Nightstar Magnetic Force Flashlight Hi-Tech Clear

This flashlight, of course, uses no batteries. A little bit of shaking gives you bright light that will slowly taper down in power until you give it some more shakes. A few notes:
1) "20 minutes of light" is somewhat arbitrary. The light slowly diminishes over time. You'll need to shake it more often if you're trying to, for example, read a book, but if you're just trying to see your way to the bathroom because the power went out then after 20 minutes you can still use it to find the doorknob before you need to shake it some more. For outdoor use I think you'd want to shake it fairly frequently to keep the trail lit.
2) For those who don't read the manual (like me at first!), note that you should shake it from side-to-side, not up-and-down. The repulsor magnets in the casing do half the work for you as long as you're shaking it horizontally (and the main magnet won't bang against anything that way). Shaking it vertically won't damage it but you'll end up doing more work.
3) Maybe this is common knowledge, but I didn't know: the capacitor stays charged so you can charge up the light, keep it switched off, stick it in a drawer and it'll be ready to go when you need it, pre-shaken.
4) The on-off switch glows in the dark, so you can find it when the lights go out.

As for a measurement of how bright the light is, I'd say it's a bit less than a regular flashlight with brand new batteries but it's certainly sufficient to read with and it's bright enough that you don't want to look directly into it.

I'd say this light is a must-have both for home use and camping. While it might not be as bright as a latern or battery light, it has the advantage of being free to use and will still work if all your other light sources run out of juice.

This is certainly a great one for the kids, who can now play with the flashlight all they want and you don't have to keep buying expensive replacement batteries or rechargers! Make with the shadow puppets, cause it's free.

Oh, incidentally:
* It floats and is very waterproof.
* Because of the magnents, if you dangle it from a string it will orient itself to point north.
* Case is a sturdy plastic, seems fairly indestructible short of setting it on fire.

I'm a sucker for cool toys and this is definiately a cool toy that happens to double as something useful.


Truly Remarkable!   October 25, 2004
David Carswell (DC Metro Area)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

You have to see this flashlight to truly appreciate it. The mousing is a single piece of transparent plastic material (some sort of acrylic, I suppose). I haven't tried to break it, but it is very substantial, and feels tough. The only seam is where the lense is attached to the body. The switch glows in the dark, and does not penetrate through the body of the flashlight (This light is *waterproof*). Though the light has a single LED, it uses a lens to focus the beam; this light has the most uniform beam of any flashlight I have ever seen. It is as bright as any of the single LED lights you will find; not as bright as a halogen or krypton bulb, but plenty bright enough for typical use (if you own LED flashlight, it will not dissapoint you). I get *plenty* of burntime for just a few shakes, and the LED will never burn out.
The quality of manufacturing is superb; this is truly impressive piece of engineering.

Bottom line: as an emergency light, the Nightstar is profoundly useful; bright enough, no batteries, no bulb to burn out, waterproof, lightweight, and simple. As a general purpose flashlight, it is more than adequate. As an extra bonus, you never need to buy batteries or bulbs, which will easily pay for the light in just a few years' use, and is environmentally friendly.

I strongly recommend this product.


Get the original - beware the imitations   August 28, 2004
Nicholas J. Moore (Burlington, VT)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

This flashlight is amazing. It is very bright, and provides usable light for much longer than stated by the manufacturer. Their estimates of continuous bright light are about right. The light is a very white - almost blue, fairly tightly focused beam. It's easily enough to light up a dark hiking trail at night and will brightly illuminate the far wall in a darkened room. By the way, shake it in a horizontal manner instead of up and down - no need to fight gravity!

I've seen the imitators products (like the forever flashlight, etc.) They are garbage compared to this one, especially in terms of light output and build quality. There's a lot of confusion about the particular brands. For instance, if you click on the "buy new or used" link at amazon, they give you links to sellers who are selling the imitation products. The kind of junk imitation they are selling can be bought on 3bay for 8 bucks. The original nightstar light is worth 80 dollars in my opinion. I'm buying tons of these for christmas and birthday gifts. So far, they have been incredibly popular.




The ultimate flashlight   February 27, 2005
P. Lindberg (New York, NY)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Obviously, you never have to replace batteries or bulbs, but here are my other favorite features:

It's made of polycarbonate, aka LEXAN. That's right, the stuff they make bulletproof windows from. You could probably run over it with a tank and not break it.

The switch is a magnetic reed switch, which is sealed from the environment (won't corrode) and is rated for over 1,000,000 cycles.

The LED is rated for 100,000 hours of output, which is over 11 years.

It FLOATS!

Some other reviewers were dismayed by that fact that it doesn't shake itself. Yes, you do have to shake it -- this flashlight does not have magical properties, nor does it come with a person to shake it for you. If you are disabled, a weakling, or just plain lazy, it's probably not the flashlight for you.

I've found that the easiest way to shake it is to hold it near your head with your elbow bent and your forearm vertical, like you're doing an "angry fist shake".


This is great for anyone   January 28, 2006
Drew Cheney (Sacramento, CA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

If you need a flashlight whose switch glows in the dark, doesn't take batteries, and is rugged and waterproof, look no further. Even if you think you'll NEVER need something like this, just spend the money on a one-time safety investment.

Other reviews go into its stats, so I'll hit the soft-science side of things:

1. You'll never need to worry about not having a light if you keep it in a logical place, in an area where you spend a lot of time.

2. You can let kids play with it, and you'll never be without power when you need it the most (like an emergency?).


I was a fishing guide in Alaska for 9 years, and if I'd known that this thing existed, I would have kept it in every cabin, shed, boat, and vehicle throughout the entire lodge complex.

I bought a bunch as groomsmen's gifts for my wedding, and all of the guys say that they find themselves actually using them, unlike other "blah" gifts, and lights that are heavy or use a lot of batteries.

Get this, as I've found the old saying to be quite true:

It's better to have and not want, than to want and not have.