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
a small capacity rechargeable battery in it. I squeezed it
for about 30 seconds yesterday afternoon, checked how bright
it was and turned it on for a few seconds several times
during the evening. Still bright this morning and still
bright tonight, so it is holding a charge. Cute, useful,
and $8.

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.

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.

Oh? Children + flashlights = dead batteries every time. (Unless you lock
up the flashlights.)

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.

I prefer the rechargable flashlights which hang from an outlet. They can
be set to come on by themselves when the power quits, so they can serve
as "emergency light", or not.

Only problem are those damn kids again....They never put 'em back into
the outlets when they're done with 'em. G

Jeff


--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"

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.

It's a novelty! But you didn't read it all. Have you ever
read with a flashlight? bright spots, dim spots, it's a
mess. This one held about 2 feet from a book fills the page
with even illumination, so I will make a holder. And the
switch is quiet in comparison to the damn 6 V that clicks
loudly and which I use every time I get up to go take a
whizz and that's pretty often.

Manage batteries? Yeah I manage batteries, 3 in vehicles, 2
in the trailer, rechargeable in two drills, cameras,
toothbrushes and batteries in 6V lamps, flashlights, TV,
VCR, DVD, stereo controllers, phones, smoke sensors, CO
sensors, tape machines, radios, GPS, 5mile talkers, 2 mile
talkers. I've got lots of battery operated stuff and lots
of batteries in the refrig and I manage very well. I
remember when the only things that had batteries were cars,
tractors, and flashlights (maybe 1 or 2 for the father) and
the lights were kerosene. Yeah, I manage my batteries very
well, seem that you can't manage your flippant mouth tho.

On 28-Jan-2005, "George E. Cawthon" wrote:

Have you ever
read with a flashlight? bright spots, dim spots, it's a
mess. This one held about 2 feet from a book fills the page
with even illumination, so I will make a holder.

One of the nice things about LED lights is the relatively even
illumination compared to small incandescents.

Mike

On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 16:58:08 GMT, Michael Daly wrote:
On 28-Jan-2005, "George E. Cawthon" wrote:

Have you ever
read with a flashlight? bright spots, dim spots, it's a
mess. This one held about 2 feet from a book fills the page
with even illumination, so I will make a holder.

One of the nice things about LED lights is the relatively even
illumination compared to small incandescents.

Are there any LED lights that can do a wide beam? Are there any that you'd
actually consider using to light a path at night?

So far, all the ones I've seen have been just toys.

TCS wrote:
On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 16:58:08 GMT, Michael Daly wrote:

On 28-Jan-2005, "George E. Cawthon" wrote:


Have you ever
read with a flashlight? bright spots, dim spots, it's a
mess. This one held about 2 feet from a book fills the page
with even illumination, so I will make a holder.


One of the nice things about LED lights is the relatively even
illumination compared to small incandescents.


Are there any LED lights that can do a wide beam? Are there any that you'd
actually consider using to light a path at night?

So far, all the ones I've seen have been just toys.

Actually there are and it has been discussed at length in
some other groups. I think Luxeon has been mentioned but
don't know what model. It's all in the reflector and
apparently they cost about #30. Costco has a two package
that looks good but I have no idea of beam width. You are
right, most LED flashlights look rather cheap.

TCS wrote:
On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 16:58:08 GMT, Michael Daly wrote:
On 28-Jan-2005, "George E. Cawthon" wrote:
Are there any LED lights that can do a wide beam? Are there any that you'd
actually consider using to light a path at night?

So far, all the ones I've seen have been just toys.

Any decent camping / outdoors store (REI, etc.) will have a good
selection...mostly of the headlamp variety. I have one made by Black Diamond
that's at least 3 years old, and still works great for nighttime trail running.
I would assume the newer models are even better.

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

050127 0240 - George E. Cawthon posted:

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
a small capacity rechargeable battery in it. I squeezed it
for about 30 seconds yesterday afternoon, checked how bright
it was and turned it on for a few seconds several times
during the evening. Still bright this morning and still
bright tonight, so it is holding a charge. Cute, useful,
and $8.

Check in that section too for the solar powered flashlights...

On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 10:52:19 GMT, indago
wrote:

050127 0240 - George E. Cawthon posted:

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
a small capacity rechargeable battery in it. I squeezed it
for about 30 seconds yesterday afternoon, checked how bright
it was and turned it on for a few seconds several times
during the evening. Still bright this morning and still
bright tonight, so it is holding a charge. Cute, useful,
and $8.

Check in that section too for the solar powered flashlights...


Personally, never trusted those. We sometimes get days of gloominess
before a storm, and was uneasy about having a flashlight that could
'drain' before we actually needed it.

imho,

tom @ www.FindMeShelter.com

indago wrote:
050127 0240 - George E. Cawthon posted:




Check in that section too for the solar powered flashlights...


Not in my Costco! I can't remember ever seeing a solar
flashlight.

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 06:04:07 GMT, George E. Cawthon wrote:
indago wrote:
050127 0240 - George E. Cawthon posted:




Check in that section too for the solar powered flashlights...


Not in my Costco! I can't remember ever seeing a solar
flashlight.

It's right next to the solar night light and the one station intercom.