Hours of light for a kid?

Alright guys heres a question for ya. I work with a guy whos kids, age 4-6 love flashlights.... amazing how early we start the addiction huh?:thumbsup: Anyways, his problem is the kids love light so much he is constently blowing through batterys. And they even find and drain his mags. Knowing i am a flashlight freak he asked me to find one that runs on AA or AAA and has the longest runtime out there. He says he wants as long as he can get. It also can be low lumens. Oh also the kids dont like crank or shake charge lights. So guys and gals any ideas on an LED flashlight for his kids that runs on normal batteries, has a ton of run time and is relative cheap? Under 15 or 20 buxs.:shrug: Thanks abunch.

Fenix E01?

Pros:
AAA, 10 lumens, long run time only $15.

Cons:
But the downside it's small and can be a choking hazard for kids. Contains small parts, may not be suitable for young kids.

Ya i told him bout the fenix also. Heres where the problem might come. He is talking bout lots more runtime than that, and i just dont know if there is a high quality light offering that. I was not sure if anybody knew anything bout any cheap lights or if your guys really only knew bout the best. This is also the reason im having problems thinking of one. Im a fan of quality lights myself and have no need for cheapies.

Check Dollar General stores.
They have 'touch light', 2AAA, that has a touch switch running along its length.
Pick it up, it goes on.
Lay it down, it goes OUT !
Throw it at your brother, it goes OUT!
You can't leave it on.
Runs several hours on alkys.
May not run 20hr like the E01, but then how much of that is in-hand time?
$5.00

Many many packs of eneloops and any light using normal batteries. He should hide the ones running of CR123's!

How about an E01 with a couple of eneloops? 10 hours of regulated output... he'll struggle to blow through that in a night

flashlife said:

Check Dollar General stores.
They have 'touch light', 2AAA, that has a touch switch running along its length.
Pick it up, it goes on.
Lay it down, it goes OUT !
Throw it at your brother, it goes OUT!
You can't leave it on.
Runs several hours on alkys.
May not run 20hr like the E01, but then how much of that is in-hand time?
$5.00

Click to expand...

I have one of these and it works just like flashlife says. Haven't really used it much. I was going to recommend the E01 or E0, but this one might give the runtime thats needed. A Gerber Infinity Ultra is another good choice for a bit more run than the Fenix lights.

Geoff

Flying Turtle said:

A Gerber Infinity Ultra is another good choice for a bit more run than the Fenix lights.

Click to expand...

I was going to recommend the GIU as well.

How about a Princeton Tec Genesis 3.0 ? It's supposed to run for up to 90 hours on 4 AAA batteries. Battery Junction also has some no-name brand 5 mm led flashlights for around $10.00/ea. I bet those would run for quite a while also. Or a Nite-ize led for a mini-mag.

how about a generic 2d 5mm led. not very good, but lasts a while. or get a 2d mag with a 10mm led dropin(niteize)

Like others said, the e01 or e0 dart, are gr8 lights imho, they run forever are tough, waterproof, so a kid shuoldnt hurt or brake it.

The Palight might work.

The Nite Ize LED and IQ switch might be worth looking at. My kids like the multi mode features, ( but they never seem to use anything other than high or the strobe ) Its a decent light, but what makes it good for this application is that it turns off after 15 minutes. IF you're using it, no problem...just click the switch again and it comes right back on. That way if they put it down and walk away from it, it will turn off soon and save the batteries.

My other recomendation would be the Nite Ize 2-6 cell drop in with any 2 cell C or D light. Its not very bright but it runs FOREVER. My son uses it as a nightlight for at least 3-4 hours per night and I get a month out of a set of batteries, easy. Sometimes much longer if I use new ones. Since it will light with the cells down to a no load voltage of about 0.8v I don't even bother putting new batteries in it anymore. I take batteries that won't run his toys anymore and use them. The light is amazing for burn time.

The Nite Ize LED dropin should work well for your kids. On a 2500mah NiMH, you can get well over 25 hours of good light from it. And since you mentioned you're not worried about brightness, it'll keep on with dim light at least 10 hours beyond that. I tried to kill a few AA alkalines that I thought were dead, and overnight (8 hours of sleep), they kept going, dim as they may be. So I think your kids would like it. And it's cheap enough to drop into a mag head.

Mag 2AA is about $9... Nite Ize dropin is about $11... So within reason... And at least 25 hours runtime on today's common NiMHs, and you don't waste the batteries.

Nite Ize dropin is about $11



The Nite-Ize 3-LED drop-in module

sells for 5 Bucks at local Wal-Marts.



That's without the tailcap switch, of course.



Never thought i'd be recommending this Nite-Ize module.

:candle:
_

You supply the light, kids buy the batteries with their money. That they make by doing chores. Wasted battery syndrome cured. :twothumbs

I'd put in a vote for the Infinity Ultra. Useful amount of light, runs a long time, 1 AA, super simple.

The old CMG Infinity regulars (not the Ultra) actually ran much longer, well over 100 hours on a Lithium AA. Those things were insane, just kept going until literally the battery is completely exhausted.

Just get them a Nintendo DS.

Of course anything with rechargeable batteries would do if that doesn't work.

I wonder how long the energizer 2D 3x5mm LED lights run on batteries. You can get a 2 pack of them for $8 at BigLots or I think walmart too. Just read the OP again...... these could be too big though. probably 2AA with 5mm LEDs and a boost circuit. I would recommend plastic lights over metal in case they want to bonk someone with it.

My two year old son loves his Streamlight Microstream. I'm not sure what the actual runtime is but the AAA batteries are very inexpensive. I recently purchased some of these lights on Ebay for $13.00 each. Very handy to have around the house too!