Customer Reviews:
  The best in an emerncey!! July 17, 2008
I ordered two of these when Amazon had them on special and it had good reviews. I had to use these the very next day. A severe storm hit first knocking out the power. The light on this thing is amazing. It has two different settings to choose from. After awhile of the power not coming back, it's great that the lamp gives you the option of using a battery which I put in and then for the rest of the night till 1 in the am we where under a tornado watch, and I was able to keep the weather channel on to keep informed of all the changes. I am hoping to buy more and hand them out to friends and family. Also the radio has really good reception. I live in an area with so many trees I rarely can get a cell line. I can see using these for camping they are small, light and some what narrow and would hang easily on a branch without breaking it.
 Functions not so functional. July 15, 2008
Pros:
-Multiple options for power source (crank, 3 AAA batteries, etc.)
-Multiple functions (lantern, night light, radio, etc.)
Cons:
-Light isn't very bright.
-Although it has a lot of functions, they don't work great.
-Crank power diminished quickly.
I was really excited to receive this lantern, I thought the multiple functions would be really useful, but overall I didn't find this lantern to be all that great.
I was definitely disappointed with how bright this lantern got.
After cranking it for a few minutes, it would only stay reasonably bright for about a minute, and then it would dim a little.
We ended up using 3 AAA batteries as our power source so the light would remain at it's brightest.
But even at it's brightest, it's not a very good light source.
According to the manufacturer's web site, when the night light is in use it emits an ultrasonic frequency to repel mosquitoes. Not really sure if it repels the mosquitoes, but the night light feature was probably the best thing about this lantern.
The 2nd feature we used the most other than the night light was connecting our mp3 player to it to listen to music through its speakers. The sound quality isn't amazing, but more comfortable than using headphones.
For the price, it was worth a try.
But we're still going to look around for something better for future camping trips.
Buy a flashlight and a transistor radio instead... July 14, 2008
I purchased two of these for use in possible emergencies. I am not very thrilled with them. You must spend almost as much time cranking them as using them. They should come with a recharging device that would plug into regular house current and keep the battery charged to full capacity BEFORE it is needed. When the power goes off, the device should sense this and light up so that it could be found in the darkness. For the same money you can buy a little transistor radio and a couple of flashlights.
 Good for emergencies July 9, 2008
I bought 3 of these for work when they were a deal-of-the-day. It seemed like a good thing to have in case of a power outage on the evening shift. The radio is a good feature in case of earthquake or other natural disaster.
The quality is decent for the price. Not as good as the Eton ones sold by the Red Cross, but they're 1/3 to 1/2 the price so if it's just going to sit in your emergency kit, it's probably a good way to go.
It can run on 3 AAA batteries or a charge by the crank. It says a 1 minute charge will last 45 minutes. I'm wondering if this may be dependent on what features you use. I started to see the intensity of the LEDs decrease after about 5 minutes, but I would call them usable until maybe 20-25 minutes before I'd need to turn the crank again.
There are 3 sets of 3 white LEDs and you can have either all 9 on or only 3. There are also 6 red LEDs that flash. You can have them flashing instead of using the white lights. There is a nightlight feature (single LED on the side near the radio controls) and then the radio and siren. It also comes with a mobile phone charger that is labeled as a Nokia adapter. Packaging claims they will send you a free one if you log in to their website.
Hopefully we'll never have to use them, but it's nice to know they're there.
 great present June 24, 2008
I purchased this for a gift. I have not given it yet but I will. It is always good to have things on hand.
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