Magnetic charging cables

[jhewes]

I'm seeing these new type of charging cables, magnetic, that stick onto a flashlight for battery charging. I see these on Fenix lights, maybe on others as well.

I'm not so crazy about this idea. I don't like the idea of proprietary charging cables.

I just bought a Fenix PD36R which has a USB-C charging port. While somewhat common, They are not as common as micro USB, so I went out and bought a bunch of the cables. Admittedly I am a little paranoid about having plenty of spares around.

What are your thoughts on these magnetic charging cables? If you lose it you're out of luck.

Many thanks for your insights.

Joe

 

[ghostguy6]

Im not a fan of them if they are light specific. There are magnetic cables out there that you can use on just the cells which I think is actually a good idea because they look like you can charge multiple cell configurations without having a charging cradle. These would be good to throw in a back pack or vehicle and not have to worry about it taking up much space. I will admit I do not own one of these cables yet.

I do find that the magnetic lights are hard to carry as stuff always seems to find its way to the magnet. You must also be very careful about putting it near your electronics as well. I once threw my H2 into my pocket next to my cell phone, had a permanent black spot on the screen.

 

[Monocrom]

Honestly, not a fan of them either. Seems you have to put whatever it is you're charging in an out of the way spot. Just seems far too easy to break contact. Especially if a pet jumps up on the table or accidentally bumps into the table.

 

[wayben]

Not a big fan of in light charging of any kind. Much prefer to remove the batteries and charge them externally, in a charger. Helps to have a universal charger that charges all types of batteries that I use.
Wayne

 

[jhewes]

Thanks all for replies.

I'm looking at an EDC light now. Some look very attractive but require the C123 battery. I'm not crazy about having to add yet another battery type to my inventory. Same goes with charging cables.

 

[ghostguy6]

I broke down and purchased the Olight universal charging cable from Amazon. I think it is a good thing to have, the magnets are strong and hold the cell quite well. In fact I feel I could leave it in the cup holder while drive mountain dirt roads and not worry about it disconnecting. think it would be a worthy addition to a bug out bag. It does have the disadvantage of sticking to every metal thing that gets close to it.
I do however want to find some sort of magnet proof storage case for it. I think it would wreak havoc on any electronics that get to close.

 

[wraith11]

I think it's a bit horses for courses. I don't have anything with a magnetic cable myself, but the folks have an older LED Lenser with one which they love. It just sits on a bookshelf on its charger, where they can grab it to walk the dog, get the bins, or dig down the back of a cupboard, etc. In that context of someone wanting a zero-effort, always charged, light for the house? Makes sense, so happy days.

For me personally though, it's not really something I'm overly interested in. That's primarily because I travel a lot for work... and also need to idiot-proof my life because leaving a proprietary charger at home is exactly the sort of thing I would do. As such, the idea of charging via a USB C or micro B (tend to lean towards on the battery itself. One less thing for water and dust to get into) port tends to appeal as I'm almost guaranteed to have one of those on me anyway. Mice need charging, and external drives need attaching to computers, after all... and even if I don't have one, there's reasonable chance someone nearby can be convinced to loan me a spare for a couple of hours.

 

[jhewes]

I think I am where wraith11 is - the fewer proprietary things the better.

I'm looking at this at least partially from the perspective of preparedness - what's the worst case scenario. Common batteries and cables are key. My next flashlight will likely be a AA-powered EDC. My Zombie Apocalypse box has a bunch of rechargeable AA batteries and a 110 volt/12 volt charger.