Best light for no electrical service

Quad

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Been trying to research the best lights to ship to a friend of mine who lives in Puerto Rico. They probably will not have power for another 5 months or more. I love flashlights but never have spent much time researching lights for the "camping" purpose. Here is what I'm looking for....

A light with really good runtime. If they have to recharge it every day it will be a super pain in the butt. I realize it would have to be on low setting and probably less than 30 lumens but it needs to be enough light to adequately see where you are going and or read by. If it can do brighter that's great.

Has to be simple to use...no programming...on and off and brightness not on same switch.

Quicker it can be recharged the better. If it's solar capable and can be charged with a car charger even better.

Has to be rechargeable. Finding batteries on the island is basically next to impossible.

Cost I am not overly worried about. I would like to get more than one so 100 bucks is relalistic but the more it does and or better it performs the more I would pay... no more than 300 dollars. 300 bucks if it has a nice 100 hour or more low lumen runtime... can be converted to a lantern and or medium powered flashlight...500 lumens or so.. and can be recharged by solar or car cigarette lighter. Size is not a huge issue as I expect it will be mostly used at home. Should be easily carried with one hand in case it needs to be used as a flashlight and able to be sat down stable ie... throwing light on the ceiling for a "light.

Lanterns are fine

Anything that can be used as a battery bank to charge a cell phone etc is a plus.

Also looking into solar chargers for battery banks if anyone has recommendations I would be glad to hear them.

Might be forgetting something...just use your imagination and know you will have no power for months and you are limited on car charging time or availability. Should charge in 3-4 hours....other things to charge etc....

I appreciate any help you can give and I'm sure they will too when they finally get it.
 

Keitho

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For multiple charging options, I might consider USB rechargeable lights (use a USB solar panel, car, wall plug, or USB power bank). The Olight SR mini II is in that category, and is pretty dead simple: 120 lumens for 36 hours; nice wide beam; click to turn on, hold down to cycle low/med/high. The Olight R40 might be even better: 100 hrs at 12 lumens, has an accessory diffuser for lantern use, comes with a rechargeable 26650 battery, and is less expensive. Both are tough as a brick, and easy to use.

Best of luck!
 

Dovii

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I would get them a Solar Car battery charger and some 12volt LED bulbs and wire it to a car battery at night, that is if the car is reasonably close to the house.

or simply a solar rechargeable lamp
 
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moozooh

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I'd expect something like this to be perfect. Free-standing, charges by solar/wind-up/AC/DC, plenty bright, simple on-off UI.
 

StarHalo

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You need third-world lighting; the Luci solar lantern provides 12 hours of light after being left in the sun for 7 hours, is inflatable so there's not really anything to break, no batteries or wires involved. $18 each.

Don't forget candles if those are an option.
 

eh4

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You need third-world lighting; the Luci solar lantern provides 12 hours of light after being left in the sun for 7 hours, is inflatable so there's not really anything to break, no batteries or wires involved. $18 each.

Don't forget candles if those are an option.

StarHalo is absolutely right. These lights are inexpensive and light/flat enough that multiples could be sent Along With a hand torch.
They'll charge themselves every day which will help them to be all asset and no hassles.
They're waterproof and they don't need to be opened up or messed with to charge.
The only thing they're missing is an automatic on/off setting like a standard solar garden light, as is there's a 4th blinky mode instead.
 
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StarHalo

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Also looking into solar chargers for battery banks if anyone has recommendations I would be glad to hear them.

For this part you'll want a portable folding panel; this $50 model will charge one phone in ~2 hours or two phones at the same time in ~3 hours in full sun. The catch here obviously is the sun, there's no guarantee of good weather just because you need to charge your phone - it would be a good idea to instead use that solar panel to charge a battery pack, and then charge your phones off that pack, that way there's always several phones worth of charges waiting regardless of conditions. This particular battery pack will charge two phones simultaneously at full speed, ~2 hours and both will be full.
 

glockboy

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You can get for them the "solar path lights", Walmart sell them $1 each, bright enough for total darkness.
Just take the top off and bring it in the house, it like the tealight candle, so if you give them 50 lights, the house is bright.
And the "hand crank lantern" for when then need brighter light for eating, Amazon sell them for $15.
 

Quad

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Oddly enough I had kinda thought of that as sell...cause you can just stake them in the yard and fetch them at night!
 

Quad

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Appreciate the input guys, saw a few mentions at things I had looked at already so gonna do a combo of things. They can rotate them out so they should always have something for whatever they need.
 

archimedes

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Just a reminder for this "Recommend" forum ...

• Linking to sales threads in the Dealers Forum and Manufacturers Forum is permitted in this forum. However links to Dealer's or Manufacturer's websites or other sellers outside of the CPF Forums will NOT be permitted in this forum and such links stand to be removed by a moderator. Persistent violations of this policy may result in the loss of posting privileges.

Yes, this includes no external links to Amazon here, please (and particularly by any members who may be affiliated with Amazon)
 
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bykfixer

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Don't forget that mirrors will amplify what light you have as well. Ladies compacts, hand held type and ones on walls etc won't suddenly make the room all lit up, but will add to the amount of light a given source provides.
 

terjee

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Not really an answer, but perhaps a useful thought: Have you considered logistics?

I mean, I have no idea about if they have a well functioning and expedient postal service there at the moment.

If you're shipping multiple lights, it might be worthwhile to see if you can ship them through different routes, or even spread them out over time if you only have one route.

Really cool that you're doing this.
 

Blades

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What about a few cases of white cyalume light sticks?
 

StarHalo

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What about a few cases of white cyalume light sticks?

The only thing glow sticks are good for are temporarily marking a spot or indicating your position outdoors, in a regular power outage situation they're fun for kids to play with and not much else.
 

Burgess

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I fully agree about
the relatively poor usefullness of
chemical glow sticks !

They serve best as Marker Lights.
 

vadimax

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What about kerosene (Petromax HK500) or unleaded gas (Coleman Northstar) availability?

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StarHalo

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Should also mention: If you have a battery pack that stays charged via solar, that means you can run any radio that accepts USB power, like this one mentioned over the in the radios thread. There are also radios that feature their own solar panels and internal batteries.
 
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