Rayovac Sportsman Extreme LED Lantern

I've been wanting a LED lantern for quite a while. Several weekends ago I was up in the mountains with my family having a pick-nick in the evening and when it got dark I propped my flashlight up so it was shining into a plastic shopping bag to diffuse the light as I had done several times before. It really doesn't work that well. That's when I decided "I really need to get a lantern!!!". So I spent quite a while reading reviews and looking at all kinds of lanterns and nothing came even close to comparing with the Rayovac SE3DLN Sportsman Extreme 300-Lumen 3D-Battery LED Lantern. It uses three D batteries and it is surprisingly pretty small at just over 7 inches tall and 3.5 inches wide. I use 6 AA NiMH batteries in 3 AA to D adapters. This lantern puts out a lot of light and has a well designed diffuser for even lighting. It almost puts out as much light as a 40 watt bulb. It will light up a room at night with a pretty comfortable level, similar to having a lamp on. At only $25 this was a real bargain. The reviews on Amazon give it five full stars. I doubt you could find a better LED lantern than this for any price. Rayovac also has a smaller lantern that uses three AA batteries, but it is only 70 lumens instead of 300 lumens.

LED MagLite - the Best Flashlights for the Money

I have two 2D MagLite LED flashlights and they are the best flashlights I have ever owned so far and I have owned quite a few. These things should last forever so that makes them even cheaper in the long run. The LED bulbs are far brighter than incandescent bulbs and put out white light, not yellowy orange like incandescent. Also, unlike incandescent, the bulb will never need replaced. Another advantage is that the batteries last a very long time. I use rechargeable NiMH(nickel metal hydride) D batteries in mine and I hardly ever have to charge the batteries. You could also get AA to D battery adapters and use much cheaper and more common AA NiMH rechargeable batteries. There are also D size adapters that will hold two AA batteries in each giving twice the capacity. At walmart it costs about $10 for two D NiMH batteries and the same price or less for four AA NiMH batteries. Now the problem here is that all those D cells really are is a AA battery in a plastic enclosure to make them the same size as a D battery. Their capacity is the same as the AA batteries at around 2500mah(milliamp-hours). Real D NiMH batteries are four times the capacity at around 10,000mah. NiMH D's are relatively expensive at $7 - $9 each for generic brands. They can be found for just over $4 each on ebay. The problem with D size batteries is it's hard to find a good charger for charging them and they are pretty heavy (all the better to use your flashlight as a club) and to get real ones you most likely would have to order them online since all the ones I've seen locally are AAs in disguise.

Maybe I will have to write a section on batteries, but the reason I cover this is because I see the cost of batteries as part of the total price of a device and I will always recommend rechargeables because you are just throwing away money otherwise since alkaline batteries are so darn expensive these days. That said, if you are using a device for emergencies then you should always keep a set of disposable alkaline batteries on hand since they have a shelf life of around 10 years, whereas NiMH batteries will self discharge in a matter of weeks.




Another reason I cover batteries here is because all a flashlight basically is, is a light bulb, some batteries, and a container. Maglite makes very good containers. The D size flashlights can be pretty heavy and bulky, but D batteries provide very long operating time and the bulbs in D size flashlights are usually brighter. The LEDs that maglite includes with it's D cell flashlights seam to be just the right brightness. They are bright enough that I'm never thinking "Gee, I wish I had a brighter flashlight, this one isn't bright enough" and it's not so bright that I'm thinking "Gee, I wish my battery would last a little longer", it's a happy medium so it works good for me. I have thought about trying out smaller Maglite LED flashlights, but haven't so far. I do have a Minimag that I converted to LED with a Nite Ize conversion kit, but they are low power LEDs so it works but it's not that bright. If I ever find a MAGLITE XL100 for a good price, I would like to try it out.

Sony ICF-C318 - The Best Alarm Clock Ever!!!

I purchased the Sony ICF-C318 Radio Alarm Clock a couple years ago and I have to say, it's just one of those items that is so good, you don't even notice it. It just becomes a part of your life, like the microwave, and it does its job very well. A really cool feature is that if the power goes out and comes back on again, the clock will reset itself so as long as the power is on when your alarm is supposed to go off, it will work. Also, it is extremely easy to set the alarm times with the knobs on the sides. Some people don't like that the tone alarm isn't hugely loud, but I like that it can't be set really loud because if you are sharing it with someone, and you wake up at different times it will prevent each of you from getting on each others nerves. I'm a light sleeper though so I usually am awake and have it switched off before it beeps twice. If you set it to the radio alarm, the volume can be turned up pretty high. It has the antenna built into the power cord and gets really good reception. Another nice feature is that the LED display can be dimmed. I leave it on the dimmest setting at all times and it goes unnoticed but can still be read during the day. This is a very functional alarm clock and shows that someone was paying attention to consumer needs unlike with so many other alarm clocks out there.