The Night Light Thread

EscapeVelocity

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Looking to pick up some Night Lights. Thought Id start a thread.

Motion Sensor
Power Failure Sensor
Photocell Day/Night Senor

All a plus!

The Garrity Power Failure Light seems to be a real treat. Warm indandescent night light.


Garrity Power Failure Light


  • Polarized fold-out plugs - UL and CSA approved.
  • Recahrgeable Flashlight & Automatic Power Failure Light - 2 lights in one.
  • Plugs into the wall outlet for emergencies and automatically lights up when power fails.
  • Red LED light indicates charging and quick location at night.
  • Also serves as automatic night light - turns ON at dusk and OFF at dawn.
  • Uses rechargeable and replaceable 2 AA Ni-Cad batteries - also uses NIMH rechargeable batteries.
  • Provides up to 60 minutes of continuous light.
  • Holds charge up to 5 years.
  • No need to throw this light away when the batteries begin to wear out, simply replace the rechargeable batteries.
  • Uses one outlet only leaving second outlet available.
  • Light automatically turns ON when power goes out.
  • Auto on/off - accepts 500 cycles (full charge) - 2 yr. limited guarantee.


Satco 75406 Emergency Flashlight/Nightlight

AmerTac 71134CC Slim Power Failure Lite

Greenlite LED 3 in 1 Night Light, Emergency Light, Flashlight

Sylvania Power Failure Light

Day/Night Sensor Auto Night Light (Single White 5mm LED)
Rechargeable Flashlight (3 White 5mm LEDs in Deep Smooth Reflector)
Power Failure Sensor Auto Emergency Light



  • Night light LED
  • For indoor or enclosed outdoor use only
  • 4100-kelvin color temperature, Cool White light
  • Emergency back-up light; turns on automatically during power outages
  • 3 functions - night light, flash light, or emergency back-up light
  • SYLVANIA power failure light is a rechargeable flashlight and night light in one

    I have this one, but will probably be returning it....primarily because of poor batteries and reported battery failures. Non user replaceable batteries. Otherwise I like the light. I think the night light is too bright, but that is easily remedied...and it's probably perfect for others. So better to have more light than you need which you can tone down, than not enough.
 
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Backpacker Light

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Thanks for all this excellent information on the power failure lights. I need to buy a couple of these to help make my elderly parents (they are 94 and 92 years old) home safer and this will definitely help with my shopping.

The Garrity or Energizer both sound pretty good, although it wasn't exactly clear if the Energizer actually flips on during a power failure or is it only an emergency flashlight?

To me, brightness and ergonomics are not as important as whether or not the batteries are replaceable or if the light covers up both outlet plug holes.
 
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EscapeVelocity

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The Garrity and Satco are the best IMO. However the Garrity is discontinued and hard to find. I have a Satco coming. Both of these lights have user replaceable rechargeable AAA batteries. The Garrity has more control over the night light (manual on/off I believe) and a user replaceable bulb, which is 4w incan but can be replaced with an LED screw bulb.

Ill do a rundown on the motion sensor lights. I have a couple of these coming too. A GE and a Cooper.
 

EscapeVelocity

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I found another Power Failure Night Light with USER REPLACEABLE standard sized batteries (usually AAA) to join the discontinued Garrity and the Satco. The Good Ghoice 3 in 1 (with the GoodHousekeeping Seal on the Box). I really like this light. I picked it up at Kmart Brick & Mortar for $15, but it's also available at Walmart Online for $11 with Free Ship to Store and Home Depot Online for $7 NO Free Shipping.

I have the Satco and the Good Choice Power Failure Lights here. Ill compare them.

The Satco is much bulkier and perhaps a tad better built. The light is quite a bit brighter than the Good Choice, both the Flashlight and the Night Light. However the flashlight on the Satco has a big donut hole at a few feet and it really isnt that bright. Im not using these for flashlights, but rather emergency lighting to get to my own flashlights, navigate for a short time really. I dont really need long runtimes from them on the batteries, but user replaceable batteries are a must on a device like this. Anyways, I like the slimmer profile (doesnt stick out as far from the wall) of the Good Choice, it is also a bit smaller all the way around. I also like the diffusion filter on the Good Choice one better than that on the Satco. Furthermore, for my purposes (lighting a dark hallway one step up/down) the lower light level of the Good Choice is preferred. The Good Choice also can be plugged in upside down and the way the diffusion filter is, it serves as a more downward firing light to illuminate the floor and away from your eyes....which I really like. The batteries are a bit eaier to get to on the Good Choice, as the Satco requires the use of a small screwdriver to remove 2 very small screws before removing the battery door....but it's not that big of a deal. Both are pretty intuitive with regards to replacing the batteries.

So it depends on how much light you are looking for. To light a garage say, the Satco would be better with it's brighter area light. For more subdued night lighting of a hallway, the Good Choice may be better. It all depends. They are both pretty good solutions.

Both give off cool white light.

Note: Im pretty sure my Satco photocell isnt working to turn off the light during the day. Could be Im doing something wrong. Just thought Id mention it. These photocell controls seem to be pretty finicky and shoddy on most all of these night light devices. The Good Choice is working perfect.

Ill be returning the Satco because the Good Choice fits my needs and wants better.

Hope that helps.
 
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EscapeVelocity

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I also have some just received motion sensor lights that I will talk about soon. In short, I like the Regent Incandescent Motion Sensor Light, and will be picking up more. These are pretty darn bright and have a nice warm glow. I have a review of these up on Amazon.
 

Dave_H

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I bought a couple of nightlights apparently identical to the Satco, under the NexxTech brand in Canada, on clearance. I believe they're still available locally OTS under another brand (Globe, will need to verify) for ~$12-$13.

I gave one to my brother, which failed after a number of months. I opened it up, expecting the LED was bad, which I could replace, but it was the electronics. That is where I stopped trying to fix it. Mine still works OK. Meantime we found a huge deal on motion-sensor nightlights which were highly discounted (but no power-fail light or battery in these).

The nightlight function is good; diffuse cool-white light. I agree with some of the Amazon negative comments. Flashlight beam is very uneven but gives passable light (long enough to find that other HBF * ) :)

Dave

* Honkin' Big Flashlight
 
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EscapeVelocity

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I found another Power Failure light that may be promising. The Eton/American Red Cross ARC Blackout Buddy.
 

lightyearsaway

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I'm bumping this up to see if there is anything new out there. All four of the lights above, I read the reviews, seem all have issues for one thing or another.
 

bandits1

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The Garrity or Energizer both sound pretty good, although it wasn't exactly clear if the Energizer actually flips on during a power failure or is it only an emergency flashlight?

To me, brightness and ergonomics are not as important as whether or not the batteries are replaceable or if the light covers up both outlet plug holes.
If you have the Energizer switched to "ON", the light will turn on automatically during a power outage. There are three modes: ON, OFF/CHARGE and NIGHTLIGHT/CHARGE. When you switch it to ON, it's brightest mode, the flashlight will of course turn on like normal if not plugged into an outlet, but will turn itself off the second you plug it in to one. Like the Amazon.com reviewer mentioned, these are best for areas where a nightlight isn't really needed but an emergency light is, like maybe a low-traffic basement or something like that.

It only covers one outlet and the plug is non-polarized so you can point it up/down or left/right.

A similar product is sold by Mr. Beams. I own both and the Mr. Beams unit projects a beam that's a bit brighter and smoother with less rings. The light is a warmer tint vs the very white light of the Energizer, which I would think would appeal to a lot of posters on this board. It's also a lot more expensive, I'm guessing because their nightlight also doubles as a control unit for their emergency down lights and path lights that can be purchased separately or as a package with the nightlight/remote control.

I also own a few Greenlite units. Solid run time, about 7-8 hours or so fully charged, but glaring white/bluish LEDs behind a clear, faceted lens makes these unsuitable for bedrooms, IMO, unless they're out of eyeshot. The flashlight on this is nearly useless; just bright enough to get you to a real flashlight without falling over stuff.
 
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rabidmonkey

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Ok so be gentle... newbie here and my first use of the search function got me to this thread . What I am looking for is a plug in rechargeable flashlight to get me to other light sources . I dont want a motion / photosensor / night light / or a plug that covers both receptacles .I work alternating night shifts which means I want to avoid light even a led light charge light on a emergency power failure light in my tomb of total darkness but during power failures I need a emergency light . From this post and amazon reviews I guess that would be the Energizer unless some one else can recomend a better unit as the reviews on amazon indicate that it may no be releiable even with batteries able to be replaced (and it look sorta blocky but I can deal with that if it works . )
 

Poppy

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I have both the energizer, and the amertac slimline units.
Both of them have a little red led charge indicator. If that is a problem, you can cover it with some black electrical tape.

I prefer the amertac over the energizer for the simple reason that I can select which direction I want the light to shine when it comes on during a power failure. Straight out from the outlet, or up or down. The plug is not polarized, so it can enter the outlet in either direction (so can the energizer). The amertac however is NOT a night-light, the energizer CAN be.
 

creyc

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I was at Home Depot the other day and saw a neat looking night light for sale, branded Life+Gear. It claims to operate automatically based on several conditions; darkness, power outage, and also if your smoke detector goes off. The smoke detector bit seemed pretty smart, I wonder how well it works with a variety of detectors.

They had another one without the integrated battery/power failure detection also.

TXLZekjl.jpg
 

rabidmonkey

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I have both the energizer, and the amertac slimline units.
Both of them have a little red led charge indicator. If that is a problem, you can cover it with some black electrical tape.

I prefer the amertac over the energizer for the simple reason that I can select which direction I want the light to shine when it comes on during a power failure. Straight out from the outlet, or up or down. The plug is not polarized, so it can enter the outlet in either direction (so can the energizer). The amertac however is NOT a night-light, the energizer CAN be.
I was looking at the ametac slim had me a bit nervous with its bad reviews , how long have you had your amertac slim >?
 

Poppy

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I was looking at the ametac slim had me a bit nervous with its bad reviews , how long have you had your amertac slim >?

Bad reviews? Gee, idk, IMO they are good for what they are, and for less than $10 IMO you can't go wrong.

Mine is at least a year old, maybe three. Yesterday I tested it. It has a two led and a three led setting. With the three leds running (out the front), it burnt pretty brightly, idk 30-40? lumens for about 15-20 minutes, at half an hour, it was probably at 50% I guess 15 lumens. It held 10-15 lumens for a couple of hours. At three hours, it was still putting out usable light idk... 5 lumens?

I took it apart and it has a 3.6 v 3xaaa 350 mah NiMH battery pack.

It wouldn't be my principle lighting source for a power outage, but rather a part of the solution to keep the kids from being startled and scared, or to reduce the likelihood of anyone stumbling around in the dark while getting other lights.

I started a thread regarding Power Outage lighting and battery considerations that you might find informative.
 
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markr6

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Jul 16, 2012
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2013!!

Any good night lights out there? I just need one for a hallway and one in a room.

Absolute must haves:

+ Warm/neutral 3000K or so. No blue crap. The 2700K stuff I'm seeing look too orange/amber
+ Rather low output; not sure how to express this in lumens. The lower the better; just a little light to keep from walking into walls or stepping on stuff.
+ Auto on/off

So does a basic night light with a GOOD TINT exist? :)
 

iamlucky13

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Mark, hopefully this isn't too late to be useful.

You got me curious what the night lights I have are, so I did a comparison with a neutral background and used my image editing program to estimate color temperature. I also adjust the image to a rough approximation of how they looked to me, although both look better in real life.

I don't have model numbers for either. I tried looking up the numbers printed on them, and turned up no hits.

I think the light on the left was Meridian brand, and labeled warm white. It measures about 2500K, with some extra green. It doesn't seem quite that warm or off-tinted in real life.

The light on the right is GE, and was labeled soft white. It measured 3200K and fairly neutral. It's close to my Yuji 3200K's, but not quite as good - very similar to a typical 80 CRI light.

Both are in the 5-10 lumens ballpark. I'd rate the Meridian as acceptable, and the GE as good, but make sure you get the soft white version, not the daylight version.

Edit: trying to fix broken image link.
McZIfFqJn4JtFMw_DN72gjQhdIxPYlvE-_cim1uPnVBtwuQ8QgT4AVDXe7Qn50wMkUMk50h7bPP-6UBie3dxEwS2aGRuboQUa16Rn_55QlmZbNeV2vTFRUaWvuhd79SF31Bk0WvFMlTQe3oD27un-xIBrwHYLDkefAE4V8oT4ftCUcskGelNT26Ei7JLqLjStxwvBB31PTKqu6ScSRq9p4VdPFESQdFdnEZWjwVhqCF4fHI30wzYk0xbnwv_lUs5fX6oox1IRWJI3U1bojRH75FNuOJg4ScJu0xY40sFj0hD1cHnC_3VPBC1lBE3AwfonclDh_MMMZE3TdXMtgZK_ErIaTs861BqFLXdYrehRqY3Ct4TM-8qQimi3LTSTdDtsWkXa4d8f2uJqkoo1A5LrX8q_BaQiLnMnUzjng43kLBa99RLQmUBwtdXE9qw5Z46c5-0hJpe2s3seHy_R-lcjNTQq5vKMUtc4L4HaDsD-sUsyDhUVXzhNjmcpKGuM8rXdGDJSabFJ6NVLm9kJiaMUs9icqB5I6-Qe-m5CLfuBOFjFuYQ1Vsc-psuMRm6MXlHBoU_SDRjX3jhERzo4M868RO5vZcheNiBXz-IjYeXDNA-CY6WVQ0AfOLVLpRRiqMcoKt5p5kcLM9vKHuvaCjcJFMPOlwlLkJd=w750-h500-no


And just for fun - for years I had a cheap, garishly blue LED night light that I hated. It happened to use a 5mm LED, so when I got my hands on some Yuji's, I soldered one in. It's modestly better than the GE, but compared to what it was, it was transformed. Before and after:

MoZ1c3Cgnftv66-WN-tC3Zr6j1o01MJtvwQzVPLq-VOr3zzpSQcIUOoA9VO0iEvpbcAjLFaqmEmwEd9W2xLv3qsYvI1SxAJx32SEjJIQ4D2w4gnUzSRQrv-bnKtAD0rDjQ7jEFLo5Rcb7Frrl-RGWCrGspkvn1goLsQXSRXjHfN_1qGwTav-qZtq7vc4K4QxyX6wUFtH0Lh5HeIu0uKs3MdXYzm3IwDSePVgg9N82x77Mj0OtAMKbDTHsufz0_1_6fPkFv6ly58pRIDz6IdFrZVDwNfShA7GmSSyHb7q5LfggITbswxTPbtyVO0TC8xbmm0XUv4ijJV6HJj2roooKtRCYcI7Shx3ajtGIPdDlMIlv20gtfjVwzl-KluWajQav2YsG4ObiQkl_MBrqF4_2GIH3EZNKb2aUionlqRDSIs7jUxwe9N5DzTMt_kQ9IpyBjiHCfVK_9nxYFOy-joukF9nknhwxKdvfDWqGq4x5CJSAjBrdjE7vDNPq2TSpNXQ5enaQX2EC2qMULzxs06ZDhYuidA3saSB4Yey5RyJjQ6DZlXZ2JPMN4uYIsPJABy3gy4ECAwdiUr-3IYelz-iDiXuJ9_dVQ_UM7ADySENyhMBx1QY966WhFgZpDvYxXPn7agFBrW6YqtMXDWOWnG6slubRN_Rrs47=w640-h480-no
 
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Dave_H

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I found a nice LED night light with USB charger and AC socket feed-through: MAX Safety Night Light (MAX-NL-S1A). Photocell on/off, settable colours (three LEDs each, white/green/blue), no battery backup, claims activation by smoke-alarm sound (white LED facing up).

Found it locally on sale $6 (half price), would not be inclined to pay more than $10.

3W rating probably means 2.5W for USB (500mA) and 0.5W for the light.

Considering even the dollar stores sometimes have 5v/1A USB cube chargers (when they're not sold out), and simple LED nightlights, don't see much advantage to having the combo; but the MAX light is quite bright.

Dave
 
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