Best LED flashlight to read with in bed at night?

Remember the good old days when you first developed your love for flashlights? Chances are you had one as a kid to read with under the covers at night. Well, I am looking for a good reading light for my 9 year old son. It should have a fairly diffuse light output in a pleasant white or yellow tint, not be too bright, run on AA or AAA batteries, have a good run time and not be too expensive.

What would you recommend?
Thanks in advance for all comments!

AA Minimag with the old Nite Ize 3 led drop in, low light, long run time, and tough enough for kid's use. Cheap! I think 5.00 at Walmart for the little thing.

The Simply Cree might be great for your task. Good runtime on an AA and not too bright. But you might get a bad one. I'm not sure how bright this 9 LED or this 12 LED light is. The 12 LED light seems like the Ghost like the one on FLR.

The NiteIts drop-in is also good but it has a blue light that it typical of cheaper 5MM LEDs. This might be the best choice of white light is not a important requirement.

A headlamp no doubt about it. I found that out during the big Northeast blackout a few years ago. They are splendid to read by. Mine has two 5 MM white leds and one red, it is great to read by.

In a flashlight I would probably choose a AA or AAA Minimag modded with an SMJLED which gives about 30 hours useful light in mine.

A Zebralight H50, 1AA, Cree, 120 degree flood.

ZebraLight said:

A Zebralight H50, 1AA, Cree, 120 degree flood.

Click to expand...

OOH great light to read by for me, but not for kids to lose since it's 50 bucks!

My first though was the Zebralight, then I read it was for a 9 year old. It's a great choice, just not a cheap one.

How about the Rayovac Sports Man available at Walmart? Or even cheaper, this 8 LED headlamp at DX.

I got one of those LED book lights we see at the bookstore checkout counters.
I use one by MightyBrite (mighty Bright?) from JoAnn's online. similar to the one in this link.
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat3728&PRODID=prd29751&source=search
...clips to the headboard. Use 3xAAA. Long run time claimed but I haven't tested runtime yet.

uh1c said:

I got one of those LED book lights we see at the bookstore checkout counters.
I use one by MightyBrite (mighty Bright?) from JoAnn's online. similar to the one in this link.
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat3728&PRODID=prd29751&source=search
...clips to the headboard. Use 3xAAA. Long run time claimed but I haven't tested runtime yet.

Click to expand...

Careful one similar to that from Walmart supposedly set my co-worker's kid's bed on fire!! She didn't give any tech specs, just said nobody was hurt because the kid woke them all up in time, the light wasn't on at the time, and she didn't sue anybody - but I would of!
She could be totally full of it though, knowing the lady involved!!!!!!!!:thinking:

protodoc said:

What would you recommend?
Thanks in advance for all comments!

Click to expand...

A good e-book reader with a decent built in backlight. I still use an old Sony Clie SL10 PDA. Uses 2 AAA Nimh batteries. Switches off automatically when you fall asleep.

Oh, and more FREE books than you'll ever read:

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

i use spartanian clone without the reflector .

I love my Skylite - it can emit either red or white light, is continuously variable from very dim to bright enough to light the room (for dark adapted eyes) and the two white 5MM leds put out a good smooth light. Seems to run forever because you can dial it way back for reading at night. Doesn't disturb the wife either!

I've had mine for years, and have only once changed the battery. Nice little light.

Zebralight, Princeton Tec Quad or the Petzl Tikka+.

Try this!

For 4 bucks you can't loose!

2AA minimag with stock bulb, smokey scotch tape (not that clear stuff) over the lens and rechargeable NiMH cells. This results in a pleasant yellow-white tint, diffuse beam with no artifacts to distract you from the text on the page, is cheap to buy and cheap to operate. This is exactly what I use and it's wonderful.
I know it's no LED, but the color is much warmer than most LEDs, something your eyes appreciate at such a close proximity to a white or off-white page where you don't want glare. The lower efficiency of the bulb is not a problem because of the rechargeable cells.

Gunner12 said:

My first though was the Zebralight, then I read it was for a 9 year old. It's a great choice, just not a cheap one.

How about the Rayovac Sports Man available at Walmart? Or even cheaper, this 8 LED headlamp at DX.

Click to expand...

+1 for the Rayovac Sportsman's Extreme 1AA Headlamp from Wal-Mart for $18.83. Uses 1AA battery, has 2 Red, 1 Blue and a very white 1W luxeon LED for the main light. Very handy flip-over diffuser turns the luxeon into a floodlight. It might be too bright for reading, however.

Gunner12 said:

Or even cheaper, this 8 LED headlamp at DX.

Click to expand...

I did a mini-review of that one. I've used it for reading at night (yes, even after my wife's plaintive "Dear Lord!"...)

It worked okay but I would put some tape over it to diffuse the hotspot a little, at arms length it's a bit too focused, even on the low, 2-led setting.

another vote for the Rayovac Sportsman's Extreme 1AA Headlamp.. It is a great light.

I am surprised nobody has suggested a Gerber Infinity Ultra. The tint may be a little blue, but the output is just right for reading in bed (Luxeon lights are may too bright). The UI also is a great light for walking around the house (bathroom runs, raiding the fridge...). So it is more versatile than a book light. Oh, and it runs FOREVER on cheap alkalines. It's pretty close to indestructible too. I leave an old one hanging in a tree next to my storage shed all summer. Rain, bird poop, nothing affects it. It can be found for around $15 and has a lifetime warranty whereas many booklights only offer one year.

I gave one to my young nephew some time ago and he has yet to tire of it (or break it).

+1 on the Infinity. I have one of the old pre-Ultra, pre-Gerber ones. It works great, and I don;t see it ever dying!