NO BATTERIES, LED LIGHT YOU SHAKE!!!

larry

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Feb 22, 2002
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s.e. michigan
thans for the info zerox. i just ordered one
and will compare it to my nightstar when i get it. i will let the forum know how it compares.
 

Steelwolf

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Feb 6, 2001
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Perth, Western Australia
I smell it too.
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But you still have to admit that it is being sold at a lower price. Now NightStar has a competitor, maybe it will not rest on its laurels and come up with an even better product. Always wanted them to make a smaller shakelight (maybe pocket sized and brighter).
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Anyway, it still remains to be seen if the construction is anywhere near as solid as the NightStar. For starters, it looks like Excalibur is using a push button switch. I wonder how well that will hold up. I hope Larry can give us that review soon.
 

Badbeams3

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Hmm, it looks differant than the Night Star/shake light. I wonder if it`s brighter...they do say "five minutes of bright light". I`ll look forward to your reveiw Larry.
 

beam_me_up

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May 3, 2002
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Minnesota, USA
I didn't know there was another shake light out there, maybe I should have tried shakelight.com hehe. I wonder if the little switch on the Excalibur one is constant? It doesn't really say in the article but it looks like it could be one you have to keep pressed down.....hmm... They also don't say how much light can be stored unless 5 minutes is the maximum... It is still interesting to me
 

lightlover

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Welcome aboard zerox.

Nightstar were planning to bring out a second generation shakelight. Don't know when that was supposed to be, (but it's overdue, sort of thing).

lightlover
 

TrevorNasko

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 23, 2001
Messages
1,500
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Atlanta, GA>> The Flashlight that was broken shall
they both are ripoffs! why want a light that makes you appear to be -um - well...youknow what it looks like when you charge those suckers
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and what are you gonna say when a person says"ummm, what are you doing?" ? "jus' [shake] gettin' [shake] charged up[shake shake]!"

and for a light that big i expect it to outshine a photon. if it were pocket size then i would consider it but its
BIG and BULKY!

76.73 cambodian reil is all this post is worth
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Roy

Farewell our Curmudgeon Administrator
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Granbury, Tx USA
But, remember......no batteries!!

Might be what you to need to store in a storm shelter..never need to worry about the condition of the battery.
 

larry

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Joined
Feb 22, 2002
Messages
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s.e. michigan
Aragorn, checkout excaliburelectronics.com/microforeverflashl.html also, look over their basic site, they have some interesting products.
 

Badbeams3

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Sep 28, 2000
Messages
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Aragorn:
they both are ripoffs! why want a light that makes you appear to be -um - well...youknow what it looks like when you charge those suckers
shocked.gif
and what are you gonna say when a person says"ummm, what are you doing?" ? "jus' [shake] gettin' [shake] charged up[shake shake]!"

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

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Keep arms up when shaking
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geepondy

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Massachusetts
OK, just how dim is the nightstar light? How does it compare to say a photon III in either it's low or medium settings?

The microforever light looks intersting and not too expensive. I'll wait for Larry's comment's when he receives his but it might be a fun light to have without breaking the bank. I wonder if the micro is dimmer then the full sized version.
 

The_LED_Museum

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Federal Way WA. USA
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Quickbeam:
Atar - the shakelight and the NightStar are one and the same...

Brightness: I posted this pic months ago, but there are so many threads now, stuff like this is getting hard to find again. Here you go:
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's nasty. Not your picture - the feeble glow coming from the Nightstar. If it's really the size of a D cell light, that's an awful high price to pay for an awful dim light.

BUT... a few dozen microwatts of dim white light is a HECK OF A LOT BETTER than total, absolute pitch blackness. All you need to do is isolate yourself in a totally black enviroment for perhaps half an hour, and you'll see how little light you really need to see your way around. So if it came down to having a Nightstar within grappling range, or having a regular flashlight but no hope of getting batteries anytime soon, guess what I'd be reaching for first!

And if my potential rescuer thinks I'm administering corporal punishment to an early stage proto-humanoid life form, then he really doesn't have his mind on the rescue operation, does he?
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geepondy

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The excaliber electronic versions are much cheaper then the Nightstar models. Are they indeed exactly the same product? The excaliber Forever is $39.95 while the microforever is $29.95. I'm interested if the microforever is as bright as it's bigger sibling. They claim the same thing, 30 minutes of shaking produces five minutes of light.
 

Steelwolf

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I would guess that the essential electronics of all these shake lights are the same. After the charging phase, the LED is powered by the same type of 1F 5.5V capacitor. So once the capacitor is charged up, there should be very little difference in performance.

The main questions are build quality, switch quality and ease of use (ie the shaking process). The main use of this light is as an emergency light that you can store practically anywhere for however long it may be, without having to worry about the battery condition or charge. Once the emergency strikes, and you really need light, then just pull it out and start shaking.

With that in mind, one then can understand the need for a good quality build that uses plastics highly resistant to degradation, either through chemical contact or UV reaction. All wires must be properly attached as a break will render the light useless (a very scary thought in an emergency). The switch must also be as robust. The majority of pushbutton switches and slide switches are not protected and can oxidise while in storage, leaving you a torch that is next to useless (you can still use it as a baton
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)

BTW, the switch in the Excalibur may actually be a slide switch as you can notice a very slight bit of space just behind the button.

I wonder how big the microforeverlight really is. Stupid webpage doesn't say. That's important not just for storage or carry options, but also because of the distance that the oscillating magnet has to travel, which then translates in to how fast one needs to shake the light (frequency). If the required optimal frequency goes too high because the light is too short and the magnet has to change direction of travel too quickly, then it becomes very hard to use.

There are, I believe, quite a number of us flashoholics who have created an almost similar emergency flashlight from that Russian handcrank light. It was a good concept, with a handcranked generator provided power to a PR-bulb, but you had to keep cranking or there would be no light.

So we went one better and replaced the bulb with an LED and put in a couple of memory capacitors, 0.5F 5.5V or 1F 5.5V depending on what we could find. Same result as the shakelight in that some 30-seconds of cranking gave us similar amounts of light for approx. 5min.

What we lacked was the focusing lens found on the shakelight, which serves to collimate the light in to one seriously bright spot. What we gained was that the magnets used in the Russian handcrank light wasn't as strong as those in the shakelight, so we didn't get as many steel objects stuck to out light and didn't erase tapes and diskettes or mess up CRT units like TVs and monitors. The handcrank also meant that as the light dimmed, we could keep it going with occasional cranks of the handle while keeping it trained on where we want the light to shine.

I, myself, keep one shakelight and one handcranked light in my car, where the heat would kill lithium batteries in a month and alkalines in a week. It is still not the best solution as the light is not very bright, but at least I don't have to replace batteries every month. And where the rechargeable batteries in my Everyready Dashlite (emergency light kept recharged in the cigerette lighter socket) has already kicked the bucket, my shakelight and handcranklight are still in perfect condition.
 
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