# New Solar powered l.e.d. flashlight at Costco



## Hooked on Fenix (Sep 28, 2008)

I went to the Carmel Mountain Costco in Poway, California and found a two pack of solar powered 1 watt l.e.d. flashlights for $22.99. They had a whole crate of them. I actually had to ask a worker what the price was because it wasn't listed yet. These are branded Hybrid Light SolarLite with battery backup. They claim that the solar batteries will hold a charge for over 3 years, and that you get 10 hours of light on a full solar charge. They also claim to be 40 lumens each light and be waterproof to 80 feet. They also claim that it floats. I had to buy them and see if they were any good. 

Lumen output was overstated by quite a bit. Output compares to that of a stock 2AA Minimag, around 10 lumens. It has a wider, more usable beam pattern than a minimag though.. The l.e.d. isn't a Luxeon. I don't know what it is. It looks similar to the 10mm l.e.d.s put in the Nite Ize drop in for large maglites but seems about 5 or 6mm. User interface isn't my favorite. One push turns the light on using solar battery power. The second push is still at 100% but using the backup power of 2 lithium 2032 cells. The third push turns the light off. I don't like that you have to cycle through the lithium backup batteries to turn the light off. I may take out the backups if I use the light a lot. The disposable lithium batteries are at least replaceable and offer more runtime when needed as well as better shelf life for storage. The lithium battery compartment is O-ring sealed so I'm pretty sure the light is at least dunkable. The solar batteries were precharged and ready to use out of the package, though the light was brighter using the lithium batteries. The head is sealed and the solar batteries can't be seen without destroying the light which I'm not willing to do. The sealed head would make modding difficult. I don't know what it uses for solar batteries, but I am hoping it's some kind of LSD batteries since it claims they hold a charge for 3 years. For about $11.50 per light, I think it's worth the cost. It's much brighter than a Nightstar Shake light. It's not as bright as a Freeplay Sherpa, but it's more waterproof. It's one of the lightest alternative energy flashlights I've seen. It doesn't have a fisheye lens that is too common with shake lights and other solar lights. They're also cheaper than most of the alternatives and you don't have to shake or crank it. Even if the solar batteries go dead, you still have backup power. The light's website is at http://www.hybridlite.com/Default.asp?Redirected=Y.
Sorry I didn't post this in the reviews section, but for some unknown reason, I wasn't allowed too. I tried.


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## oregon (Sep 28, 2008)

Sweet.

Thank you for taking the bullet for the rest of us.

I am interested and will check the isles on my next visit.

All the best,

oregon


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## pteam (Sep 28, 2008)

I dont see whats interesting 10 lumens is a joke.


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## 300winmag (Sep 28, 2008)

10 lumens is good enough for a night light.
I was at costco today and I didn't see a damn light at all,
I was hoping they would have the upgrade to my thor magnum I bought there but nope.:thumbsdow


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## Sgt. LED (Sep 29, 2008)

The end of the world has come and gone. Nobody makes batteries anymore and the leftovers are discharged, even lithiums. Some few people remain surviving, you are among them. After dark light is precious and you can quickly and easily turn on and off light instead of the flaming torch lighting routine. Any ambient light at night is just moonlight and that's not always present, 10 lumens is nice and bright. You keep on surviving thanks to your solar light.

Ridiculous yes but there are plenty of times when 10Lu is just fine, like reading in bed. Or lightweight hiking without the weight penalty of carrying spare batteries(As a flashaholic I'd not be caught dead with 1 light and no spare cells). 

You never have to buy batteries or use a charger again!

EVERY LIGHT HAS A PURPOSE FOR SOMEONE.


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## LED_Thrift (Sep 29, 2008)

Hooked:
Thanks for the review of this interesting light. I'll bet we'll see more lights like this in the future. Really FREE lumens. Sounds like it might be good for my shed. 

Note: You can't start a thread in the Reviews section anymore - a moderator has to move a posted review [like this one] to that section. That is to keep too many reviews of a single light out of that section. 



Sgt. LED said:


> You never have to buy batteries or use a charger again!
> 
> EVERY LIGHT HAS A PURPOSE FOR SOMEONE.


 
*+1*


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## Kestrel (Sep 29, 2008)

Sgt. LED said:


> EVERY LIGHT HAS A PURPOSE FOR SOMEONE.


 
+2. I have found ~10 lumens to be very useful IMO.


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## jzmtl (Sep 29, 2008)

Yep, I go around the house with a fauxton on one cr2032, 1 lumen tops and it's enough.


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## kramer5150 (Sep 29, 2008)

pteam said:


> I dont see whats interesting 10 lumens is a joke.



hardly... in complete darkness with night-dilated vision 10 Lumens is VERY useful, especially if it is low-lux floody variety.

Nice find, is it really 10 hours off a single charge? That seems do-able, depending on the current draw and cell capacity of the design.


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## PhantomPhoton (Sep 29, 2008)

I think the important question is... can it be modded? Better LED etc.


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## Hooked on Fenix (Oct 1, 2008)

The l.e.d. is a half watt l.e.d. just like the one in the Streamlight Enduro headlight or the 2AAA Riverrock flashlight. Brightness is on par with these two lights. Tint is white, not blue or purple. The head is sealed so modding would be difficult.


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## NickelPlate (Nov 4, 2008)

But who keeps their flashlights out in the sun or underneath a lamp to stay charged? Doesn't seem very practical. Very entertaining video though. I loved the dramatic musical fanfare background music .

NP


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## Sgt. LED (Nov 4, 2008)

NickelPlate said:


> But who keeps their flashlights out in the sun or underneath a lamp to stay charged?


 
Those that are camping or currently out of power for 1 reason or another.

Imagine being outdoors for a few weeks doing plenty of hiking and trailside camping. I would hate to have to drag around a load of extra batteries. Just lash this type of light to the outside of your pack as you hike and it will charge enough for using it to make camp that night. Sure you'd have another brighter light just in case but I could see this type of light being the primary user for the majority of the trip.

I don't see people charging this under a house lamp! What a waste.


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## Bradlee (Nov 4, 2008)

I took up Burnie's challenge in the promo video: "I challenge you to go to the flashlight you have in your home or emergency kit at home...you'll find a dead or dimmed flashlight". My lights were all fine .

Nonetheless, this looks quite interesting. I wonder if the Costco's in Canada sell them? Now if only someone could find out what type of batteries the solar panels are charging


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## NickelPlate (Nov 4, 2008)

Sgt. LED said:


> Those that are camping or currently out of power for 1 reason or another.
> 
> Imagine being outdoors for a few weeks doing plenty of hiking and trailside camping. I would hate to have to drag around a load of extra batteries. Just lash this type of light to the outside of your pack as you hike and it will charge enough for using it to make camp that night. Sure you'd have another brighter light just in case but I could see this type of light being the primary user for the majority of the trip.
> 
> I don't see people charging this under a house lamp! What a waste.



In that situation, I suppose it would be useful but how many people really find themselves being away from power or civilization for weeks at a time? I'd still take a Nightstar or comparable shakelight over that. I wouldn't turn on a houselamp just to charge it up, but no harm keeping it under one at night around the house.

The pricepoint of this hybrid light makes it a very reasonable alternative. But having to worry about keeping it under a light source during the day if I were using it regularly just wouldn't be for me. Most of my lights are carried/kept in my pocket or other dark storage area.

Does anybody have one?

NP


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## Hooked on Fenix (Nov 5, 2008)

NickelPlate said:


> In that situation, I suppose it would be useful but how many people really find themselves being away from power or civilization for weeks at a time? I'd still take a Nightstar or comparable shakelight over that. I wouldn't turn on a houselamp just to charge it up, but no harm keeping it under one at night around the house.
> 
> The pricepoint of this hybrid light makes it a very reasonable alternative. But having to worry about keeping it under a light source during the day if I were using it regularly just wouldn't be for me. Most of my lights are carried/kept in my pocket or other dark storage area.
> 
> ...



You don't have to worry about keeping it under the sun. If the solar battery goes dead, it has a 2 CR2032 lithium battery backup to keep it running. If that goes dead, just change out the lithium batteries like any other light. Other than this light, I have seen few, if any alternative energy lights that have a disposable battery backup. This is the only alternative energy light I have owned that is waterproof, bright enough to be useful, and has a battery backup. Freeplay lights are bright but not waterproof. Nightstar lights are waterproof but not bright enough to be useful. So far this light seems well worth the cost since you can get two for the cost of a Nightstar light or a Freeplay Sherpa.


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## kramer5150 (Nov 5, 2008)

???

Just put it on a windowsill when not in use. I do that periodically with my Citizen and Casio watches.


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## e-ville (Nov 5, 2008)

I wonder if you could charge one solar light with the other!


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## Sgt. LED (Nov 5, 2008)

Well if you lined up 4 of them just right and put them into a box to run so no outside energy could help..........:laughing:

No solar cells are efficient enough yet to keep the energy going in a loop like that forever. Besides that's against the law!


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## s.c. (Jan 28, 2009)

Solar powered flashlight? I'll let it charge near the screen door on my submarine. 

Just went to costco and couldn't resist buying these at the price. Didn't know there already was a review here, but I'm happy with the impulse purchase. Though, like many of you here, I have many other lights, I always have a hand winding light in the house, just in case. But they're cumbersome and annoying to charge, and the ones I have don't have a backup battery. I think these lights will be great to have around the house. I already have them sitting on the sill, next to my eco-drives, as someone mentioned earlier. The amount of light is very usuable, about the same as the low setting on my PD20...definitly not 40 lumens. I agree with the Hooked that a huge flaw is how it cycles through the backup battery to turn if off; so I put a piece of paper on the battery so it wouldn't complete the circuit.


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## richardcpf (Jan 28, 2009)

I've been through a similar light like this, it was a chinese model and had an .5w generic led in it. It will charge easily with the sun, but it only hold a relatively small amount of power because it uses small button cells. The runtime was about 30 minutes and it dimmed fast. 

If the light was inteded for emergency use as it is always charged, I don't think 10 lumens will be anywhere enough for the case.


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## Beamhead (Jan 28, 2009)

I bought 2 sets of the Costco lights and removed the back up batteries, they run quite a while before needing a charge and the output is nice for what they are.


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## Woods Walker (Jan 28, 2009)

10 lumens does not sound all that bad. My little E01 goes a long way in the dark woods and it is a bit less than 10 lumens I think. I have a packable Solar AA/AAA charger so don't need a solar only light. But have seen these around more and more.


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## pee10755 (Jan 28, 2009)

I think these are a good idea. I live in florida and we have experienced power outages for over a week when hurricanes cross the state. I have a freeplay solar/crank powered radio that I used during the storms. During the day leave the radio in the sun and it works great. 

10 lumens of light is very helpful when you are are trying to make food, let the dog out, provide first aid or navigate your powerless house. When we had hurricane Charlie hit our county I was without power for 8 days. I used all the alkalines in storage and some of my CR123's. I am going to pick up a set of these at my local Costco tomorrow. I saw them last week and noticed they were a reasonable price. I was preoccupied and didn't really look at them. You could leave these outside during the day and have a survival light at night. I like SgtLED's idea for a camp emergency light. For the low costco price you can't go wrong. Light is like clean water. You take it for granted until it's gone.


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## laorulez (Jan 29, 2009)

Do you remember that joke we used to tell back in the 80's in elementary school? "So-and-so is so dumb, he bought a solar powered flashlight."

This joke was assuming there would be no batteries being charged I guess...


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## Beamhead (Jan 29, 2009)

They put out more than 10 lumens by my eye. :shrug:
I just read the package and it states 40 lumens.


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## Hooked on Fenix (Jan 29, 2009)

s.c. said:


> Solar powered flashlight? I'll let it charge near the screen door on my submarine.



At least they're waterproof. I think mine will charge better on the dash of my helicopter with an ejection seat.


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## bobski (Feb 5, 2009)

Looks fairly mod-able to me. The head unscrews and electronics tray just pulls out. The reflector is pretty low quality (bright lights can be seen through it), but the LED isn't exactly of fire-lighting output, so it's fine. The battery pack is a pair of AAA-size cells shrink-wrapped together, the circuit board has the pack's wires marked as 2.4V, so they're either NiCD or NiMH. There appears to be enough space in the body for a second battery pack, if someone felt inclined to install one. The body is made out of not-quite-opaque plastic. Solid feeling, but I wouldn't try backing over it with a car or using it as a hammer or anything.














10 lumens is probably about right... The solar light's output (right) compared to a Fenix E01 (left):


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## neoseikan (Feb 6, 2009)

Hi. Good job.
I have a question. Is there a second LED on the board? If so, why?


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## Cydonia (Feb 6, 2009)

Looks like there are 3 other LED's on the board used as mode/charge indicators. Put a good Nichia DS main led in there... some AA Eneloops shrink wrapped up... replace the 2032's with Cr123A's (seems like plenty of room in there)... use clear silicone sealant on the plastic chassis seams :devil:


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## bobski (Feb 6, 2009)

A little update... I've been taking a closer look at the light's innards.

The switch is a 3-way clickie, rather than a digital switch. It has 5 contacts, but only 4 of them are used. In the off position, there's no connections. In the two on positions, it makes connections between diagonally opposite contacts. The 5th, unused contact seems to be connected to which ever pair of contacts is active.

The lithium backup circuit is a simple series circuit using a current limiting resistor. I read 42 mA at the tail cap, and 3.2 volts across the emitter which means it's dissipating a little over 1/8 of a watt. The "1 watt LED" claimed on the packaging is off by close to an order of magnitude. Even if you include power lost across the resistor, it's only 1/4 of a watt. :thumbsdow

The rechargeable boost circuit looks fairly simple, though I haven't traced it. By process of elimination, it appears to use a transistor (or some similar looking 3-lead surface-mount component), an inductor, a capacitor, three diodes and a resistor or two.

The solar panel hooks up to the light's common ground contact, to the rechargeable battery's positive line via an anti-drainback diode and to the charge indicator via a resistor. The negative contact of the indicator and battery both connect to common ground, so there's another simple-as-it-gets circuit.



Cydonia said:


> Looks like there are 3 other LED's on the board used as mode/charge indicators.


Yep... little 3 mm units. One amber, one red, one green. I'm tempted to switch the amber (currently indicating that it's using solar power) and green (indicating it's using lithium backup power) around so they better indicate the free-power vs. expensive-power distinction.



Cydonia said:


> some AA Eneloops shrink wrapped up... replace the 2032's with Cr123A's (seems like plenty of room in there)


I don't think you could fit a pair of AAs in this chassis. Maybe if you lined them up end to end, but not side by side like the existing AAAs. You might be able to fit a single '123 in the carrier under the circuit board... they're too fat to fit anywhere else.



Cydonia said:


> use clear silicone sealant on the plastic chassis seams :devil:


Actually, this thing looks pretty water-tight. The body is solidly molded... The lines that look like seams down the side are just artifacts of the molding process. The clickie button rubber is glued down and the end caps are o-ring sealed. The only places that _might_ have issues are the window plastic for the indicator LEDs and for the solar cells, though the big window looks pretty well sealed up. The indicator windows are probably similarly sealed, but I can't get a clear view inside the body tube.


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## Wingerr (Mar 15, 2009)

If these batteries are NiMH or NiCd, how would they be able to maintain a charge for three years? The self discharge would bring them down to nothing much sooner than that. I figured they were some kind of lithium battery, but maybe the three years was referring to keeping it charged up with the solar panel rather than in the dark.
I left it on after giving a full charge, and the output was stable for at least two hours. 

I sent an email to the company to see if they knew what kind of rechargeable battery they were using, but they never responded- 

I put a separator in the backup battery compartment so that those batteries won't be used unless I need them. Figured it'd be no big deal to unscrew the cap and pull the separator out if the rechargeables went dead.


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## mitchfried (Apr 11, 2009)

I bought a set of these at Costco today, in Altamonte Springs, Florida. I also had my Costco eyeglasses adjusted, but I can't locate the back up batteries. Where the heck are the CR2032's?


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## Ilikeshinythings (Apr 11, 2009)

Hooked on Fenix said:


> I went to the Carmel Mountain Costco in Poway, California and found a two pack of solar powered 1 watt l.e.d. flashlights for $22.99....



That's the one I go to..I'll have to check it out!


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## s.c. (Apr 11, 2009)

mitchfried said:


> I bought a set of these at Costco today, in Altamonte Springs, Florida. I also had my Costco eyeglasses adjusted, but I can't locate the back up batteries. Where the heck are the CR2032's?



they're in the tailcap. I put a piece of heavy stock paper in there so they wouldn't be used up until I need them.


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## Kestrel (May 7, 2009)

pteam said:


> I dont see whats interesting 10 lumens is a joke.


Status so far:
2 posts for 10 lumens being insufficient. 
7 posts for 10 lumens being sufficient.


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## camperator5 (Aug 14, 2009)

I got one of these as a father's day gift this year. I liked it so much (light weight, definitely bright enough for spot lighting, charge light actually comes on when it's near interior electric lights, backup batteries are nice and small for storing extras) that I bought another one.

Like kramer5150 said, putting it in a window sill makes it super easy to recharge it.


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## Gatsby (Aug 14, 2009)

My wife gave my son and I one of these each for Christmas. For kids, he uses the solar batteries almost exclusively and it is a pretty cool light as he won't burn through AAA or AA cells quite as easily. He loves it and I have mine on my nightstand as a backup light. For what it is I am actually pretty impressed with the beam and operation of it. Given a choice of my Novatac versus this, well, I'd obviously choose my Novatac but it does serve as a nice backup light and I'm planning on taking it camping as well for a utility light.


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## CGD08 (Aug 14, 2009)

Oop there goes your lifetime warranty


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## richardcpf (Aug 14, 2009)

> I challange you to go to the flashlights you have in your home or your emergency kit right now, and turn it on. You will find a dead, or dim flashlight.


 
http://i27.tinypic.com/2lkwdbb.jpg 

*He's so, so, but so wrong. *


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## PhantomPhoton (Aug 15, 2009)

richardcpf said:


> *He's so, so, but so wrong. *



LOL I don't think his message was aimed at CPFers.


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## Lightcrazycanuck (Aug 15, 2009)

Kestrel said:


> Status so far:
> 2 posts for 10 lumens being insufficient.
> 7 posts for 10 lumens being sufficient.


 
+1 for 10 lumens being sufficient.


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## manoloco (Aug 16, 2009)

richardcpf said:


> *He's so, so, but so wrong. *


 
I challenge him to find one in my house in the conditions he mentions


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## CGD08 (Aug 16, 2009)

richardcpf said:


> http://i27.tinypic.com/2lkwdbb.jpg
> 
> *He's so, so, but so wrong. *




ROFL


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## Lynx_Arc (Aug 16, 2009)

I wonder if anyone has calculated how many 2032 cells you would have to go through in a fauxton to equal the price of the savings of the solar power in this light?


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## GSMGuy (Aug 16, 2009)

Just a shame Costco UK doesn't seem to have these...

Mike


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