Please suggest a good inexpensive light for a 4 year old.

I want to get my niece a decent light to abuse. It should:

1) Use an AA or AAA battery.
2) Have no small parts my infant nephew can swallow.
3) NOT be made of, or painted with lead.
4) Not overly complicated (no need for five modes, but two might be nice).
5) Tough enough to handle some abuse, but I don't expect CMG Infinity tough.
6) Waterproof to 3 feet.
7) ROUGHLY about $20
8) ??? suggestions ???

I don't have any Cree or Seoul lights yet, so brightness is a tough one to guess at, but I doubt I want anything that is EXTREMELY bright with no runtime. She'll probably end up using alkalines most of the time.

Would anything from DealExtreme or KaiDomain qualify? Someplace else? Please place suggestions here.

River Rock - Get a Nicha based unit that has two modes (flashing and normal mode) and decent life on a AA (25 hours or so) for 13 bucks. Sold at Target.

I got a Luxeon version for my 6 year old today. He loves it. 22.99 though.

-Steve

I haven't seen the new Nichia DS LEDs, so I'm a little wary of saying this, but I think I would want something a little brighter than a 5mm can provide as this is mainly an urban setting (lots of surronding lights that will wash out weak beams)

And I need links!

4 year old? Energizer Hard Case Professional gets my vote. Nothing too bright, as they will go around shining it in their eyes, and everyone else's.

This one perhaps? Not too bright, durable as hell, and runs for a long time, even on plain old alkalines. Best of all, it's all rubber and plastic, so it can't dent or scratch anything around the house. ~$13 at Home Depot

Added bonus, because it looks and feels like a "grown up light" it will impart much more.... respect? proudness?.... than one of those cheap kiddie cartoon lights. I actually use this light for my toolbox light.


Edit:
There is also a 2xAAA Inspection light for a step up in brightness.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/180431

Sinjz said:

I haven't seen the new Nichia DS LEDs, so I'm a little wary of saying this, but I think I would want something a little brighter than a 5mm can provide as this is mainly an urban setting (lots of surronding lights that will wash out weak beams)

And I need links!

Click to expand...

I think he meant this one
http://edcforums.com/index.php?topic=13688.0

It appears brighter because of the concentrating options. It really helps to cut through ambient light.

I think this one may be a little butch for my niece and a bit big too. I think a single AA or AAA may be best. She liked my Arc LS TWOJ 700ma IMS17 w/ 123TSP and that is probably a good base for size and brightness too. What would that compare to in the cree/seoul world?

Also, she knows not to shine it in her eyes or anybody elses. She just likes to shine it at our bodies and make us run from the beam. She also uses it to look behind and under things like, sofas and tables etc....

Marduke said:

4 year old? Energizer Hard Case Professional gets my vote. Nothing too bright, as they will go around shining it in their eyes, and everyone else's.

This one perhaps? Not too bright, durable as hell, and runs for a long time, even on plain old alkalines. Best of all, it's all rubber and plastic, so it can't dent or scratch anything around the house. ~$13 at Home Depot

Added bonus, because it looks and feels like a "grown up light" it will impart much more.... respect? proudness?.... than one of those cheap kiddie cartoon lights.

Click to expand...

Kids tend to throw things. There's no way I'd let a 4 year old have a metal light. I'd just get a plastic 2 AA light and put an LED bulb in it so it wouldn't be as much of a battery killer when it gets left turned on.

Maybe one of those rubber Garrity lights at Walmart.

Get a little Fenix. The model escapes me just now.

Thanks for the link! :thumbsup:

I think I'll pass. By two modes I meant high and low. Not strobe or SOS type crap.

Side switch is good; I can't get her to point the light right with a tactical grip! I blame bad parenting! But I hate the moonbeam thing for white lights. I still have my PaLights, PT Impact and Inova X1's with moon beams. It's doesn't really cut through the dark that well and the lack of sidespill is annoying most of the time. I think moon beam are only useful for very specific task and a general play light for a little girl is probably not one of them, IMHO.

Marduke said:

I think he meant this one
http://edcforums.com/index.php?topic=13688.0

It appears brighter because of the concentrating options. It really helps to cut through ambient light.

Click to expand...

She's a good girl, she won't be throwing things around, but she might drop it more than once. Also 2AA is probably more cumbersome that I'd like for her. I'd like to stick to single cell for now.

Big_Ed said:

Kids tend to throw things. There's no way I'd let a 4 year old have a metal light. I'd just get a plastic 2 AA light and put an LED bulb in it so it wouldn't be as much of a battery killer when it gets left turned on.

Maybe one of those rubber Garrity lights at Walmart.

Click to expand...

Also keep in mind kids tend to lose or misplace things, so the smaller the light the easier it will be lost. I don't think a 2AA light would be too cumbersome for a child. Look at other "kid" lights in stores. Some are way larger than that.

I didn't mean that it would be too cumbersome for her to use. I meant she probably wouldn't want to, if it was too big. I'm looking to get her an EDC type light she can take with her when she goes out and that means it has to be on the smaller side.

What do people think about the Buckle light?

http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=3241

It has a clip so she can't lose it. Probably a bit too bright though....

I bought a little Energizer Hardcase 2xAA 4led light for $12 at Sportsman's Warehouse. It is decently bright, and long running. I also think it would easily survive abuse that would quickly kill my Fenix T1 or any SF I have ever owned....Rubber armored and protected switch....plastic protected lens.

The Target River Rock 1 watt Luxeon 1xAA is the only thing I can think of that meets most of the qualifications listed so far. $22.99 as mentioned by someone else. I have three, and one has survived two attempts by me to disassemble it with two extra-large Vise Grip channel lock pliers, so it's definitely tough.

Toshi

What about a Streamlight propoly 4AA? Not the Lux model, but the version with the ring of LEDs. That would be dim enough not to blind anyone, uses AA's, and you can get a bright yellow version that would be colorful and easy to find.

I've got tons of lights and a friend of mine just bought a couple from me to keep his kids occupied. One is age 3 1/2, the other 6. They played with a number of lights and picked the ones they liked.

Are you ready? They loved the lights with all the different outputs, 5 modes, SOS, strobe. The lights that were just on/off, High/Low were too boring for them. The 6 year old even liked playing with her dad's JetBeam MKIIX with basic (6 outputs) and advanced (14 outputs?) modes. The 3 1/2 year old boy has a little trouble changing modes, but he definitely does not want the simple lights, and both of these kids are completely mesmerized by the strobe. They've got to have that strobe.

We went with a 1 x AA and 1 x AAA formats. Biggest problem - the kids leave the light on and go off somewhere else.

There are some good threads reviewing bargain lights from DX and Kai.

In that case, a MiniMag with the NiteIze IQ switch? High, med, low, slow strobe, fast strobe, off, and it even has a momentary on feature. Best of all, it shuts itself off after 15 minutes!

Can get them in many colors (WalMart has a good selection, check several), including pinks and purples, and the NiteIze upgrade plus IQ switch is only $5-10

I would say Inova X1.

Built like a tank doesn't sound right, so maybe "built so a 4 year old won't break it."

How about an Inova bolt AAA or AA? My 2YO son loves them, although he's starting to become somewhat of a flashlight snob, wanting to play with my A2, L1 or L2D whenever possible. If he sees me with those, he'll immediately drop the Bolt and want the one in my hands - or whatever he doesn't have.

Maybe it is just that he likes the multiple modes. :shrug:

While it's nothing high tech or milled titanium I just picked up a 2 pack of these for my kids:

http://www.rayovac.com/flashlight/brsled3aaa-b2.shtml

plastic light, but good build quality. Very strong and has already stood up here to multiple bangings, throwings, pitchings, steppings on etc and all the other things that a 4 year old will do. My son is 3 and loves his.

Since they run on a 5mm LED they run a long time, so when the child falls asleep with it on r walks away and leaves it downstairs on overnight the batteries will still be almost as bright in the morning. My kids have had them for almost 2 months now and so far no battery changes have been necessary.

Surprisingly, even with just a 5mm LED, they are very bright too. They definitely compare favorably to the early 1 watt LED's that I had at the beginning of CPF history

So... inexpensive, strong and hardy for giving to children, runs for a really really long time, decently bright.