Viability of USB Rechargeable Flashlights

I've been thinking about how great it would be to have an EDC, USB-rechargeable flashlight. It'd just have a Micro-USB port and you could charge it up with the same charger that does your smartphone, tablet, or e-reader. It would be very convenient with no batteries to juggle and no charging cradles to deal with. In other words, the perfect set it and forget it EDC.

This wasn't acceptable many years ago because everything used replaceable batteries back then but now that pretty much every consumer product on the market uses lithium rechargeable chemistry it seems only natural for there to be flashlight offerings that also do this.

Not every flashlight needs to do this and a rechargeable-only flashlight may not fill every need but I'm betting that for most of us a rechargeable flashlight would work fine for daily use, and would probably be a heck of a lot more convenient as well.

Internally it could use an 18650 or a 14500 or whatever, but the majority user need not know because it would be the kind of flashlight you never NEED to open, but perhaps you could if you wanted to replace the battery.

My headlamp is USB rechargeable and I can pretty much say I've never felt like I needed to run primaries through it. I've never even considered a battery swap because the life on a Li-Poly is not insubstantial. I'd like a flashlight that does the same.

I know that the Nitecore Smilodon does this and it's totally a step in the right direction, but it is too big and bulky for EDC.

What do the flashaholics think?

I can look. Don't remember the nomenclature right now. I bought my son a USB rechargeable EDC last Xmas.
Great light. He loves it.
Total EDC size and bright as hell.
Great light.

Something with inductive charging so I can just drop it on my night stand and it will be charged by the time I wake up. Also, that would prevent the port from being a water ingress point.

GeoBruin said:

Something with inductive charging so I can just drop it on my night stand and it will be charged by the time I wake up. Also, that would prevent the port from being a water ingress point.

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A few years back I got a Joby Gorillatorch Blade for workshop use. The seals around the USB port are indeed a cause for concern. It's hard to imagine a seal which provides easy access to the port while remaining tight as a drum over the years.

Klarus have a couple but I don't think they were great sellers.
I had both the RS1A and the RS11. They were great lights and being able to charge them via USB was a great idea.

I gave the RS11 away as a birthday present and tried to sell the RS1A at a huge discount with no takers.
I think the main problem with these two lights was that they were just a bit oversized and the body mounted switch was not great IMO.

Check out the Nitecore MH25

I have no experience with it, but it might fit the bill.

Nitecore's Multitask Hybrid series also features on-board charging. I don't have any personal experience with them, but some of these models may be small enough for your consideration.

There's the recentish and EDC-sized Nitecore MH1A and MH1C, which have an interesting and extremely goofy-looking sort of collar that apparently screws down to cover the charging port?

Viability Of USB Rechargeable Flashlights

carrot said:

.....My headlamp is USB rechargeable and I can pretty much say I've never felt like I needed to run primaries through it. I've never even considered a battery swap because the life on a Li-Poly is not insubstantial. I'd like a flashlight that does the same.....

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What headlamp do you have that is USB rechargeable? I am interested in that.

Maybe one of the Klarus RS would be worth considering.

http://www.klaruslightusa.com/index-10.html

Re: Viability Of USB Rechargeable Flashlights

Fenix UC40 just came out. Bright as you see and compact. Uses an xp-g2 and comes with the battery (you can buy another) and charging usb cables.

Re: Viability Of USB Rechargeable Flashlights

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?368698-*new*-Fenix-UC40-rechargeable-light

I read some other posts on this. At $85.00 this is sort of tempting.

kukkurovaca said:

There's the recentish and EDC-sized Nitecore MH1A and MH1C, which have an interesting and extremely goofy-looking sort of collar that apparently screws down to cover the charging port?

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That's the one I got. Great light!

That Fenix looks like a good idea but I also am a little unsure of possible damage to the light from the USB port getting water inside of it. At 420LM it will all depend on the flood of the light vs the throw.

I like the idea of a USB rechargeable flashlight for EDC. On the other hand a good EDC with a nice charger will also fit the bill if you are looking for more light (LM) from the light.

carrot said:

This wasn't acceptable many years ago because everything used replaceable batteries back then but now that pretty much every consumer product on the market uses lithium rechargeable chemistry it seems only natural for there to be flashlight offerings that also do this.

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It's mostly a matter of taste IMHO. If both batteries and chargers were a mature technology, a "solved problem", and devices last for weeks or months on a single reload, then internal (non-replaceable) battery + charger seems a good idea.

But neither batteries or chargers are, and many devices (including flashlights) are high-drain devices that may need a "drink" often. In that case, I prefer separate device, battery and charger, as it makes all of those easily interchanged when something better comes along.

That preference extends across all electric + electronic devices I own. But for example with a mobile phone, the form factor makes it impractical to run on AA rechargeables. So an internal, flat (proprietary design), lithium battery is used. For flashlights, round cells like AA or CR123A make perfect sense. And since those are standard formats, you get to pick which battery to use with which flashlight. And in the case of rechargeables, which charger to use with those. That's a good thing.

Everything integrated is convenient. But in a world where tech moves fast, it only makes for "planned obsolescence". Where you'd replace a perfectly good flashlight because its internal charger or battery has crapped out (or vice versa, replace a perfectly good charger + battery because the flashlight's LED driver burnt out). It's not like swapping a battery is that much work, after all... :laughing: (and you can take as many spares as you want with you).

So with separate everything, you trade a little convenience for a lot of flexibility.

GeoBruin said:

Something with inductive charging so I can just drop it on my night stand and it will be charged by the time I wake up. Also, that would prevent the port from being a water ingress point.

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Yup, I'm just waiting for someone to make a flashlight with induction charging as an option. Having used induction charging for my handphone and ruggedized camera, it is a definite convenience to just leave it on the charging pad without having to fiddle with cables.

kukkurovaca said:

There's the recentish and EDC-sized Nitecore MH1A and MH1C, which have an interesting and extremely goofy-looking sort of collar that apparently screws down to cover the charging port?

Click to expand...

True, it is a less elegant solution than Klarus' RS series magnetic connection cable, but it does an admirable job with water ingress protection and you can use any generic USB cable. As with RubiconSS, I'm happy with mine.

Didn't Sunwayman make a light like that with a charger that you basically just set the light into? I don't think it was inductive charging but still more like what whoever wanted inductive charging wanted. I think it was completely waterproof too and not a problem if water touched the charging ports on the light.

RetroTechie said:

(and you can take as many spares as you want with you).

So with separate everything, you trade a little convenience for a lot of flexibility.

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This is probably the best possible case against nonremovable internal batteries that can be made. A good example here would be the SC52w. This light seems to provide about 40 minutes of solid runtime on a 2000mAH cell. That's not an extremely long time. But if you carry a four pack of 2000mAH AA batteries (which is light and easy to carry), you end up with an effective runtime of close to 3 hours - more if you use larger capacity cells. So that short runtime SC52w has effectively become a long runtime hiking light without really having to carry much weight. But if it had a nonreplaceable battery charged by USB, it would just be a 40 minute light on high, AND THAT'S IT. No option of having more batteries or using higher capacity batteries to extend runtime.

Carrot. A few guys and I have the Nitecore P25 Smilodon. Its a nice sized light bit on the bigger side. Fits in the holster on the duty belt. EDC would be a slightly different situation. I have one in my car glove box running on a nitecore nl189 3400mah 18650. I like the option if the 18650 cell dies, I can put in two primary cells.

I have the Klarus RS11 and its okay. The output of course is outstanding and the electronic body switch is easy to use. The only problem with the RS series is that you are advised to unplug the charging cable once the battery is charged. They claim 1 hour is the max you should leave it plugged on while its fully charged. I haven't tested the possible negative effects myself. The cables could be more robust in my opinion.

For lights that you can leave plugged in and not worry about it, Ive only seen cradle chargers with that capability along the lines of Pelican and Streamlight for example.

I like the idea and think we'll see more of it. Martinaee mentiones the Fenix- I think that type of multi-battery solution has got to be part of the plan where you can ditch a dead built in battery and put in your own. Here's hoping we see more!