Playskool Color Glow Flashlight

Roy

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A friend of mine found this at a garage sell last week. She said that it reminded her of me and thought I should have a "profeshional" light!

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When I first saw this thing, I thought it was going to be a piece of junk! Surprise, surprise! It is actually a very well made flashlight. Here are the main features:

1 The purple knob on the side selects a red filter, a green filter or no filter. The filters are the reason for the two slots in the reflector.

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2. The two purple thingies on the handle are the switches...yes plural. To turn on the light, you have to push the top switch foward untill it clicks into place and then you MUST squeeze the bottom switch to get the light to come on. When you release the bottom switch, a timer kicks in and starts to reduce the light level, untill, at 30 seconds, the light turns off!

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3. To get to the batteries, a screw in the battery tray release (the purple thingie) needs to be un-screwed in order for the release to be pushed UP out of the way.

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4. The bulb is held in place in a rubber tube in the end of the battery tray. I suppose that this affords the bulb some shock protection.

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5. And here is probably the worst beam pattern I've ever seen! Cutting two slots in the reflector for the filters probably doesn't help.

...and don't EVEN try to twist that huge green bezel to try an focus the light! It ain't gonna happen...glued into place that bezel is!

I found the Playskool Color Glow Flashlight for sale at several places on the internet for $10.00-$15.00. Not all that cheap....but then again it looks to be kid proof!
 

bindibadgi

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lol.

I actually have one of these babies. I wanted it for astronomy (with the red filter, and I assumed it would put out a pretty low level of light - not to mention it's big enough that it won't get lost). I think the circuitry might be shot though. Doesn't seem to work, and it's not the bulb.

I'm very disappointed, I expect top quality from Playskool!
 

The_LED_Museum

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When you consider the company can't spell "school" correctly, it's no wonder yours quit working. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smoker5.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
 

RadarGreg

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I bought one for my daughter when she was five for the late night trips to the bathroom and she liked it. She isn't the flashaholic I am (yet) and she has a couple other lights, including some LED ones. There aren't any Surefires in her immediate future, but a nice well-made LED light is great for kids to play around with or to keep in their school backpack. The Playskool light might be fun for backyard camping or making blanket or couch cushion forts, but I found the 30 seconds timer function annoying.

Greg
 

bindibadgi

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I think the point is that it's more annoying when the kids leave the thing on and the batteries go flat.
 

83Venture

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This light has been around my house for 6-8 years and both kids and various friends/relatives have played with it and it still works. Some "real" light companies don't make lights this tough.
 

Saaby

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This design has been around as long as Mag light, we played with these when I was a kid. Er..younger kid.
 

greenLED

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Hey, we had one o'those at home! Mine had orange bezel, though... I think, if I remember correctly. I don't remember it having a timer, though.
 

CM

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I don't think there's an actual timer in that thing. I too (well, my daughter that is /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif ) have one and the way it works appears to be a BFC in the light since the light dims slowly as the cap discharges. One of these days, I'm gonna replace the krappy bulb with a boost circuit and LED. I still have a younger tike who is probably ready to start playing with it.

CM
 

Roy

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Someone should try one of the LS LED's that have been mounted in a PR bulb base as a replacement for the oem bulb.
 

cy

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MY boys grew up on this very same flashlight. very rugged and still works after all the abuse dished out. timer didn't kick in until after several hours of being left on.
 

greenLED

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Roy, I found a couple of those at Goodwill the other night. Couldn't resist and brought one home. They had a couple of different body color combous, but I chose exactly the one in your pic. My baby loves to chase the color-changing (and horribly imperfect but oh-so-much-fun) beam!
 

cobb

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I had one of those as a kid cause we use to leave flashlights on and run the batteries down. I kind of liked it cause of the timer. Mines too was a different color. I think mines was yellow and red.
 

PhotonWrangler

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I had something similar as a litle kid, but I remember that it was about the size of a 2-AA flashlight and it had four switchable color filters. I remember looking at it as a child and thinking "wow, it just doesn't get any better than this... a FOUR color flashlight!"

Thanks for rekindling a nice memory. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif
 

bombelman

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I got one I think over 20+ years ago.
Body is yellow, bezel is blue.

Still works.
Maybe luxV in the near future ??

Cheers !!
 

shaunhill

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Has anybody done a mod on these? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was thinking of just popping in an EverLED or something, but I'm not sure how the 30 second shut-off fade would affect it.

Anybody play with this 2-in-1 flashlight by Hasbro? Opinions?

I realise that it has been a very long time since this thread was opened, but I am desperately looking for a way to modernise this Playskool torch so that it can accept LEDs instead of bulbs. Has anyone managed it and if so, how?
 

ZMZ67

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Maybe try a PR base drop-in from NIte-Ize or Dorcy. Basically as simple as replacing the bulb. At the time this thread was posted LED replacement bulbs were still a fairly new item but are old news now. I don't know how the "timer" operation works so I can't say if the drop-ins will work correctly for sure but that is what I would try. Home Depot did have the Nite-Ize 55 lumen drop-in for $8 and the Dorcy sells for around $5 you can find them on Dorcy's online site if no where else. The Nite-Ize has a wider operating voltage so I would try that one if it is cost effective for you. I don't have the actual light so I don't know how many batteries it uses,that will determine the voltage it has.
 
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