In my household we seem to use a lot of batteries mainly because of my son’s toys and gadgets. This year he’s going on a school outward bound trip and he’ll need a flashlight or possibly a lantern. So I’ve been looking into wind up flashlights.

We want to cut back on the amount of batteries we use. I started putting my spent batteries in a bag to dispose of ‘properly’. However, because I keep forgetting to take the bag with me when I go shopping, I keep adding more and more batteries to it, and it’s becoming rather big!

This page is the result of what I have learned about wind-up flashlights and about how and why we should dispose of batteries properly.

I am really interested in adventure travel and I think wind-up flashlights would be very useful for things like CAMPING TRIPS, or in situations where batteries may not be easy available to buy.

Why Change from Batteries to Wind Up or Solar Powered Flashlights

I like the idea of getting something for nothing! Wind up stuff is excellent in this respect because once you’ve paid for the flashlight the energy is free! In the UK we don’t get enough sun to really be able to trust solar power, but there are flashlights that have both these ways of being powered up.

Also, I really like the idea of not having to buy all those expensive batteries because it seems that every time I need to use a flashlight the batteries are dead! Or I find that my son has taken them out to use on some thing else.

Wind up flashlights are great for emergencies and some come with radios. It seems that people are more and more concerned about safety, especially in the US, and this kind of flashlight is ideal. As well as a radio, they can charge up phones with USBs devices.

Benefits of Non Battery Flashlights: Why I bought a wind up flashlight

The eco aspect of this whole topic is very important as doing something for the planet is everyone’s responsibility. Recycling is better than nothing, but the best way is not buying them in the first place.
Rechargeable batteries are better, but they are not cheap and I keep losing mine!

My son is going camping for 8 days, and this will save me having to buy him extra sets of batteries. I figure that a 12 year old would certainly forget to turn the flashlight off, and so a set of batteries would be used up in one evening! How many would he have to carry around with him?

I have had the very unpleasant experience of unscrewing a flashlight with spent batteries only to find that they had leaked and corroded everything. I didn’t want to put my son at that kind of risk.

I also figure that a wind up flashlight would be very useful when we go camping as a family, as it will never let us down. I have found myself searching for batteries in the darkness of a tent because I wasn’t prepared for the flashlight running out of power. They would be great backup too, and we’ll aim to stop using the other ones altogether.

It’s also very reassuring to know that you always have a torchlight that works when you are driving any distance. I have needed a flashlight many times when driving to Scotland through the night flashlights are a vital piece of equipment for any traveler. So imagine the peace of mind that comes with having one that will never run out of power!

I was quite surprised to find that there is a wide choice of hand crank light appliances, including those with radios and alarms – these are intended for survival purposes. There are also those that you wear on your head, which are very useful. I already have one of those and I swear by it because it is powerful and lasts for a very long time with just a minute of winding.

You can also buy very handy lanterns that you hand crank too – these are also very handy for camping.

Finally if you take a wind up flashlight with you on your holiday you will never have to worry about finding a power source to charge it up or the problem of where to buy your batteries won’t apply.

It just makes sense to me!

A Light At the End of the Tunnel

Have you ever experienced pitch darkness? I’m talking about being in a place where there is no light source what so ever. I read about a restaurant in London that serves food in darkness, so you don’t see what’s on your plate. You smell and taste the food and you don’t know what they give you either. I’m not sure that I would enjoy that!

I experienced total darkness when I went on an amazing activity holiday in Wales many years ago. We took a group of teenagers on an outward-bound course. There were all sorts of things to keep us occupied and active, but one activity really struck a cord with us all. It was a walk through a disused railway tunnel. The reason it had such an impact on us was because we walked for about 30 minutes without any source of light. All our flashlights were left at base camp. None of us had a light, and knowing this made the experience even more memorable.

The tunnel was extremely long. The feeling of walking away from the source of light was strange, and I started to feel panicky quite soon after I saw that the light behind us was gone and there was only pitch darkness all around. There was a draught blowing and it was very cold indeed but I felt breathless. The sounds became louder too, I was very concerned for the kids I was with!

We must have been in complete darkness for at least 15 minutes. I had to really dig deep to see that walk to the end, and when we at last saw the light at the end of the tunnel our eyes took a very long time to get used to it, it almost hurt to see the glare get bigger and bigger as we walked gratefully towards it.

This experience really had an enormous impact on us all. It’s hard to describe, but when we got out we were emotionally moved. Some of us were crying and we all really appreciated seeing the light.