Could you recommend a simple flashlight for a 70+ year old Grandmother?

My wife wants a flashlight for her 70+ year old mother, who lives in the Dominican Republic part of the year. They loose power often and she wants her to have a decent flashlight now that I've educated her on what a good idea it is to always have an EDC on your person at all times.

So, I'm thinking a simple on and off thumb button that uses either AA or AAA batteries. (Recharging would just be a complication at this point)
My wife wanted to give her one of ours-which I was fine with... but all of ours are multi-output lights and most have tail-switches that would likely be difficult for arthritic hands to get going.

I've looked around a little, but there seems to be a shortage of easy-to-operate single level, flashlights that are not cheap junk. Any ideas?

Thanks for any suggestions,
TomZ

Budget ?

My Mom is 73 and has crippling rheumatoid arthritis - she can't even fully open her hands. She has no problem with tail switch activated lights. Most lights will remember the last mode used, so complicated mode options may not be a problem either. That said, for flashlights she likes something very small that she can keep in her purse. But in the house, she seems to prefer LED lanterns. I bought her a set of four that amazon had on sale for about 12 bucks a while back. You pull them open to turn on the light, only one mode, no switch required. I think some models even have charging ports so you don't have to change batteries. Which, btw, she has a much harder time changing batteries than recharging the ones inside the light via a USB charging interface, whether magnetic or with a micro plug in, like a phone. Another thing she really likes are emergency power nightlights. You plug them in around the house and they operate just like regular LED night lights, however, when the power goes out, they have a battery backup and switch on automatically for an hour or two.

Not a direct answer, but more of an apropos:
Could be an idea to consider lantern as well, as an addition? Being able to set it down, and have both hands free to do whatever needs to be done, could be handy. Tail-standing might not be quite as easy for her.

As a more direct answer, I seem to recall Convoy S2+ being available with a single output driver. Not entirely sure about the fuel source though.

A good old Minimag or Maglite? Buy an older one and drop in an LED replacement, or alternatively take a look at one of their newer LED versions.

Nothing ground breaking, but you can give one to anyone and they can't get it wrong (other than leaving batteries in it for years until they eventually corrode)

My vote is a Malkoff Lego set up.

VME head
M31L
2aa body

It's single mode and has a long runtime.

Oops, duplicate.

Here's a link:
https://malkoff-devices.myshopify.com

Chad Varnadore said:

My Mom is 73 and has crippling rheumatoid arthritis - she can't even fully open her hands. She has no problem with tail switch activated lights. Most lights will remember the last mode used, so complicated mode options may not be a problem either. That said, for flashlights she likes something very small that she can keep in her purse. But in the house, she seems to prefer LED lanterns. I bought her a set of four that amazon had on sale for about 12 bucks a while back. You pull them open to turn on the light, only one mode, no switch required. I think some models even have charging ports so you don't have to change batteries. Which, btw, she has a much harder time changing batteries than recharging the ones inside the light via a USB charging interface, whether magnetic or with a micro plug in, like a phone. Another thing she really likes are emergency power nightlights. You plug them in around the house and they operate just like regular LED night lights, however, when the power goes out, they have a battery backup and switch on automatically for an hour or two.

Click to expand...

+2 on the auto-on power failure lights!
They can be had for about $10 each @ home depot, or walmart. Some have a night light feature, others do not. Some have an electric eye that will turn the light off during the day (which is a nice feature for a power outage light, in that if the power goes out during the day, and there is ample ambient light coming into the room, the battery of the light won't drain, until it is needed.) IMO, there should be one on each floor of the house, one in the garage, and should be positioned so that some light will reach each room of the house. You don't want her tripping and breaking a hip, as she walks about, going to fetch her light.

A few years back, I gave my dad a 3D led maglight. It was instantly his favorite light.
I don't know what they are offering these days, but I'd suggest that you get one that puts out less than 300 lumens, so that it doesn't drain the batteries too quickly. 3D lanterns also run for a LONG time @ 100 lumen setting. The streamlight siege, or UST lanterns, or even the Ozark Trail (walmart brand) set on their lower setting, will run for days on 3D cells.

For a purse carry why not look at the ThruNite T10. It comes with a diffuser to provide light to act as a small lantern as needed.

My vote would be for one of the good old box store lights like she should be used to. Indestructibles have been mentioned, and I think Eveready and/or Energizer also have some well built, simple on/off lights. One caveat: never, ever, buy a light that takes three non-liIon cells unless it clearly says 'Regulated' on the package. Three 1.5v cells allow for direct drive, which means bright at the beginning, them dimmer and dimmer until the end. Of course, you may want that kind of performance so they know when to change the batteries. Also, in the heat and humidity of the area, only lithium primaries would be my recommendation. They probably aren't locally available there, so you would have to send a care package every so often. But I think alkaline cells left sitting in a light in that environment are almost guaranteed to leak. You might also want to think about a Tip or Tube style light that could be worn around the neck or otherwise kept with, so that no matter where they are they would have some light. If power failures are that frequent there is no guarantee that she will be home when one occurs, or that she will be close to where the light is.

Surefire Sidekick

My 91 year old friend likes her Rayovac indestructible 2 AA. She doesn't seem to have any trouble with the reverse clicky, or understanding the power saver mode.
Also there are spares kept on a shelf at the store down the road.

Try something from Streamlight, they can be program High mode only or low high

My mother's 77. Two years ago I got her an olight S10R Baton II, which runs on RCR123A, charges on a stand. One year ago, I got her the simpler olight i3E, which runs on AAA.

These days, the results? She never uses the i3E but uses the S10R every night, even though it's more complicated. She probably couldn't activate the moonlight or strobe modes if she had a gun to her head but that's okay, she doesn't need them.

Point being, don't feel like you have to disqualify a nicer light just because it has extra features. As long as they don't get in the way, she can still use it and likely will appreciate the higher quality and performance. FWIW.

Hi, every time a non flashaholic asks me what light they should buy, I always tell them too look at fenix, choose the battery you want to use and buy it, I believe most fenix lights are easy to use for anybody to understand and are very well made. E20 for example simple 4 mode one button.

Mini Mag

Hey guys,
thanks a lot for the suggestions. I read each of them when I had some time. I'm sorry I haven't replied before now, work has been busy.

My wife needed something to take to her mom a few days ago when she went with her to visit... her mom's on her way to DR for a few months again so I had to act fast... didn't know that when I posted this.

I ended up getting her a Ray-O-Vac plastic/rubber LED light that uses 2 or 4 AA batteries. She can get them there. It has a simple slide switch and is either on or off. I didn't think she'd manage well with multiple lighting options or a tail switch.
Thanks for the good ideas, I hadn't thought of a lantern, though that would really fit the bill for her. I was trying to keep costs low too since we end up paying for her trips to DR from time to time. The mag light would have been cool too, I still like them.

Anyway, thanks for the good ideas and sorry I didn't respond sooner, I appreciate the input.

TomZ

Thanks for returning to update us, Tom ... cheers !

Good choice Tom. That'll do nicely.

Well, my wife's mom is back in the US but she expressed to my wife how much she LOVED her flashlight.

In fact, She asked for more... have we created a Flashaholic at 70+ years old?

I'm pretty sure her only real recollection of flashlights previous to this is the standard dual 'C' cell handheld with an incandescent bulb... run time, 10 minutes. So she's rightly blown away with the output and run time of the newer (even cheap newer) LED lights.

I asked my wife what she wanted and she said another of the same low cost Rayovac mentioned previously, ShopRite still had one left thankfully... but she wanted another 'something' too, just not sure what.

I took you guys's advice and looked into lanterns... found this reasonable one, the Streamlight Seige AA 44943 small LED lantern. Bought it, and packed it full of batteries, and boy is it kind of neat. It's sturdy and heavy enough to not fall over, has a magnetic base so it will stick sideways to anything metal, and it has nice output and long run times considering it's size. My wife even really liked it and she only tolerates my flashlight hobby, unlike my other hobby which she can get into.

I mentioned previously of my concern about multiple output modes being confusing, but you guys mostly seem to think it won't be much of an issue... after messing with this, I think I agree. The interface is easy enough... my wife thinks she can deal with it just fine. Each press turns it on, and successive presses ramp up the output until it goes off. The only press-and-hold feature is for the red light, which I hope a single 70-something living in DR won't need.

So again, thanks for the good info. I appreciate the input, and I thought you guys might get a kick out of an older grandmom loving flashlights and wanting more.

TomZ

I sort of one one for myself around here now, it's really cool.