On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 08:56:05 -0600, TCS
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 07:40:37 GMT, George E. Cawthon wrote:
Stopped by Costco yesterday and saw a no-battery flashlight.
Before Christmas I saw one at Fred Meyer and was going
to buy it as a gift for camping trips but by the time I
decided to buy it, they were out.

Anyway, it's a yellow thing labeled GEI INC. Has a squeeze
handle and a switch, so I had to buy one. The instruction
say you get about 3 minutes of light for each 30 seconds of
squeezing. Damn it is bright. Probably not much good for
wandering around the woods, but useful if the electricity
goes out, and I can read by it which is more than I can say
for the standard lights in my travel trailer. It must have
....

I guess if you haven't the skills to keep batteries in a flashlight and to
keep a spare set somewhere then it might come in handy.

My guess would be that the person incapable of managing a battery operated
flashlight would also be incapable of remembering where he stored that
windup flashlight.

Reminds me of the commercials for hand cranked radios so you'll be
ready for when we all get nuked or hit by a comet. Alkaline batteries
last over 5 years. The hand crank radio costs over $100. For $50 you
could by a big box of batteries and a couple of plain ol radios and
have multiple redundancy if you are THAT worried about listening to
the radio when the nukes/comets hits.
--
Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

"What, sir, is the use of militia? It is to prevent the
establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. . .
Whenever Government means to invade the rights and liberties of
the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order
to raise a standing army upon its ruins." -- Debate, U.S. House
of Representatives, August 17, 1789