Perfect LED light for a toddler - side emitter and no reflector

[gadgetnerd]

My 12 month old daughter is always mesmerised by the torches I have on the bedside table, and loves me to turn them on so she can play with them, fiddle with the rubber switches etc etc. I worry shining a focussed beam into her eyes at close range is probably not too healthy. I can of course switch the HDS B42 to ultralow, but I'm not that keen on her trashing that torch!

My solution was to grab my old 1xAA minimag with a clicky switch and old side emitting lux terralux dropin (purchased from pocketlights a few years ago on a whim), and remove the reflector. With 1.3V and no reflector there is no beam to speak of, just a starlike glowing dot which she finds mesmerising and which won't hurt her eyes. Because it's a clicky I just screw the head on tight, and she can't pull it apart.

Hopefully by the time she's walking and talking, Novatac wil have released their new EDC120...

 

[speederino]

For my son I went for the stock minimag with nearly dead batteries. This was a great way to use up AA's that stopped working in other lights. I had to go to a SMJ when he figured out how to get the head off - I didn't want to deal with the risk of the little glass bulb. The SMJ probably wasn't much safer (size wise) in hindsight....

His Madagascar Alex the Lion lantern (Rayovac lantern) has a PR-base nite-ize mag drop in. Runs forever, and when he finally figured out how to unscrew the top to get to the bulb it wasn't glass, hot, or especially bright. Thinking ahead!

 

[axolotls]

Mine always goes for the Ultrastinger. It's the heaviest one I have, and just always picks that one up, turns off all the lights and plays with it. If that's not available than the U2 gets picked up next. Mind you, I have smaller lights, but the toddler goes for quality!

 

[turbodog]

Yup. My daughter liked to bang the L1 on the concrete floor. This was followed by the stinger.

 

[Valolammas]

I sometimes use a red Photon 3 at the lowest setting to mesmerize my son. The second I turn it on, he stops whatever he's doing (crying, trashing around etc.) and just stares at it. In the dark it's still pretty bright even at the lowest setting, when looked straight on, so I just point it around at an angle.

I'll have to try the almost-dead-MiniMag idea, that would probably be just the right combination of dimness and beatability. And if he manages to destroy it, good riddance... (I know, I know, lots of small parts in there, got to keep an eye on him.)

 

[MattK]

My 2 year old loves her Little Tikes Glowin' Dino Flashlight

They have a lot of choices - I haven't modded hers to LED yet but it will happen soon.

http://www.littletikes.com/toys/toys-list.aspx?N=26&Ntt=flashlight&NumRecords=17&Ntk=Product+Search