Ordered a couple Safe-lights on a whim, get me anxious for them

Ordered a Super-Bright off EDCdepot, came with a free blue LED model in an easy 2-for-1, never really thought about 9V lights until I saw the deal and just figured what the heck. Never owned a 9V-cell light before, not sure what to expect.

What do you current owners use them for? What kind of output should I expect? How's the form factor? Do they seriously bounce when dropped? What's the biggest advantage of owning a couple of these compared to other lights? Will the blue-LED be as useful as white? Is it worth picking up a lithium 9V at one point? I figure I just wasn't feeling eager enough, knowing what I'm in for may make things more fun.

I have one of the early Pallights and found it quite useful. It will put out enough light to find it and light up the wall switch it sits under at low setting. It's on it's second nine volt battery, the first one lasted about two years at that setting.
It was essentially replaced by bright keychain lights at one end and a QIII at the other.
However they are very nice lights and I've given quite a few away. They are so practical that people don't realize I've infected them with the flashoholic virus.

I have had a couple of PALlights for a couple of years now and recently ordered several more SafeLights. I use a PALlight at my nightstand, one is parked in the bathroom, and a new one (a Safelight) has been placed in my workshop area and in my camping kit. Can't say enough about the always-on feature - it's perfect for a nightstand!

On the nightstand gently illuminating the buttons on the front of my alarm clock. If I need to take a trip, it's there to grab, either to use, or to find a bigger flashlight. Also works great when traveling for the same reasons.

I purchased several 9v Safe-Lights about a year & a half ago. Wife loves them - use as night lights and for general use. All are still running like new on the original batteries (i.e. never turned off - and used at high setting frequently during 3 week power outage for Rita). Surprisingly bright on the dim setting - I've not tried lithium batteries but understand that they give twice the run-time (4 yrs+ on dim?) and would have considerably less weight - Ingenious to have lights that always show you where their at - Since we have 9v batteries for other uses, its a bonus to have this integration. Wife seems to always find metal for the magnetic clip in strategic places - and the magnet is strong. Very inexpensive, yet well made and designed.

I got 5 on a package deal and gave away 4.
Everybody I gave one to asked about more, either for themselves or people they showed them to. Used one for a nightlight when grandchildren visited. Had to order more as my last one when home with them. OH WELL

I got mine from Wit's group buy on this forum. His new models are much brighter than the one I'd gotten from Lighthound about 6 months before. One thing I do with my nightstand light is attach the light to the lampstand with the magnetic clip and turn it facing down towards the stand, shining on a little baggie of GlowInc powder. It seems to keep it charged up and softly glowing all the time.

Ditto, love my Safe Light Superbrights. Constant nightstand companion with glow mode on. The low setting is just right for dark adapted eyes, and high is still there for more conventional uses. I have heard that most lithium 9V's are too fat for the Superbright case, though. But given the frugal nature of the light, I wouldn't give it a second thought. I use old batteries that came from other devices, and they seem to last forever. The cool thing is that with a high voltage batt., you are always in "buck" mode, even when it is almost dead, since the LED only needs around 3.5 volts. So they don't seem to ever dim at all during use. The only blue LED I ever had is a pen/laser pointer/light, so not a good comparison, the Safelight will be much better, but it lets me see in the dark. Colored LED's are just not my thing. I have not tried the "bounce" feature on mine yet. I have "infected" four other people with this light, though, as many others have said, more than any other light for non-flashaholics. And this is the one "given" light that gets packed whenever I travel.


Hondo

For me, the battery just has to last 3 months. That's because I put a fresh battery in my smoke detector and transfer the old one to the flashlight.

(I have more than 1 smoke detector but all the rest are hard-wired)

...Four years of a lithium 9V...?! There is doubt it would fit, but if it does work out, that's simply insane!

I did some current measurements from the battery and estimated the battery life for the three levels (using alkaline mA*h rating)

Hi - 9 hours (69 mA)
Low - 130 hours (4.8mA)
Glow - 1.3 years (55 microamps)
Glow Off - Indefinitely (0 microamps)

The strange thing I found during my measurements is that the circuit uses 720 microamps everytime you push the button!

The old PalLight is the light that really started my flashaholism. It's a great, well designed light. It runs so long on batteries, even ones that come out of the smoke detector. It is so great to travel with as a travelling nightlight, you don't need an outlet! The low beam is great for nighttime navigation with dark adapted eyes. Of the four I kept, one of the switches isn't working reliably after about five years of service, but my three boys do shred most devices with appalling regularity. One of the seven I gave away had its lens fall out.

I got one with a blue LED because at the time that was the brightest one they made. Its glow mode is about twice as bright as the white LEDs glow and so is very useful in glow mode. The blue LED light makes some colors really stand out and some almost disappear. My sons loved to use it to find certain color Legos because they seemed to almost flouresce in the blue light. I don't know how the current model's blue LEDs are compared to the current model's white LEDs.

Lithium batteries worked well in them and are great for cold weather uses, such as camping. The glow mode in the tent is great!

If you don't have anything like this, I think you will really enjoy them.

Several comments about using lithium batteries in the Safe-Light in the following thread. Apparently they do fit the Safe-Light.

which 9v one to buy, Safelight or Pak-lite?

When the power goes out I give one to my 88 year old dad to use as a night light so he can see his way to the bathroom. I use the other one because I am scared of the dark.

I have been considering getting a few of these to put on the ceiling. When the power goes out there should be enough light to make it to get to the other brighter lights.

Another product I really don't need, but like, but must resist.....

TheBeam said:

I have been considering getting a few of these to put on the ceiling.

Click to expand...

:huh2: You must be VERY tall, and have a STEEL ceiling!

I have a couple Energizer plug-in rechargables that come on when the power goes out, but with how shady rechargables are when rarely used, these things might be a more suitable replacement with thsoe kinds of runtimes. Put one in the nightstand as the trend is, the other near my cabinet full of lights.

My signifigant other may be surprised when I suddenly ask if we can replace the smoke alarm batteries.

I have about 8 of Pal/Safe-lights around the house,great little light,have given a few away for gifts,people love them.I took a older Pal light apart so just the led and body fit on a battery,works well as a little lantern.Got this idea from some one in a old thread.

Here's some information from Safe-Light relative to using lithium batteries in their products:

" . . . the majority lithium batteries do not fit into the Safe-Light ~ the battery holding case is too small."

"The longer answer is that there are (so we are told) a couple of lithium batteries from some companies that do fit. Lithium will give longer battery life, but ordinary 9-v will give very long battery life anyway. In terms of dollar cost per hour, the most economical batteries are the ordinary 9-v."