What's the Best "Shake" Flashlight

[maddog]

Hey All,

trying to get my BOB Bag going and wanted to get a Shake Flashlight ... you know the ones that don't need batteries. just shake it and go.

so what's the best one out there? price is not a concern but quality is, as this is a light that when needed it can not fail.

thanks,
brandt

 

[John_Galt]

None of them, really.

I would say that your money would be better spent on a long runtime, low output multi-mode light. And several extra batteries. A Fenix E01 will run at 10 lumens for 10 hours, and have ~11 hours of gradually diminishing brightness, all on a single duracell AAA, for $15.

Personally, I think a better choice would be a Ra/HDS light.

For example, the HDS U60 XR has been proven ( in several tested) to run for 900+ hours continuously on it's minimum output level. With an updated LED, such as an XP-G, that could still be 1-3 lumens. That may not sound like a whole lot, but the human eye can adapt to some ridiculously low outputs.

 

[Tim W]

I'm not saying with certainty that there are none, but I have never seen a true shake light.

EVERY one I have seen has had a battery in it and on several occasions a place had a box of them and I dug to the bottom and pulled out one that had probably never been even jostled and they always light up.

 

[Woods Walker]

NightStar is the best and don't have a battery though some do.

http://www.nightstarflashlight.com/comersus7f/store/comersus_index.asp

 

[Pellidon]

Best built I have seen is the Nightstar brand.

 

[Backpacker Light]

None of them, really.

I would say that your money would be better spent on a long runtime, low output multi-mode light. And several extra batteries. A Fenix E01 will run at 10 lumens for 10 hours, and have ~11 hours of gradually diminishing brightness, all on a single duracell AAA, for $15.

I agree, plus I would almost bet your E01 would be brighter. All the shake lights I have tried are extremely dim, and that is with you shaking them ever 4-5 minutes.

Not worth it IMO.

 

[Benson]

I'm not saying with certainty that there are none, but I have never seen a true shake light.

The ones that crop up on woot.com from time to time ("Forever Flashlight" I think) are real shake lights -- I know, because I bought 3 once. Quick way to tell, at least on mine -- turn them on, and shake it. During each stroke, the LED makes probably 10x the brightness it does when fully charged, but not shaking. Also, there's always dismantling it and looking for coin cells.

See, I used to think the idea of a shake light was kinda cool. Yeah, I'd heard everyone say

See, I used to think the idea of a shake light was kinda cool. Yeah, I'd heard everyone say

See, I used to think the idea of a shake light was kinda cool. Yeah, I'd heard everyone say

See, I used to think the idea of a shake light was kinda cool. Yeah, I'd heard everyone say

See, I used to think the idea of a shake light was kinda cool. Yeah, I'd heard everyone say

. . .

But I thought I knew better. Yeah, it's not gonna be much use, but it's only $5 -- surely it's worth that much just to try it.

Well, turns out I was wrong. They're absolute rubbish, not worth $1 to me, much less $5. But you probably won't believe me -- you can afford to waste $5, so go ahead and buy one if you still want to.

But I thought I knew better. Yeah, it's not gonna be much use, but it's only $5 -- surely it's worth that much just to try it.

Well, turns out I was wrong. They're absolute rubbish, not worth $1 to me, much less $5. But you probably won't believe me -- you can afford to waste $5, so go ahead and buy one if you still want to.

But I thought I knew better. Yeah, it's not gonna be much use, but it's only $5 -- surely it's worth that much just to try it.

Well, turns out I was wrong. They're absolute rubbish, not worth $1 to me, much less $5. But you probably won't believe me -- you can afford to waste $5, so go ahead and buy one if you still want to.

But I thought I knew better. Yeah, it's not gonna be much use, but it's only $5 -- surely it's worth that much just to try it.

Well, turns out I was wrong. They're absolute rubbish, not worth $1 to me, much less $5. But you probably won't believe me -- you can afford to waste $5, so go ahead and buy one if you still want to.

But I thought I knew better. Yeah, it's not gonna be much use,. but it's only $5 -- surely it's worth that much just to try it.

Well, turns out I was wrong. They're absolute rubbish, not worth $1 to me, much less $5. But you probably won't believe me -- you can afford to waste $5, so go ahead and buy one if you still want to.

 

[maddog]

thanks for all of the reply's so far.

but for battery light's i have more then a few and lots of batteries. but i can say that in an emergency. power could be out for weeks if not months, depending on where you live. anyone remember Katrina? i would like something that i could use as a emergency light and try to keep the "Battery" powered lights for when i really need light. i'm thinking survival here and not your average power outage that might last a day or two.

and trust me in total darkness ... the dimmest of lights would be a welcome sight.

 

[Benson]

but for battery light's i have more then a few and lots of batteries. but i can say that in an emergency. power could be out for weeks if not months, depending on where you live. anyone remember Katrina? i would like something that i could use as a emergency light and try to keep the "Battery" powered lights for when i really need light. i'm thinking survival here and not your average power outage that might last a day or two.

OK, but from what I've seen, I'd definitely go with a squeeze or crank over a shake light.

Not an answer to your question, but a few additional thoughts: GITD and/or tritium options might also be worth considering as well -- although a Luce is rather expensive, it'd be there all night, unfortunately even the best glow powder is pretty dim by morning. Both of these can be significantly smaller than a shake light, so maybe a bit more suitable as ENC once SHTF?

And there's solar battery chargers (if you can charge 2 AAAs per day, you can probably keep at least 4 E01s in service, depending on amount of usage needed) and/or solar-powered flashlights too -- again, not the same level of dependability as a shake/squeeze/crank lights or tritium, but might be good additions.

 

[bluepilgrim]

Maybe http://www.bogolight.com/ ?

 

[hoongern]

thanks for all of the reply's so far.

but for battery light's i have more then a few and lots of batteries. but i can say that in an emergency. power could be out for weeks if not months, depending on where you live. anyone remember Katrina? i would like something that i could use as a emergency light and try to keep the "Battery" powered lights for when i really need light. i'm thinking survival here and not your average power outage that might last a day or two.

and trust me in total darkness ... the dimmest of lights would be a welcome sight.

I've only played with a couple shake/squeeze lights, and for me the issue I found was that you have to be actively shaking the light to get it to work. This meant two things:

- Very hard to keep the hotspot on the same place if you have to shake it
- Hard to concentrate when working if shaking a light
- Needs to be in the hand, can't use tailstand for prolonged periods because you need to shake it

Of course, if it holds a decent charge after shaking, maybe that would be not so bad.

Honestly, I'd rather have something like the Quark 123^2 with a box of 10 CR123s which would last 5 months continuous on moonlight or over a month on low, both running 24/7, and at least I don't need to bother about having to shake it for it to work.

Have you considered solar-charged lights? (I don't know any, just an idea) Or a solar charger for AA/AAAs? I don't know how good those are... But if you are out of light for months, I'm sure a couple of those days you should get sunlight..

Of course, I think the shake light can be useful... Those nightstars look ok. I haven't used them before, though.

 

[maddog]

see i knew this would be a good thread.

i never even thought of "Solar" or "Crank" Lights ... but i would consider those options as well.

thanks for all the good replies.

 

[cityevader]

If this light is to be used for "survival mode" then the situation needs to take into account calories needed to power the thing.

 

[Woods Walker]

I have a crank light and it doesn't hold a charge. I wouldn't go with that. I do have a fold up solar AA/AAA charger.

I put it on a friend's pack to push the GPS up a few bars. This plus LSD NiMH could keep lights with a lower low such as my Quark Mini AA or ZL headlamp going for a long time and the sub 3 lumen low is brighter than NiteStar shakelights I own. Still if yea want something that will put off a little light for longer than you will EVER need it maybe consider one of those Quarks in AA. I think the 2XAA Quark using 0.2 lumens (this is very very low mind you but so are the shakelights) will run 30 days non stop. For something cheaper and smaller look at an ITP A2 or Quark Mini both in 1XAA. These have a regulated low of 2-3 lumens for 60 hours. Also look the Nitecore D10 and Zebralight headlamp as these too have the same low modes. The standard Quarks have the higher than 0.2 lumen 2-3 lumen mode as well. You can pack lithium Energizers in your BOB and one of these lights with a good low mode and have something that will work. I have used lights with these lower modes all the time camping and in the dark dank woods these are brighter than one might expect. Just something to think about.

 

[bluepilgrim]

If you want to get a little more elaborate, check
http://www.otherpower.com/steamengine.shtml
"This page is a diary about our effort to build a steam powered 'backup generator' to charge our batteries. For the most part we have all the power we could ever need from our small 600 Watt solar array and our 20' diameter wind turbine, but on occasion I do need to run a generator and I always figured that a steam engine would be the most fun, plus... I don't need to rely on petroleum - I have lots of wood all around me!"

Just shows there are a great many alternatives -- depending on if you are mobile, where you are, what resources you have, etc. If you can keep a 12 volt car battery charged, in any way, then you can charge smaller batteries off of that.

 

[herulach]

thanks for all of the reply's so far.

but for battery light's i have more then a few and lots of batteries. but i can say that in an emergency. power could be out for weeks if not months, depending on where you live. anyone remember Katrina? i would like something that i could use as a emergency light and try to keep the "Battery" powered lights for when i really need light. i'm thinking survival here and not your average power outage that might last a day or two.

and trust me in total darkness ... the dimmest of lights would be a welcome sight.

I forget the thread, but there was one in which a guy who'd stayed at home through katrina posted up his battery use. IIRC this basically amounted to running down about half his stock of rechargeables.

Just to be a massive nerd I did try one weekend with no lights when the other half was away, this was the middle of winter (so sun up about 8.30, sundown about 4).

The only light I used was an H30w, and I used maybe 30% of a 123 primary. (low for moving about, high for cooking etc)

Based on that I reckon a pack of 10 primaries used for actual survival use where you'd be a lot more conservative, would last upwards of a month.

That said, if you do want a battery less light, look at either one of the crank lights from a decent manufacturer or a small solar powered squeeze light.

 

[ZMZ67]

I have one of the Nightstar models, it is good quality and doesn't use batteries.I have yet too see a "crank" or "solar" light that I have any faith in but one may exist.While I am pleased with the quality of the Nightstar it has some limitations.The Nightstar is very low output and requires some physical energy to operate.Better than nothing for sure,especially in complete darkness but definately a "last resort" type of light.

 

[Flying Turtle]

My Uncle recently gave me one he didn't want. It has some rechargeable coin cells inside, so having visible batteries doesn't automatically condemn the light. It still is a miserable excuse, however, but better than nothing. Most of the cheap crank lights probably also have coin cells hiding in there.

Geoff

 

[Lynx_Arc]

just get 3AAs, a 5mm LED, a switch and resistor and wire together driving the LED at 15 ma and it should run 8 hours a night for about 2 weeks I estimate.

 

[Mr Bigglow]

I have a really good shakelight, so good there isn't even a maker's name on it and I've forgotten what it said on the packaging, but looking at their website as above, probably an early model made by Nightstar. Anyway, while not putting out more than 5 to 10 LED lumens, it has to be my most long-life light by far- soldered quality wiring, LED runs off an accumulator (aka capacitor), not a battery, NO batteries, and everything is hermetically and permanently sealed in the lexan tube: it gets turned on and off by a recessed, external magnet operating an internal switch, and that can be activated by any other smallish outside magnet even if the original switch was to break or fall off. I bought mine about 4 or 5 years ago at West Marine, a big continent-wide boating supply store- don't know if they still sell them or not (not seen in their catalogue). But every such thing I've seen since then has been a toy by comparison. One caution if you get one: the very powerful permanent magnet that you shake through the coil will severly inhibit or permanently damage any other magnetic device you can think of, esp magnetic compasses. So I have to keep mine remote from most everything else. I've been thinking it would be great in a situation such as that seen in the movie The Road- but hopefully that won't come to pass . Most of the Freeplay wind 'em lights are more practical, because they don't have the magnet- but their NIMH batteries are gonna fail sometime, somewhen....