I've spent hours on the phone with my mother this weekend finally getting her user data backed up and transferred from her slow-as-molasses 2012 Samsung laptop to her new 2020 Apple MacBook Pro M1 (14x faster), and she mentioned to me that her flashlight (a Sofirn that her late husband had gotten as convention swag) was acting up and flickering.
So, after spending a few hours thinking about what kind of decent flashlight would work for a 75 year old woman with advanced Multiple Sclerosis, that would have good color rendition and be not too expensive, relatively easy to operate for someone with limited and declining manual dexterity, not too dim or too bright, not too complex, and have little risk of creating a burn or fire hazard if inadvertently activated, I settled on a Mini Maglite Spectrum Series 2xAA Warm White LED model.
I was actually kind of surprised that when I thought about what might work best for her, this was the model that seemed to best fit the bill.
I did find out later that she is OK with the tail switch on the Sofirn, which also surprised me, so if she finds the Maglite too difficult to operate (two hand twisty), maybe I'll look at a Fenix or Nitecore 2xAA, but I think the Maglite will actually be OK.
At 57 lumens in the default high power mode, it won't be horrifically blinding, as many high spec flashlights can be if you inadvertently activate their high power modes when you aren't expecting it.
I ordered it from B&H Photo, and it comes with a free Nitecore Tube v2 keychain light. I'll update this once she gets it and tells me how it's working for her. Oh, and I ordered an 8-pack of Energizer L91s, so she doesn't end up sticking alkaleaks in it (hopefully).
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