Category: Technology

My friend Greg sent me an email today about some flashlights he bought today.

I thought I would send along a mini-review of a flashlight I just bought at Costco to everyone I knew likely to buy one. They come in a package of two flashlights for $20. They are about the size of your hand, and look like Star Trek weapons.

They advertise on the box that they run for 45-minutes after charging with the integrated hand-crank. I, in fact, did have mine on for quite an extended period of (unmeasured) time with no visible diminution in brightness after a couple minutes of charging. And they are quite bright enough to be useful. There is a bluish cast to the light, but colors are easily discernable, and they are not really a compromise in total light output compared to say, a mini mag-light. In other words, when using them, you are not thinking “cool, but I wish it was brighter.”

The three LEDs seem to be pretty precisely focused. I would not discern from looking at the beam’s outline that the light did not come from a single point source.

Charging is a mildly noisy process. It would wake someone in your room, but probably not in an adjoining room.

Pressing the button a second time puts the flashlight into about a 4-Hz flashing mode. That is a feature I’d like to turn off. I don’t know why lights can’t turn off the emergency mode if the button isn’t hit a second time within, say, two seconds of the turn-on. On the other hand, it is proof that there is circuitry between the LEDs and the capacitor (battery?), which is a clue as to why the light doesn’t seem to get dimmer–there is probably a voltage regulator in the circuit. If that’s the case, then the light would probably blink off suddenly rather than fading over time, which is a good thing. I couldn’t stay up late enough last night to wait out the event and find out.

These are the coolest things I’ve bought in at least…well, two days.

The only things I would change would be to make them water resistant, and make the flashing option turn off a second after the light was turned on.

Here are some photos:

Looks neat, I have to get one of these.

I saw this on both ‘We Make Money Not Art’ and BoingBoing today,

… inspired by the highly designed compact spaces in first-class airplane cabins and Smart cars.
The tiny cube provides a double bed on an upper level and working table and dining space for four or five people on a lower level. The kitchen bar is accordingly arranged to serve these two levels. The entrance lobby has triple use and functions as a bathroom and drying space for clothing. Storage is provided off each of these four functioning spaces.

Just how cool would it be to have one of these in the back yard for guests? I still think there is a place for hotels like this in the world. I know that when I have to stay over night in a place its just to sleep, I don’t care much if it’s larger than my apartment or has a bed that you can land a jet on. Just sleep and get back on the road the next morning. And yes, I’m a big fan of capsule hotels.