[tjwilhelm]

Originally Posted by Roadracer

I would imagine someone good with electronics could make that into on heckofa stun-gun.

ABSOLUTELY! Many stun guns say "use NiCad batteries." This is because NiCads have a very low internal resistance and can dump more current than an alkaline battery. These ultra-capacitors should be able to dump even more current than NiCad!

ZAP!!!

[shadowwodahs]

I purchased one and think it’s just about the best flashlight you could carry in a bug out bag or in your vehicle. It’s solar so you don’t have to worry about batteries and it keeps a charge for 3 years, it’s waterproof, very light and bright. It does use as a back-up 2 lithium CR2032 batteries, but if you run the light off of solar power those batteries should last 2 to 3 years anyway. The Hybrid Solar Powered Light weights just 4.4 ounces and the Mini-Mag AA flashlight weights 3.5 ounces, very close. I have enclosed a photo comparing the two lights in size and brightness. There are brighter lights out there to purchase, but I’ll bet all of them require batteries and they probably all go through lots of batteries rather quickly. At $20.00, the Hybrid Solar Powered Light is a winner as far as I am concerned. Here is a link for the Hybrid Solar Powered Light home page; Hybrid Light LLC - Home of The Solar Hybrid Flashlight! and a link to Ace Hardware where I purchased mine and saved a couple of bucks; Hybrid Light® Hybrid Solar Flashlight with Battery Back Up (001175) - Rechargeable Flashlights - Ace Hardware

[Mephistopheles]

Tried them all. After being an inspector for many many years and owning a inspection company for many many years and construction.....Streamlights are my choice.

Little stinger and fireboxes Stinger puts out more than 99% of bigger torches and firebox lasts for hours and even days on one charge...choice of fire depts all over the country. And reasonably priced....it breaks it's replaced for free nationwide. We used to beat the crap outta them, underwater and everything. One of my guys once lost one when he first started......14 months and 4 days later I found it buried in 8 inches of mud under that building, hit the button and it still worked.

[booter]

I'm totally with the concept of 'BUY AMERICAN' but today its' near impossible, so I can live with myself, if I have to buy from other countries.

That said: I will source the best I can find, with the best technology made, at the best price I can afford! Every flashlight mentioned here, is old-tech already passed up a year or more ago, by overseas tech-labs who've been producing & selling lights that won't be sold to the American public for who knows how long! SureFire, TacStar, Pelican, Fenix, all of these well known and respected brands, most people would tell you, "if it cost a lot, then it must be the best!" DealExtreme: Cool Gadgets at the Right Price - Site-Wide Free Shipping (Page 1) I've been buying from here for almost 3 years now, their LED technology is 2 or 3 generations beyond what is available to most people. You will find you're paying $.10~.20 cents on the dollar, there is no tax, NO shipping charges/FREE shipping, straight out of Hong Kong, they will ship FREE anywhere in the world! My good friend just moved his family to Kyrgistan (in order to set up a new maintenance training program for the country with high-tech Hospital equipment/and to spread the Gospel of Love from GOD's Holy Bible). Mike wouldn't be able to accomplish anything if it wasn't for DX.com, he is able to source and obtain everything he needs and more through this company.

Go to their website and see for yourself, place an order (PayPal) only, find a light that looks good to you, just one small one as a test. I have received packages from them at my Post Office, so I asked the clerk "if I was to send this back right to where it came from, how much would it cost? $50~60.00 U.S. dollars!!!" I don't work for this company, I don't receive compensation, I just want to get the word out! I have been blogging on a number of forums for years now: survivalblog, peakoil, thementalmilitia, etc. and I've gotten converts from Law Enforcement Agencies up & down the state (by word of mouth) I used to be a County Sheriff, who now buy from this company.

If you take me by my word, and happen to choose the right flashlight, it will not just compare with SureFire's best, but I guarantee you won't pay more than $30.00 or less, for a light that will just blow your mind, and blow away the competition. Come on prove me wrong! I Triple-Dog-Dare-You!!!

[ozarks dave]

ive bought several lights from deal extreme, more than half have failed right out of the package. sure its cheap, they do have some decent items, but most is china made cheap crap. i once ordered a 4 pack of 9led lights(for all the vehicles), and all four lights only had around 5 to 7 leds that actually worked. sure they replaced em for free, but it took several times to get ones that worked proper.

[ozarks dave]

unless you buy the more well known brands from here. like ultrafire, romisen, tank007. if you know what you are looking for they can save you a lot of money, but if you buy the cheaper lights, you will get what you pay for.

[p moore]

Romisen and Tank007 are two budget lights that I feel pretty good about. I own several, and still going strong.

Paul

[Punisher]

I was at Wal Mart yesterday and noticed that a lot of the cheaper brands of flashlights have gotten a bit pricey. I did find (in the clearance isle) a LED clip on head lamp made by Energizer (Trailfinder series) for $4.00. Its a clip on head lamp and also comes with a removable head strap. I bought it because of its price and also because its small enough to fit in my pocket. I bought it to go in the car in case I have an emergency. It runs for 30 hrs off of two 2032 batteries.

[cwi555]

Thanks for posting this TJ. It gives me a possible solution to some problems I've been trying to work. I'll be buying one to tear it appart.
I gather this was old, but it helps anyway.

Originally Posted by tjwilhelm

WOW! Yes, it's pricey (and I would not buy one at that price); BUT, here's what's really cool about this flashlight:

This is the first commercial application I've seen for Ultra-Capacitors being used as a replacement for chemical cells/batteries, since their use on computer motherboards to keep the CMOS RAM alive! But that CMOS computer chip is a VERY TINY electrical load. A 90 lumen flashlight is a gigantic load, compared to a CMOS RAM chip. This is a great breakthrough!

Ultra-Capacitors have very thin metal coating (the "plates") on both sides of an open cell foamed ceramic core (the "dielectric"). Because of incredibly high surface area, they can pack multiple farads of energy storage into a very tiny package. When I was in college, one of my profs said something like this, "If I were to show you a capacitor that could store a full farad of charge, it would be too big to get through the door." Now, 40 years later, I have an Ultra-Capacitor here at home that holds FOUR full farads of charge, and it's smaller than a book of matches!

The advantage of replacing batteries with capacitors, is that the capacitors will last just about forever. The disadvantage is that, as they discharge, their voltage continuously drops. What they must be doing in this flashlight is charging the caps to a much higher voltage than the lamp uses. Then, they must be "regulating" the voltage to the lamp to keep it constant (and low). When the caps finally discharge to the low voltage the lamps need, then they electronically shift to back-up mode, and give you more time at half-brightness, regulating down to half-voltage.

As a model for larger-scale applications, this has huge implications for home energy storage and electric vehicles! I'm excited!