Hand Crank Illuminator Wind-up LED Flashlights - 2 Pack

I got this pair of LED hand-crank flashlights to have as emergency lights. They both charged easily, but the center LED did not work on one of the flashlights. I disassembled that flashlight and found that the solder joint was broken on one of the wire leads for the center LED. Luckily, my job involves electronic repairs, so I fixed it by re-soldering the LED lead back onto the circuit board. However, most people would not be able to do this job, since a soldering iron and soldering skills are necessary. The concept behind these flashlights is great - however, the workmanship has a LOT to be desired. ALL of the solder joints (melted metal that connects the internal wires, switches, LEDs, etc.) were done very POORLY. I had to 're-flow' the solder to get good, solid connections. Still, if you don't beat them up too much - and the price is low enough - then these flashlights are worth having for some emergency lighting. HOWEVER, as a comparison, I also bought an 'Energizer Weatheready 3-LED Carabineer Rechargeable Crank Light, Red' from Amazon. That LED light used 'Nichia' brand LEDs and it was a MUCH brighter flashlight than THIS flashlight. The light output from the Energizer was more like that from a regular D-cell battery-powered flashlight. Personally, if I had to do it again, I would spend a little more money for the Energizer flashlight.

I just received these lights today. I instantly got one out of the package & started cranking away. I turned the switch on & got NOTHING AT ALL. So i decided to leave the switch on & crank the handle. It did light up but not as I had hoped for. After I continued playing with the light for a while I could get it to hold a charge for about 20 seconds(MAX). It is far from the 20 minutes of use the instruction sheet states though. I had read somewhere that if these lights sit for any extended periods of time they need to be conditioned for use again. Which consisted of cranking, letting it die completely, then repeating till an optimal charge is held. So I have been doing this & it does seem to be getting better with each time but it sure is tiresome. I may give them to my young kids to play around with to see if the can get them back into condition.I guess it is not a complete loss though. Some light is better then no light & these will provide some light, even if you do have to crank the light while using it. I have only checked the one light out I got so far... Getting ready to open the other package & see if that light is the same way. I do believe I will not be buying these lights anymore. I have been doing some better research online since I had bought these I believe I will be buying almost any light that the American Red Cross would sell on their website. Seems like they would most likely know what crank style emergency light would be best.UPDATEI did open the package to the second light. it is worse then the first one I opened. I have been playing with it like I had stated before about "conditioning" it with the previous one. This one seems to be taking a lot longer to get light that will stay on more then 3 seconds after I stop cranking. Been working at it for 20 minutes to get the 3 seconds of light & in order to get any type of light I had to turn the switch on while I was cranking it, then I eventually was able to turn switch off to get the 3 seconds of light. So maybe if I continue I will be able to get something more satisfactory. Reviewer before had stated about having the Garrity lights, I also had one in the past. I believe the Garrity lights were far better then these.Something now crosses my mind... I wonder if I could buy a new lithium Ion battery a little stronger & soldier it in place of the weaker battery.

I really love this little flashlight. I keep one in my car and one at home. It puts out a really bright light and I don't have to worry about batteries going dead. When the light starts to go dim, I just crank it up again and it is recharged. The charge lasts for a good while when fully charged. The length of the charge depends on how well you crank it up. It is great to have in an emergency, as you do not need to worry about having batteries on hand or running out of them.

Of the 2-pack, one functioned fine. The other had only one out of three bulbs present and functioning on arrival. It was a gift to my mom. We've returned and reordered.

One of the two handles was broke on opening. Why waste the time to ship both back, they were stocking stuffers.

The handle on the crank was very cheaply made with a very poor connector to the crank movement. One of the 2 had the handle broken off and the other looks like it could easily break as well.

This is a great "green" product--no batteries needed! It does not shine as brightly as many flashlights but you don't have to throw away spent batteries and buy new ones. Even if you use it once a year or so. you know that it will work when you crank it up.

I ordered 3 boxes (6 flashlights total), right off the bat when I opened the first box, the hand cracks of both units are broke. The second box is perfect but the third box contained a unit with defective bulbs, two bulbs didn't work. In other words, 3 defects out of six. When you get 50% defective on the items that you paid for a full price then you know that there is definitely something wrong with this seller. I hope Amazon will pay attention to this and quit selling this product. It is nothing but a waste of money and a bunch of frustration. I know, this is what I get for buying cheap made in China crap! But still.........not good business. I'm not buying from this seller anymore!