I have one led lantern that is rechargeable. Has AC plug and car plug, lasts a couple of days with heavy use.

But these guys are cool. One of my new ones arrived today, it has one more brightness setting. Has more of a highvis green/yellow color. But charges in the window same as the others. Lights up a nice area bright enough to read easily. Even the fine print.

Just thought some of you guys might find this handy.
And I like the product well enough that I don't mind giving them a recommendation.