EVALUATION: eGear Dynamo 15-LED Lantern By Jason Balazs
Mar 15, 2007 - 6:32:08 AM
How many times have you seen that commercial? You know the one with the flashlight that the guy is shaking saying, "I have enough light for hours!" Better yet, how many of you bought that light thinking it will be the best think since sliced bread? Well my father-n-law did. Not only one, but five of them. That year for Christmas I bet you guessed what I got. The light worked for the first day or at least until the charge went out. I then began to shake the thing just like the commercial. Over and over again, up and down. When I turned it on I only got a short beam of light that lasted about as long as it took to turn the light on. What did I do you asked? Well what any other parent would. "Hey kids, come here for a second, would ya?" For the first 20 minutes of them fighting over it and wanting to be the one to shake it (Just like the commercials), they lost interests.
I utilized that reverse psychology on them and convinced them into a contest. "Who ever can turn it the longest will get an ice cream," I said. That was all they needed to line up in a line and take turns. After what I would say was about 30 minutes, we tried the light. I felt like the guy off of that Christmas vacation movie that we have all seen. "Drum roll please," I said. I pushed the button and boom light appeared. Within 35 seconds the light faded and went out. I picked up the phone and called my In-laws. Soon as all the hellos were made I asked Don how his light performing. "That Piece of Junk?" He said. "I threw that thing away. Does yours work?" I then went on telling him of my experience with mine. Since that time, I was very skeptical of the shake or dynamo type lights.
When Rich Walton told me I would be getting a Dynamo light from eGear, I was a bit skeptical. Wanting to give a field evaluation without a biased opinion, I shrugged off the "infomercial" flashlight experience that I had before.
Compact unit makes it perfect for camping trips.
First thing I did when I receive the package was look completely through the owners guide. I noticed that the first line in there was to charge this lantern for 6 hours with the A/C adapter that came with it. So I followed the guidelines and plugged it in. While it was charging, I figured I would research the rest of the lantern. This lantern is rechargeable by either a/c from your wall or vehicle (With the supplied cigarette lighter plug in), or by cranking a handle on the top. That is where it gets the term "Dynamo."
The Dynamo 15 has a hard plastic shell and would withstand the everyday use that would be put on it. The lights are protected when not in use because the lantern collapses on itself. This enclosed shell, also makes the lantern smaller and more compact. There is a telescoping handle on the top that lies nicely to the side and allows you to hang the lantern on a traditional lantern holder. The crank, also plastic, is rugged and folds nicely away from any objects that it could catch on and break it off. It also locks into place to allow for proper rotation while charging the lantern.
Easy to use Crank puts the power in your hand for sufficient light.
There is a port, if you will, to plug in the a/c adapter, but also works as a voltage out port. The Dynamo 15-LED lantern not only provides you light, but can also charge your cell phone. I was thinking, "Wow, that is sort of cool." There was a bag in the box that had a bunch of plugs that were labeled by the brand of phones along with a self-retracting cord that had a generic end to accept all of those adapters. How many times have you been out in the middle of no ware and your cell phone batteries were very low. No matter what the major phone companies say, cell phone batteries loose their power faster over time. I sure would not want to be on an elk hunt up in the wilderness with out a cell phone. I know the phone I have, does not hold a charge worth anything, even if it is turned off. It would be nice to know that if I had an emergency, I would be able to call for help.
The lantern was charged now and I was eager to see it in action. I pushed the two buttons on each side and pulled the lantern up from its enclosed shell. It firmly locked into place once raised. I turned the button to the high position that enables all 15 LED's to be on (Low is only 9 LED's). I looked at my watch and started to work on something else. After a little over 5 hours the lights started to dim and the little engine that could, was done. Now the true test was about to begin. I said, "Kids, who wants to earn some ice cream?" Well there was no shortage of helpers when that was said. I looked at the directions and decided for times sake, we would work with the 1 minute cranking equals 5 minutes run time on 15 LED's (8 minutes for 9 LED's).
This time I had my stop watch. One minute was announced and the lantern was turned on. I started the timer again and just waited. The kids had long since lost interest when it started to dim. I looked at the stopwatch and it read almost six minutes. Wow, I was impressed it did what it said. So my kids and I took turns and cranked it for 5 minutes to see if it would last for the 15 minutes stated in the instructions. The timer was started once it was on and sure enough the light lasted for 15 minutes and 25 seconds.
Well it passed my initial test, but I wanted to give it some time. Jodi and I were taking a camping trip down to Big Bend National Park in Texas in a few weeks, and I wanted to see how the lantern performed. I charged the lantern with the A/C adapter in the car until the light next to the plug in was green. That meant that it was fully charged. We used the light in our tent to read by, get dressed by, and just about everything you could think of. The light performed flawlessly. I would crank the light for about five minutes every day to ensure it would not die when we needed it. This was definitely not your "infomercial" light. It worked whenever we needed it to. The only problem I have with the lantern is there is nowhere in the lantern to store the plugs that are for your cell phone.
Here is a graph of the cranking/lighting/phone talk time
Winding Time Light Time Phone Talk Time
1 minute 5-8 minutes
3 minutes 10-15 minutes 3 minutes
5 minutes 15-20 minutes 5 minutes
The Breakdown:
Design 4.2 out of 5- The lantern was very compact, which makes it easily packable. This is a plus since Jodi and I take off on long wilderness hikes for days at a time. The only thing that I found wrong with it was the lack of storage for the accompanying pieces. I used our friendly DUCT tape to hold the one that works on my phone on the bottom of the lantern.
Brightness 5 out of 5- Gives off just as much light as a fuel lantern, yet is environmental friendly A+++.
Price 5 out of 5- $50.00 for something that you don't have to add fuel and don't have the fumes either is a great price to me.
Conclusion:
The folks at eGear have changed my mind in regards to "dynamo" type flashlights. It is obvious that someone has taken a lot of time and effort to come up with a product that is great for hunters, fishermen, or any other outdoors enthusiast alike. I plan on having my Dynamo 15-LED lantern with me on ever hunt or fishing trip from now on, and for that, they have my thumbs up!
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