# What's the Best "Shake" Flashlight



## maddog (Mar 7, 2010)

Hey All,

trying to get my BOB Bag going and wanted to get a Shake Flashlight ... you know the ones that don't need batteries. just shake it and go.

so what's the best one out there? price is not a concern but quality is, as this is a light that when needed it can not fail.

thanks,
brandt


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## John_Galt (Mar 7, 2010)

None of them, really.

I would say that your money would be better spent on a long runtime, low output multi-mode light. And several extra batteries. A Fenix E01 will run at 10 lumens for 10 hours, and have ~11 hours of gradually diminishing brightness, all on a single duracell AAA, for $15. 

Personally, I think a better choice would be a Ra/HDS light. 

For example, the HDS U60 XR has been proven ( in several tested) to run for 900+ hours continuously on it's minimum output level. With an updated LED, such as an XP-G, that could still be 1-3 lumens. That may not sound like a whole lot, but the human eye can adapt to some ridiculously low outputs.


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## Tim W (Mar 7, 2010)

I'm not saying with certainty that there are none, but I have never seen a true shake light.

EVERY one I have seen has had a battery in it and on several occasions a place had a box of them and I dug to the bottom and pulled out one that had probably never been even jostled and they always light up.


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## Woods Walker (Mar 7, 2010)

NightStar is the best and don't have a battery though some do.

http://www.nightstarflashlight.com/comersus7f/store/comersus_index.asp


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## Pellidon (Mar 7, 2010)

Best built I have seen is the Nightstar brand.


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## Backpacker Light (Mar 7, 2010)

John_Galt said:


> None of them, really.
> 
> I would say that your money would be better spent on a long runtime, low output multi-mode light. And several extra batteries. A Fenix E01 will run at 10 lumens for 10 hours, and have ~11 hours of gradually diminishing brightness, all on a single duracell AAA, for $15.


 
I agree, plus I would almost bet your E01 would be brighter. All the shake lights I have tried are extremely dim, and that is with you shaking them ever 4-5 minutes.

Not worth it IMO.


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## Benson (Mar 7, 2010)

Tim W said:


> I'm not saying with certainty that there are none, but I have never seen a true shake light.


The ones that crop up on woot.com from time to time ("Forever Flashlight" I think) are real shake lights -- I know, because I bought 3 once. Quick way to tell, at least on mine -- turn them on, and shake it. During each stroke, the LED makes probably 10x the brightness it does when fully charged, but not shaking. Also, there's always dismantling it and looking for coin cells.

See, I used to think the idea of a shake light was kinda cool. Yeah, I'd heard everyone say


> See, I used to think the idea of a shake light was kinda cool. Yeah, I'd heard everyone say
> 
> 
> > See, I used to think the idea of a shake light was kinda cool. Yeah, I'd heard everyone say
> ...


But I thought I knew better. Yeah, it's not gonna be much use,. but it's only $5 -- surely it's worth that much just to try it.

Well, turns out I was wrong. They're absolute rubbish, not worth $1 to me, much less $5. But you probably won't believe me -- you can afford to waste $5, so go ahead and buy one if you still want to.


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## maddog (Mar 7, 2010)

thanks for all of the reply's so far.

but for battery light's i have more then a few and lots of batteries. but i can say that in an emergency. power could be out for weeks if not months, depending on where you live. anyone remember Katrina? i would like something that i could use as a emergency light and try to keep the "Battery" powered lights for when i really need light. i'm thinking survival here and not your average power outage that might last a day or two.

and trust me in total darkness ... the dimmest of lights would be a welcome sight.


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## Benson (Mar 7, 2010)

maddog said:


> but for battery light's i have more then a few and lots of batteries. but i can say that in an emergency. power could be out for weeks if not months, depending on where you live. anyone remember Katrina? i would like something that i could use as a emergency light and try to keep the "Battery" powered lights for when i really need light. i'm thinking survival here and not your average power outage that might last a day or two.


OK, but from what I've seen, I'd definitely go with a squeeze or crank over a shake light.

_Not_ an answer to your question, but a few additional thoughts: GITD and/or tritium options might also be worth considering as well -- although a Luce is rather expensive, it'd be there all night, unfortunately even the best glow powder is pretty dim by morning. Both of these can be significantly smaller than a shake light, so maybe a bit more suitable as ENC once SHTF?

And there's solar battery chargers (if you can charge 2 AAAs per day, you can probably keep at least 4 E01s in service, depending on amount of usage needed) and/or solar-powered flashlights too -- again, not the same level of dependability as a shake/squeeze/crank lights or tritium, but might be good additions.


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## bluepilgrim (Mar 7, 2010)

Maybe http://www.bogolight.com/ ?


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## hoongern (Mar 7, 2010)

maddog said:


> thanks for all of the reply's so far.
> 
> but for battery light's i have more then a few and lots of batteries. but i can say that in an emergency. power could be out for weeks if not months, depending on where you live. anyone remember Katrina? i would like something that i could use as a emergency light and try to keep the "Battery" powered lights for when i really need light. i'm thinking survival here and not your average power outage that might last a day or two.
> 
> and trust me in total darkness ... the dimmest of lights would be a welcome sight.



I've only played with a couple shake/squeeze lights, and for me the issue I found was that you have to be actively shaking the light to get it to work. This meant two things:

- Very hard to keep the hotspot on the same place if you have to shake it
- Hard to concentrate when working if shaking a light
- Needs to be in the hand, can't use tailstand for prolonged periods because you need to shake it

Of course, if it holds a decent charge after shaking, maybe that would be not so bad.

Honestly, I'd rather have something like the Quark 123^2 with a box of 10 CR123s which would last 5 months continuous on moonlight or over a month on low, both running 24/7, and at least I don't need to bother about having to shake it for it to work.

Have you considered solar-charged lights? (I don't know any, just an idea) Or a solar charger for AA/AAAs? I don't know how good those are... But if you are out of light for months, I'm sure a couple of those days you should get sunlight..

Of course, I think the shake light can be useful... Those nightstars look ok. I haven't used them before, though.


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## maddog (Mar 8, 2010)

see i knew this would be a good thread.

i never even thought of "Solar" or "Crank" Lights ... but i would consider those options as well.

thanks for all the good replies.


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## cityevader (Mar 8, 2010)

If this light is to be used for "survival mode" then the situation needs to take into account calories needed to power the thing.


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## Woods Walker (Mar 8, 2010)

I have a crank light and it doesn't hold a charge. I wouldn't go with that. I do have a fold up solar AA/AAA charger. 







I put it on a friend's pack to push the GPS up a few bars. This plus LSD NiMH could keep lights with a lower low such as my Quark Mini AA or ZL headlamp going for a long time and the sub 3 lumen low is brighter than NiteStar shakelights I own. Still if yea want something that will put off a little light for longer than you will EVER need it maybe consider one of those Quarks in AA. I think the 2XAA Quark using 0.2 lumens (this is very very low mind you but so are the shakelights) will run 30 days non stop. For something cheaper and smaller look at an ITP A2 or Quark Mini both in 1XAA. These have a regulated low of 2-3 lumens for 60 hours. Also look the Nitecore D10 and Zebralight headlamp as these too have the same low modes. The standard Quarks have the higher than 0.2 lumen 2-3 lumen mode as well. You can pack lithium Energizers in your BOB and one of these lights with a good low mode and have something that will work. I have used lights with these lower modes all the time camping and in the dark dank woods these are brighter than one might expect. Just something to think about.


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## bluepilgrim (Mar 8, 2010)

If you want to get a little more elaborate, check
http://www.otherpower.com/steamengine.shtml
"_This page is a diary about our effort to build a steam powered 'backup generator' to charge our batteries. For the most part we have all the power we could ever need from our small 600 Watt solar array and our 20' diameter wind turbine, but on occasion I do need to run a generator and I always figured that a steam engine would be the most fun, plus... I don't need to rely on petroleum - I have lots of wood all around me!"_

Just shows there are a great many alternatives -- depending on if you are mobile, where you are, what resources you have, etc. If you can keep a 12 volt car battery charged, in any way, then you can charge smaller batteries off of that.


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## herulach (Mar 8, 2010)

maddog said:


> thanks for all of the reply's so far.
> 
> but for battery light's i have more then a few and lots of batteries. but i can say that in an emergency. power could be out for weeks if not months, depending on where you live. anyone remember Katrina? i would like something that i could use as a emergency light and try to keep the "Battery" powered lights for when i really need light. i'm thinking survival here and not your average power outage that might last a day or two.
> 
> and trust me in total darkness ... the dimmest of lights would be a welcome sight.



I forget the thread, but there was one in which a guy who'd stayed at home through katrina posted up his battery use. IIRC this basically amounted to running down about half his stock of rechargeables.

Just to be a massive nerd I did try one weekend with no lights when the other half was away, this was the middle of winter (so sun up about 8.30, sundown about 4).

The only light I used was an H30w, and I used maybe 30% of a 123 primary. (low for moving about, high for cooking etc)

Based on that I reckon a pack of 10 primaries used for actual survival use where you'd be a lot more conservative, would last upwards of a month.

That said, if you do want a battery less light, look at either one of the crank lights from a decent manufacturer or a small solar powered squeeze light.


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## ZMZ67 (Mar 8, 2010)

I have one of the Nightstar models, it is good quality and doesn't use batteries.I have yet too see a "crank" or "solar" light that I have any faith in but one may exist.While I am pleased with the quality of the Nightstar it has some limitations.The Nightstar is very low output and requires some physical energy to operate.Better than nothing for sure,especially in complete darkness but definately a "last resort" type of light.


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## Flying Turtle (Mar 8, 2010)

My Uncle recently gave me one he didn't want. It has some rechargeable coin cells inside, so having visible batteries doesn't automatically condemn the light. It still is a miserable excuse, however, but better than nothing. Most of the cheap crank lights probably also have coin cells hiding in there.

Geoff


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## Lynx_Arc (Mar 8, 2010)

just get 3AAs, a 5mm LED, a switch and resistor and wire together driving the LED at 15 ma and it should run 8 hours a night for about 2 weeks I estimate.


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## Mr Bigglow (Mar 8, 2010)

I have a really good shakelight, so good there isn't even a maker's name on it and I've forgotten what it said on the packaging, but looking at their website as above, probably an early model made by Nightstar. Anyway, while not putting out more than 5 to 10 LED lumens, it has to be my most long-life light by far- soldered quality wiring, LED runs off an accumulator (aka capacitor), not a battery, NO batteries, and everything is hermetically and permanently sealed in the lexan tube: it gets turned on and off by a recessed, external magnet operating an internal switch, and that can be activated by any other smallish outside magnet even if the original switch was to break or fall off. I bought mine about 4 or 5 years ago at West Marine, a big continent-wide boating supply store- don't know if they still sell them or not (not seen in their catalogue). But every such thing I've seen since then has been a toy by comparison. One caution if you get one: the very powerful permanent magnet that you shake through the coil will severly inhibit or permanently damage any other magnetic device you can think of, esp magnetic compasses. So I have to keep mine remote from most everything else. I've been thinking it would be great in a situation such as that seen in the movie The Road- but hopefully that won't come to pass . Most of the Freeplay wind 'em lights are more practical, because they don't have the magnet- but their NIMH batteries are gonna fail sometime, somewhen....


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## fisk-king (Mar 8, 2010)

isn't that considered an oxymoron, the phrase "a good shake light" :thinking:


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## Schuey2002 (Jul 29, 2010)

Woods Walker said:


> I have a crank light and it doesn't hold a charge. I wouldn't go with that. *I do have a fold up solar AA/AAA charger.*
> 
> http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n220/Daytraderwon/100_8779.jpg
> 
> I put it on a friend's pack to push the GPS up a few bars. This plus LSD NiMH could keep lights with a lower low such as my Quark Mini AA or ZL headlamp going for a long time and the sub 3 lumen low is brighter than NiteStar shakelights I own. Still if yea want something that will put off a little light for longer than you will EVER need it maybe consider one of those Quarks in AA. I think the 2XAA Quark using 0.2 lumens (this is very very low mind you but so are the shakelights) will run 30 days non stop. For something cheaper and smaller look at an ITP A2 or Quark Mini both in 1XAA. These have a regulated low of 2-3 lumens for 60 hours. Also look the Nitecore D10 and Zebralight headlamp as these too have the same low modes. The standard Quarks have the higher than 0.2 lumen 2-3 lumen mode as well. You can pack lithium Energizers in your BOB and one of these lights with a good low mode and have something that will work. I have used lights with these lower modes all the time camping and in the dark dank woods these are brighter than one might expect. Just something to think about.


Care to share what brand of solar charger you are using?


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## VBurd2128 (Jul 29, 2010)

Very new to the forum (basically a dim light) but I have had no good experiences with shake flashlights. None of them priduce the lumens they advertise and they never last.


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## KiwiMark (Jul 29, 2010)

For a Bug Out Bag I would recommend a Zebralight H501w and a 4Sevens Quark 1 x AA light and 2 x 4-packs of AA Lithium batteries. With the 10+ year shelf life of the batteries and the moon mode of the Quark light and the low mode of the 501 you should be able to last quite a long time on batteries. If you also had some recently charged AA cells you could use then you would be fine for normal use for a few days and the Lithium AAs can be kept for a backup in case the need goes on for longer than you thought. Not only can a AA Lithium battery last a long time in a light with a low mode but the 4 pack gives 4 sets of batteries - single cell lights are great for only draining a single cell at a time!

I would not bother with shake light, squeeze lights or dynamo lights - just my opinion.


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## Jash (Jul 29, 2010)

Remember what a BOB is for. For most users this is a 72 hour emergency bag and doesn't need to (can't) last you weeks, so you don't need weeks worth of light.

What you do need is a super reliable light and enough power to make it shine all night, every night for 3-5 nights with reasonable output. 

My BOB light is a Fenix TK20. 

Why?

It will run at a very good ouput of 45 lumens for 11 hours and I've got 10 L91 lithiums to power it. More than enough light for 72 hours, which is all a BOB is supposed to be for. 

If you ever do need your BOB it is likely there is a disaster of some magnitude and a little 10 lumen light isn't going to be very good for security. 10 lumens is not much good if you have to walk through an unlit disaster area at night. You need to be able to see much further than 10 lumens can reach. Fallen buildings, collapsed bridges, landslides, flooding etc.

With the TK20 I can pump it up to high in short bursts (to conserve power) and see anything from 100m away, well clear of any danger. 
Could also be useful if you are one of the unhurt and can help in search and rescue of those trapped or injured (think earthquake).

Don't know if you EDC anything but that light is what will have your super low mode as it's the light you will ALWAYS have with you. Make sure it's battery compatible with your BOB light and rest easy knowing that if one light fails, you still have another to make use of those lithium primaries stored in your BOB.


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## ebow86 (Jul 30, 2010)

These "shake lights" IMHO, are nothing but a gimmick. If you look at several factors, how low quality most, if not all, of these shake lights are, and consider how long the runtimes are on current LED's I just don't see any reason to buy one. Just my 2 cents.


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## Buckles (Jul 30, 2010)

I had a Hummer shake light that i got at the Sharper Image store years ago. It was too bad. The light was completely waterproof, led, and had an aspheric lens. It wasnt very bright and the throw was terrible, but it was great for stuff around the house. It worked great for about 3 years and the i dropped it on concrete and the body cracked.


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## linty (Aug 1, 2010)

Hi, I have one of those Nightstar flashlights, I keep it in the car, but honestly, it's a pain to use. It works great for the first... mnute or so after you shake it, very well actually, but after a few minutes the term "night star" suits is perfectly. It starts to go down in brightness, although a quick shakes pumps it back up. Not sure if you have to stick with the shake light, but Freeplay http://www.freeplayenergy.com/
makes a wind light that I find really good. I bought one of the Sherpa X-rays, thought it was great, bought another, then bought the mini lamp, then bought two of their wind up weather radios lol. They are great products.


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## LED BriCK (Aug 2, 2010)

+1 on the FreePlay Sherpa. I've never had to use it and rely on it, but I play with it almost every night with my 3 year-old daughter, and it seems pretty solid. I got mine at Target a few years back, I think they still sell them.


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## flatline (Aug 2, 2010)

I've got a dozen 14505 cells that I keep for emergencies.

They can't support any mode higher than moon-mode on my QAAw, but a single cell should last for (if I remember correctly from my calculations) 3+ months of continuous use. My LF5XT on its lowest setting can also use these cells.

I didn't have my H501w when I was playing with these cells, but when I get home, I should see if it works with these cells.

--flatline


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## Lynx_Arc (Aug 2, 2010)

Things have changed since the first shake lights came out. 
1)LED light availability has skyrocketed.
2)LED emitter efficiency has doubled to quadrupled etc.
3)Charger technology has matured.
4)First nimh matured and capacity/cost matured, then we have LSD tech that has matured also.
5)Lithium primaries have become cost effective for use.
Add all these factors together and my observations are this:
Back when I started into LEDs you couldn't even buy a decent AA or AAA LED light for under $25 in the stores and could not buy the 5mm LEDs for under $3 each. All the lights used 5mm LEDs and quality/color varied widely as well as durability. Years went by and nimh cells cost $20 for a 4 pack of 1800mah, chargers cost perhaps $30-$50. Time passed and the luxeons came out got cheap and nimh cells went to 2300mah and above and chargers got into the $20-$30 range (smart chargers) and the 5mm lights were pushed down in cost with luxeons replacing them. Efficiency went up perhaps 20%. Crees came out in stuff with 2x efficiency, you could buy $20 cree lights using AAs in the stores and D cells too. LSD nimh cells came out and lithium primaries started dropping in price from $15 or so a pack to $10. 
So here I am now:
I have a bunch of various LED lights mostly luxeons and 5mm LEDs and a cree or two in the mix. I have enough lights that if 5 of them broke I would be fine. I have enough LSD batteries that have enough charge on them to run lights for perhaps a week or three, then I have a bunch of lithium primaries beyond that good to 2020 something or more. 
By the time I run out of batteries I would have carpal tunnel and gone insane from cranking and shaking like I have demented disco fever robot style if I were to do away with all I have amassed so far.
I would bet the majority of those here in the forum longer than 2 years have a similar supply of ammo for the battle of light vs dark in the outage limits.


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## Mr Bigglow (Aug 5, 2010)

LED BriCK said:


> +1 on the FreePlay Sherpa. I've never had to use it and rely on it, but I play with it almost every night with my 3 year-old daughter, and it seems pretty solid. I got mine at Target a few years back, I think they still sell them.


 
I have two Freeplay Sherpa power-outage stations in the house, meaning 6 Sherpa units in total, and that's mostly why we got them: for the kids during backouts and other emergencies. For the kids... and the middleaged people in the neighbourhood who come and borrow flashlights during emergencies because they never got around to buying anything and are about to run out of birthday cake candles, etc. We've had one of the sets for years now and they are still perfectly fine but I DO worry about the internal batteries. So far the primary problem has been to keep them in the charging stations and not next door or under the porch. Being fanatical helps.


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## linty (Aug 6, 2010)

"but I DO worry about the internal batteries"

do what I did, take a screwdriver, undo the four screws holding it, slide out the cover, take off the top hood, then take a soldering iron, unsolder the connections to the batteries, and chuck the batteries. then get some eneloops, and resolder them to the wires. Just make sure the two side batteries are installed opposite, so the very top wire connecting the two side batteries, one end of hte wire should connect to a positive, and the other a negative. the middle battery doesn't really matter. once you soldered all the eneloops in, before you put the cover on, just turn on the light to see if you got everything connected right. then just screw back on the cover and you have new batteries in there!

I actually JUST finished doing this today, and so far so good  hope this helps.


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## davidwestonh (Aug 31, 2013)

Lynx_Arc said:


> By the time I run out of batteries I would have carpal tunnel and gone insane from cranking and shaking like I have demented disco fever robot style if I were to do away with all I have amassed so far.
> I would bet the majority of those here in the forum longer than 2 years have a similar supply of ammo for the battle of light vs dark in the outage limits.


Please post video in the underground xtra points if you get it on redeye.


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## Jimson (Aug 31, 2013)

*What's the Best "Shake" Flashlight?*



John_Galt said:


> None of them, really.


 I've got to agree. Years ago when they seemed the perfect solution to several problems I bought a couple. Very expensive, they were, and darned near worthless. Better than anything available before the year 1900, but that's not saying much. A couple of years back I was building long-run lights for relatives, and a newly married youngster refused his model, saying he wanted a "shake" light. On the one hand, I was chagrined he didn't want a good light, but on the other, I was delighted to find a home for one of my overpriced & dim shake lights. Last year a dollar-type store was selling squeeze lights for kids to use during Halloween. They featured a LED bulb backed up by a battery. So a few 'squeezes' and the thing would run several minutes with decent light output. I wish I'd bought more than I did. Given my luck with the durability of mechanical devices though, I'd lean towards a solar light if "reliable" was the biggest issue.


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