Garrity Power lite Crank 5 led flash light, ultimate emergency light?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EPKA1K
seems interesting for 20 dollars. crank from what i've seen is much easier than shaking. more efficient at generationpower.
frys seems to have some 3 led versions for 10 dollars.
anyone own one? review?

no batteries is pretty kewl. 1 minute charge for 30-60 min use? not bad.
the shake lights can barely power a single led generally

Looks like the one in your link is also a 3 LED light, as are most of them on the market. I think they all come out of the same factory in China, and the only thing that gets changed is the name that is stenciled on the body. If you have a Costco membership (or know someone who does) they sell a 2-pack of these lights for $19.99.

Don't get too carried away believeing that 1 minute of cranking for 60 minutes of light. LED can remain lit for a long time, even though the amount of light might not be usable. That having been said, these lights do put out adequate light to be used at a reasonable distance (say 30 ft. or less as a guesstimate.) They generally have a couple of coin LIon batteries that are charged from the crank. These are not 'no-battery' lights. At the same time, I can't really say as to how long it will run on a minute of cranking, as I don't usually let it run down that far; they do run with a decent amount of light for a usable period of time though. Also, if you're watching the clock and cranking, one minute is longer than you might imagine

frasera said:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EPKA1K
seems interesting for 20 dollars. crank from what i've seen is much easier than shaking. more efficient at generationpower.
frys seems to have some 3 led versions for 10 dollars.
anyone own one? review?

no batteries is pretty kewl. 1 minute charge for 30-60 min use? not bad.
the shake lights can barely power a single led generally

Click to expand...

There are several brands with the same general appearance; but that's where it ends. I've tried the three LED version, and they align perfectly for a useful circle of light. I've tried some of the others that look similar, and to me they're no match for the Garrity one.

Of course compared to the shake lights, they're all great.

lion ion really? i thought they used a capacitor or something.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E1DTH6/?tag=cpf0b6-20 the real link for 5led version

and kewl, i'll check out costco some time

For emergency lighting - you may want to consider a lithium powered LED. I've got a shake light, but after reading a number of other posts on shake lights vs. crank lights vs. battery powered lights, I chose CR123 battery (HDS U60). If my life depended on my light, I personally wouldn't trust a $10 crank generator...

Those living in the pacific northwest might be interested that Bi-Mart presently has them on sale for $7.99.

I bought a few of these (but mine were from AXShop):
http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/ledp/LP1035.htm

It has a total of 5 LEDs, but you can have 1,2,3,4 or 5 LEDs on at the same time.

Cranking for about 30 seconds will yield about 5 minutes of bright light, and about another 5 or 10 minutes of slowly dimming light. (This is with all 5 LEDS on at the same time)
Cranking for 30 seconds and turning on only one LED gives around 15 minutes of decent light.


It will last a lot longer if I crank it longer, but I stop at 30 seconds because that seems like a reasonable amount of time that most people would want to do at a time.


It is generally an area light, and doesn't throw very far. But it can do a decent job up to about 20 feet or so.

And it holds its charge (while it is off) for a long time. I tried turning it on after it was off for about 3 or 4 weeks, and it was just as bright as if I just got done cranking it.