My niece will be one year old this coming August. I'm looking to get her a waterproof flashlight she can take into the tub with her. This flashlight must also be too big to swallow and too difficult to open for a baby to accomplish. Any suggestions?

I wouldn't consider it prudent to encourage a youngster to mix electricity with water. No matter how safe this particular unit may be you are setting a precedent that electrical items are OK in a water environemt. It will difficult to teach her the difference between safe, well constructed, water certified eletronics and non-safe ones. The simple rule that electronics and water don't mix is easy for youngsters to understand and it may save your PDA and your youngster. When they are in 6'th grade and starting to learn the basics of electicity and waterproofness then it may be possible to enlighen them on how to make the distinction. There will be plenty of opportunities for your youngster to get ahold of portable electronics and submerge them in the sink without you noticing untill too late. You would be better off it htis entire category of experimentation is ruled out at the start.

Just my opinion as a father or two daughters (7 and 9) who have caused plenty of damage without this set of opportunities available to them.

Craig--

Get a dive light. They're made to be waterproof to considerably deeper than the average bathtub. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My experience has been with Pelican, Underwater Kinetics, and Princeton Tec. Pelican’s guarantee, however, explicitly excludes “shark attack, bear attack, and children under 5.” (They really mean it, too.) So, they’re out. I got rid of my larger UK lights, and the small ones are packed in kits, so they’re out, too.

Consequently, the waterproof lights my kids play with in the tub are my Princeton Tecs. (web site)
I have a discontinued TEC 2-AA with incandescent bulb (it can also accept the LED module from my PT Matrix headlamp), and 4-AA Impact with LED. They prefer the 4-AA Impact with the LED. It’s especially fun with bubble bath. PT offers a number of lights; one of the 4-AAA LEDs (Attitude or Impact II) might be perfect—good size for small hands, long battery life because of the LED, and of course, waterproof.

These are “twist-on” lights, so there’s no “switch” to deal with, and they offer a stiff enough resistance that the kids can’t turn them on, much less open them. If you leave the lanyard on, be sure that she can’t get it over her head. Also, beware of the potential as an impact weapon when swung by the lanyard.

I must respectfully disagree with MiniMe’s comments, however. While he does have a valid point, I haven’t found it to be one of concern. My experience with my children has been different than his. Most of my “toys” (electronic and otherwise) are not available to them for experimentation of any type, except by special request & permission, & then, only under close supervision.

My 5-yr old son has had a fundamental understanding of “waterproof” vs. “not waterproof” since before he turned 4. Both he & my 2-yr old daughter simply think the lights are cool fun, especially under bubbles, with the lights out. They’re closely supervised while in the tub, and have dedicated tub toys. They ask for Daddy’s “blue flashlight” (though the 4-AA Impact has a white LED, the light has a bluish cast typical of white LEDs). It’s a special treat for them.

YMMV

Lightsticks are fun, too, but they get expensive to keep using. I let them have my old ones as I replace them with fresh stock.

Good luck! Let us know your choice, & how it works out!

David


(I edited this to correct the names of the PT LED lights. I stopped by the local REI store on the way home from work & checked them out. The Rage is not LED, it's Xenon; the Attitude & Impact II are both LED. The Attitude is a 3-led cluster (like the Aurora headlamp); the Impact II is a single LED with a lens. They also have a 2xAAA LED, but I forgot to write down the name. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

It's sad to hear they discontinued the Tec-20.

Craig--

Yes, it is too bad. I have a minor problem with mine: I must insert the batteries backwards to what is shown in the instruction label for it to work at all. However, if I do that, it works just fine.

I've contacted PT about it; they told me it was discontinued, but that they'd replace it with the equivalent current product. So far, I haven't taken them up on their offer. I like being able to change from incandescent to LED--just like my original PT Matrix headlamp--in fact, it is the LED array from the Matrix! That won't be possible with a new one (I think they said it would be AAA, or maybe 4xAA; not sure.)

Let me know what you wind up getting.

David

I'd love to know what their "equivalent current product" is. Could it be better than the Tec-20?

Why go to the trouble of a flashlight/torch why not a chem light stick. I can't see a one year old breaking it open (concerns of chemical content spring to mind) and it will last longer than her attention span, waterproof, plus it's relatively cheap.
If you do want a light then try the glotoob or krill lights, these will keep your child amused for a while, until she's finished then you can stick it in you kit.
At the moment my 21mths plays with my watch with a blue-back lite, which she finds fascinating. It's waterproof to 200m, (personally taken it to 66m in the Med) and is all but indistructable not totally childproof but nearly.

Kril light can be easly disasembled and small parts (batteries and cap) can casue choking hazard. Plus it is really not that super bright in the illuminated room.

Polak

Apologies. Having not bought one of items only seen pictures, so was not aware of potential dangers.

Thank you for pointing out my error.

No harm done my brother. It is a great device after all. I want to play around with their new AAA version.

Matt