Review: Powerflare Safetystick (signalling light, rechargeable battery)

Budda

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
590
Location
Italy
No disclaimer is due for this review, because I bought this item myself.

I've been owning a couple of powerflare for several years. Lately, I got some new powerflares for me and I thought I could give the Safetystick a try.
The Powerflare Safetystick is a signaling tool made for your car (or vehicle).


It has colored LEDs around the body to alert other drivers of your position, and white LEDs on the front of the body to work as a flashlight. It has an integrated rechargeable li-ion battery, that is charged with proprietary magnetic tool.
The Safetystick is available with different colors and tints (green color = green LEDs, blue color = blue LEDs, orange color = orange LEDs) I got myself the orange one, which means the lateral LEDs (the one used for signaling), are orange (althought to my eyes the color is clearly RED, so I'll say red all the times in the review).


The Safetystick comes a simple see through plastic box. Inside: the Safetystick, the charging tool with the calbe, a USB power adapter, a 12V USB car adapter.
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The Safetystick, front side. The whole thing is covered with grippy rubber. Beside the LEDs for signaling, it features a belt cutter and a metal windowbreaker, on the base of the handle.
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On the back there is the magnet and the charging system. When attached to a car with the magnet integrated on the back of the Safetystick. If you are worried about scratching the car, around the magnet there are a few raised plastic bumps that act like a spacer.
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Detail of the base

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At the top there's this clear plastic but no light comes out of it
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With the white LEDs on. At some angles you can see the green circuit board that's inside.

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Now the red LEDs, which run on the side of the body
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Here in the engine bay: bright color easy to see.
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Charging happens by connecting the magnetic charging tool to the back of the safety stick, where it gets centered by the magnet that it is in the middle of the two poles (the 2 screws). When the charging tool is powered, the small LED on it glows yellow. When there is connection, the small LED glows red. Unfortunately, it stays red even if the charging is done and if the charging tool is oriented in the wrong direction (with the plus facing the minus pole of the Safetystick). So, You'll have to pay attention.


Here in the engine bay: bright color easy to see.
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And here on my car.
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The UI:
A single click turns the white LEDs on, the following ones turn the white LEDs off and the red ones on, in several flashling patterns, a SOS and a costant output mode, then the light turns off. No memory.

Beamshots
The white LEDs that makes the Safetystick operate like a flashlight, work better if the surface to illuminate is at least 20 cm away, since they have some kind of optic. As you can see, the beam is very directional.
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The red LEDs produce a lateral beam, with almost no light coming to the front.
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Here's a look with the front white leds
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In emergency, you can use the colored lights to work too by facing one side of the Safetystick to the surface you want to enlight (and getting the light coming from the other side hit somewhere else).
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Runtime
Here's the runtime for both LEDs, with the red constant on mode.
As far as the white output, I measured but the output is too low to have a reliable measurement: I got 10ish lumens, and I think with my eye meter, there aren't more than 20 lumens. Output of the red LEDs can't be measured reliably with my luxmeter because it's not white light. For what I can say, when the red LEDs are flashing, the brightness is higher than when they are constant on.
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My thoughts
The Safetystick is well built and finished.
The signaling aspect works fine, with a well designed beam, decent output and several flashing patterns.
But regarding the front, white, LEDs… Let's face it: for almost everyone on this forum, the runtime, regulation and overall output of the front, white LEDs, are way inferior to the ones of your flashlight, even a small EDC. I didn't buy this for the white LEDs, to be honest I didn't know the Safetystick had them.
So, even if not so competitive, this feature is still a nice addition that could help you out if you need light and you only have the Safetystick. But in most cases, you'll skip this feature.
As far as the glass breaker and the belt cutter, with the big pointy glass breaker is definitely easier to hit the glass, but I don't know how does it compare in effectiveness when compared to a carbride one.
The belt cutter is sharp but the invitation for the belt is a bit narrow for an emergency use, IMHO.

The bigger issues are the battery and the charging system.
The integrated battery (although replaceable and with spares available), is a li-ion with a small size and limited capacity. This light could fit easily an 18650 in it, and it only features a 750mAh cell in it.
Given the fact that this light is also supposed to be left unattended in your car during both summer and winter, I would have preferred this light to run on CR123 or other kind of cells that can endure better cold and hot weather.
Although I understand trading a universal system (IE a micro USB port) for more practicality (IE a magnetic charging system), with the Safetystick not only I have to resort to a proprietary tool and cable, but I also have to spend time and attention making sure the charger is orientated in the right direction… And still I don't like the fact that the charger doesn't tell you when the charging is finished. At least it will not affect the waterproofness of the item.

I would like this light come with a sheath, a mount, a bigger battery, a brighter white LEDs system, differenty UI (I don't like to have to scroll through all the modes to turn the light off).

Thanks to: AntoLed for the camera, the luxmeter, the tripod, the camera help.
 
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