My wife and I went to the Calgary Stampede last month and we bought a couple of LED flashlights with a handcranked rechargeable battery. I had earlier bought a couple of these at Costco (about a month earlier - first time I had ever seen them, so they must be fairly new on the market) but the ones we bought at the stampede also have a DC output jack and came with a cable and connectors so you can use the flashlight to recharge your cellphone. (Each flashlight - we bought two - comes standard with both a Motorola connector and a Samsung connector.)

It's about 1"x2"x4", has 5 LED lights and three switches. One switch lights the centre LED, one switch lights two of the other LEDs (so you can have one, two, or three LEDs lit); the third switch causes all five LEDs to flash and emits a piercing alarm. There's no brand-name on it (unless it's the word "Flicker") but there is a web-site (www.noveltyimports-inc.com).

Anyone know anything about these devices? They seemed like a real useful addition to our survival gear.