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#178832 - 08/07/09 02:49 AM Hybrid Solar Flashlight Review
aloha Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/16/05
Posts: 1059
Loc: Hawaii, USA
About six months ago, I bought a pair of Hybrid Solar Flashlights. I saw them at Costco for $20.99 for a two pack and thought that they might be good for the kids to play with without me going broke on batteries as they sometimes leave them on when they run off to do something else.

Here's what I found out that I had. The flashlights were light weight, but not small. They were about the size of a 2C light or a slightly thicker 2AA light. The ABS plastic is quite tough. And it is waterproof to 80 feet.

We have taken them on probably six camping trips so far. I don't worry about the kids using them as they seem able to survive the kids playing with them.

They are plenty bright enough for most tasks at about 40 lumens and can run continuously on one charge for 10 hours.

In the time that we have had ours, I have never had either one fully discharge its battery. And more impressively, I haven't even noticed the light dimming.

I keep ours stored on a window sill as the solar panel will charge the flashlight with sunlight or even indoor lighting.

There is a cap on the butt of the light which holds two button batteries as a backup. Hence the hybrid in the name.

Battery durability is quite good. While I haven't had these lights for that long, the solar battery is supposed to hold its charge for up to three years while the lithium button batteries are good in storage for up to seven.

According to the company website, these batteries also are not as affected by cold temperatures as others like alkaline batteries.

I found out at one of our camps that a friend of mine has had these lights for several years. He leaves his on the dashboard of his vehicles. He even has removed the button batteries from his and has never had a problem with the light not working. I took the batteries out of my kids' lights too.

Function is quite simple. There is a clickie on the body of the light. One click to power on using the solar battery. Click again to engage the lithium battery. One more click to power off. That's it. A simple cycle.

Today, I purchased four more. That triggered this review.

To summarize, the lights are tough, light weight, waterproof, bright, affordable, and so far dependable. Although we have brighter battery lights in our vehicles and at home, there will be one in each vehicle. And one will find its way into my back pack for hiking. We already take them camping. Oh, and the price is right. Not just to purchase, but to run.

Sorry for such a long winded review. I hope it was worthwhile to someone.
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#178833 - 08/07/09 02:59 AM Re: Hybrid Solar Flashlight Review [Re: aloha]
aloha Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/16/05
Posts: 1059
Loc: Hawaii, USA
Oh, I forgot to mention, this product has a lifetime warranty, for what it's worth. I think it might be cheaper to buy a replacement should anything go wrong versus shipping it back. (I haven't read the warranty so I am assuming the it would need to be returned if something went wrong.)
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#178834 - 08/07/09 03:01 AM Re: Hybrid Solar Flashlight Review [Re: aloha]
Nicodemus Offline
Paranoid?
Veteran

Registered: 10/30/05
Posts: 1341
Loc: Virginia, US
Sounds like a good purchase. I haven't seen them at the local Costco, but I'll keep an eye out. Thanks!

Good Review!
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"Learn survival skills when your life doesn't depend on it."

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#178838 - 08/07/09 07:08 AM Re: Hybrid Solar Flashlight Review [Re: Nicodemus]
aloha Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/16/05
Posts: 1059
Loc: Hawaii, USA
Thanks Nicodemus.

Unlike every other non-battery powered light I have tried, this one is very bright and has been super reliable for me.

Part of the reason I waited six months to post a review was I wanted to make sure it didn't turn out to be a piece of sh, er garbage.
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#178855 - 08/07/09 08:53 PM Re: Hybrid Solar Flashlight Review [Re: aloha]
Lono Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 10/19/06
Posts: 1013
Loc: Pacific NW, USA
Sounds like a good pickup for the approaching weather aloha. Are you prepping a bit for Hurricane Felicia?

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#178859 - 08/07/09 09:55 PM Re: Hybrid Solar Flashlight Review [Re: aloha]
Lon Offline
Member

Registered: 11/14/08
Posts: 115
Loc: middle Tennessee
That looks like a nice flashlight to have on hand.
I don't have a Costco near me... it sure would be nice if Sam's Club would start stocking those.

For those of us that can't find them elsewhere, it looks like there are some folks re-selling the 2-packs on EBAY, in the $35-$40 range.
Knowing that you found the lights for about half that price; I will probably just "hide and watch" for a while. cool

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#178896 - 08/09/09 06:02 AM Re: Hybrid Solar Flashlight Review [Re: Lono]
aloha Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/16/05
Posts: 1059
Loc: Hawaii, USA
Originally Posted By: Lono
Sounds like a good pickup for the approaching weather aloha. Are you prepping a bit for Hurricane Felicia?



I have more than enough flashlights already. But I was thinking about these with the hurricane coming and was wondering if they even still sold them at Costco. Since I was there anyway and was them, I bought some more.

As for the hurricane, I am not too worried. I think we are prepped ok. We always use these things as an excuse for the kids to not watch tv and to have an adventure instead. Maybe they can learn something in the process.

My daughter has been building her weather tracking station this past week and calls me periodically with her weather reports. Very cool. All equipment is home made by her (sometimes with help). We'll see how well it works soon enough.
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#186708 - 10/28/09 06:50 AM Re: Hybrid Solar Flashlight Review [Re: aloha]
aloha Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/16/05
Posts: 1059
Loc: Hawaii, USA
Update: My kids have been playing with a couple of these lights lately and I found one tonight that is dead. Not sure how that happened or what my daughter did to it. They took two, played with it for a week or two and left them in a dark place.

My guess is they left one on and it fully discharged and since it didn't have light, perhaps the solar battery died.

I tried putting batteries in it and it works under battery power. Will see how it goes after sitting in the sun tomorrow with the batteries installed. It didn't charge with no batteries in it.

I will also check with the manufacturer to see what they suggest and post back.
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