gonna give this a shot. can't hurt to keep in the glove compartment. thanks for hosting the giveaways hhi.

a very good idea to keep one of these in your car! never know when you might need it

I've had a couple of these for two years. Work as advertised but they aren't the brightest flashlights.

I've got one of these (though I'm not sure of the brand). Works as advertised. Mine doesn't hold a charge between uses, though. So if this one works like mine, be prepared to wind it up if it has sat unused for a day or so.

CT

I have one of these, and agree with #3 and #4. I opened it up thinking I could replace the rechargeable batteries with better ones, only to find that it uses a couple of rechargeable button cells (most of the inside is taken up by gears). It's possible that mine is different than this one, though.

Get it for $5 from Walgreens.

http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=100417&navAction=jump&navCount=1&id=prod1401809

ha! thats genius.. why not skip batteries and make everythind wind out.. would be great for kids toys.. save us some cash and let those little suckers get a workout if they want to play their video games!

jhchen99, good find.

I've got a few of these...work well for power outages and no hassle with batteries. Can get tiring tho lol

If you get this one from Walgreens, there is also an EasySaver Rebate for $3.

You can download the catalog from
http://www.walgreens.com/store/rebateclub.jsp

The $3 rebate is on the page 49 of catalog. Offter #28, rebate limit of two for up two $6 in savings.

great find jhchen99 - going walgreens instead.

I've got this unit...works fine, feels pretty well built. One click of the ON button is for the light on, a second click makes it blink and a third turns it off.

Says this on the back:

WARNING!!
1. Please wind up this Torch more than 1 minute to fully recharge after each use.
2. Please be sure to recharge every three months if not in use over a long period of time, and please wind up this torch over 1 minute at each recharging.
3. Please keep the switch at "OFF" status when product is not in use.
Made in China.

#12 thanks for the info

works great.. it even holds a charge..

I got a 2-pack of those from Costco., After a year they stopped holding charge. You crank your ass off and it will last only 2-3 minutes.. oh well..

heck lets have Wind-Up cars...sure would save on gas costs...

Believe it or not, this works pretty dang well. We have one, and we also have a wind-up radio (with flashlight), and actually had to use it last year when a major storm knocked our power out. Holds a charge very well, too.

I have one of these, they are not the brightest bulbs in the box!!! But great for emergencies!

I have one of these from Costco, you have to crank it up every month or else it won't hold a charge after a while.
It is convenient but you have to remember to charge it every once in a while.

The last thing you want in an emergency is to be cranking away in the dark for a short run time low light output on a device that was mature 20 years ago - the humble flashlight.

Alkaline batteries have a shelf life of several years, and trump this toy in most uses. Today you can even get one with LEDs for $9 or less that is brighter.

The idea of wind-up is nice, but this end result is poor.

Instead show your appreciation to Handhelditems for their participation in Ben's Holiday Giveway by buying some printer cartridges from them.