LEDs have really changed the flashlight market. It used to be that a Maglight was the pinnacle of illumination technology. Not any more.
Now, the LED flashlight is king. Lower energy requirements, higher lumens, less heat; the LED really makes a difference. At first, there were problems with focusing the beam, however nowadays it’s not an issue. Most LED flashlights are quite functional, durable (try dropping an incandescent bulb light from 6 feet up) and if you’ll pardon the pun, the future is quite bright.
Enter the mPower. Designed to be used as an emergency flashlight, it’s main power source is a CR123 (photocell) battery, along with a special reserve battery. The reserve battery (which is technology that the builder mPhase specializes in) has a shelf life of 20 years.
In addition to this special power source, the mPower has a built in USB port for emergency charging your cell phone, as well as any other device. The best part: if the CR123 battery is dead, the backup cell will charge your device for you. We don’t know yet how many lumens or any of the other information that really matters to flashlight geeks like myself, unfortunately.
Expect to be released into the wild in March of 2010, the mPower flashlight will set you back somewhere between $250 and $300. Ouch.
[via CNET]
hahaha, it’s so true. the maglight used to be the best flashlight you can buy. i carry a small LED flashlight for work now. so much more convenient than maglight. interesting article, but paying that much for a nuclear-holocaust flashlight just doesn’t make sense.
Yeah, the small LED flashlights are nice, but I can bash your skull in with my full size Maglight, if I needed to. :)
curse the internets for ever allowing me to hear/see the word “Fleshlight”. I will never be able to see a flashlight the same way again.
I like the part where you can use the flashlight to charge your mobile phone.
LEDs may be many things, but they certainly aren’t “cool”. In fact, they require some sort of heat sink to operate at flashlight brightness levels.
seems like a cool gadget …..
…….but come on…..$250????
My LED flashlight can beat yours, hah! Seriously, I have the best flashlight ever – twice I’ve brought it to parties and it is THE party game toy. The guys LOVE IT. It’s tiny – 3 inches or so, very lightweight, INCREDIBLY powerful – can light up the end of the block when we take it outside. It ZOOMS and it’s only $45 I got it at http://www.Eaglelight.com and they offer a money back return policy if you don’t like it, so I figured why not. I gave this flashlight to everyone on my Xmas list and everyone said they loved it!