Product Details

Customer Reviews

Fine, but misleading advertising.
by P. Beach from Auckland, N.Z., 2010-01-31

When I first received this torch I was disappointed. The technical details state "Winding the hand crank for 1 minute pumps out up to 1 hour of red LED light", which is very misleading. You can wind for a couple of minutes and the light still goes dim after 5 minutes! It's not exactly silent either. You'll have neighbours wondering what the hell you're doing outside at midnight. But then I found that by charging it from your computer using the supplied USB cable it stays bright for the whole observing session. That's what I do now - the crank is there as back up, which beats carrying spare batteries anyway. I do like the environmental aspect to the torch, and recharging is much cheaper than buying batteries. The compass is a nice touch, although it is very small, but being on the handle you can swivel it to the front to reflect light onto it off your hand. I would rather have a neck strap than the wrist strap (which I can't see anyone using), but you can make your own. The switch for cellphone or torch use has small icons which look too similar to each other and which rub off too easily, but one just remembers which is which. For anyone who has a cellphone (I don't) that charging ability could be a useful feature. I would rather have a head or hat-mounted torch since you generally want both hands free for astronomy, but for now it's a good choice for a hand-held one. Four stars because it works well computer charged, but not five due to the exaggerated advertising.

Not as good as I expected
by R. Wilcox , 2009-11-21

It does work well to allow you to save your night vision while working with your equipment.
However, I found that the batteries don't hold a charge long enough to be practical. So now I leave it powered by the cable to my laptop which limits its range. I usually end up relying on other flashlights, typically hat-brim mounted.

Very disappointed. Returned it.
by G. Munson , 2009-10-07

This flashlight worked great for about three nights when I first got it. A minute of cranking did what the companion info said it would do - about 15 minutes of light at low beam. (Note - I was not getting anything like an hour that another reviewer reported; but 15 minutes is still good.) On subsequent nights the same amount of cranking produced much less charge, and charge depletion was more rapid, so I was getting maybe 5 minutes at low beam, where it was a low beam with much less brightness. And the high beam setting wasn't really high beam any more. Two minutes of cranking didn't produce much better results. Very disappointing! So am returning it. Maybe mine was defective. But I won't risk being out another $20 for shipping costs (receive and return)to try another one. Overall, this flashlight is very nicely designed. If it performed as advertised, it would have been a keeper for me. And yes, there's an option to charge through a usb port, which takes 5 hours to fully charge the light and is supposed to give 1.5 hours of light on low beam and 1 hour on high beam. True or not, I don't know. I was only interested in its performance using the crank - i.e., not relying on any external charging source.

Works well, and it's nice not to have to worry about batteries!
by D. Woods from Wyoming, USA, 2008-12-19

I just recently purchased this light. It seems a bit fragile, so I hope it doesn't break easily, or that it ends up falling apart on me (afterall, it is a bit more expensive than an ordinary flashlight). But, so far, I'm quite happy with it, and I'm impressed as well! It has 2 brightness settings (which is nice), and it can also be used almost anywhere that a standard flashlight is used. But what I find especially nice about it, is the ability to charge the battery with a hand crank (that is built into the light itself), as well as charging a cell phone (very nice if you're stuck in a snow drift & your cell phone battery is dead). This feature (hand crank for charging) is great because I don't have to worry about buying batteries, or getting out some beautiful night for some star gazing, only to find that the batteries are dead. I'd recommend treating it gently though, because it does look very delicate.

MUCH Better Than Their Dual Beam Light
by John Nichols from North Olmsted, OH United States, 2008-07-13

I bought this because I've dissatisfied with Orion's dual beam light for a LONG time. That unit's red light is just too dim, but the Orion RedBeam SP Self-Powered LED Flashlight is just perfect. I used it on a stargazing session July 5th and it was great. I could easily read my maps and charts, and was able to use it to guide me around in the dark while packing up.

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