Bushwalk Australia

I picked up some of these elementaL Dynamo Keychain Lights from my local camping shop the other day, they are powered by a dynamo and are surprisingly good and what is most attractive is that you will never need batteries.



The light with key chain weighs in at 21g and with key chain removed it weighs 18.5g.



I have not used the Dynamo Keychain Light in field testing yet and probably won't until warmer months but in testing at home on less than a minute of winding the light stays very bright for about five minutes and then stays bright for about an hour, this is enough to cook by or get changed in a tent, and probably enough to walk a long a reasonably good track, after two and a half hours there is still some glow in the LED's but not enough to do much by.

This torch a wonderful idea and very light but is probably not suitable for mood lighting. I normally use a head torch as I like to have hands free when cooking at night, I will work on a head band system to attach to this torch too.

Tony

I haven't seen them in camping stores here, but these look identical to the ones I picked up in Socrates for $4.95. I reckon they're perfect for an emergency kit or as a spare to a more powerful light.

Cheers,
Alliecat

Hi Alliecat,

alliecat wrote:I haven't seen them in camping stores here, but these look identical to the ones I picked up in Socrates for $4.95. I reckon they're perfect for an emergency kit or as a spare to a more powerful light.

Cheers,
Alliecat

Thankyou for your comments, I am looking at using the dynamo torch as my main and only torch, I rarely walk at night and I do not see why you need more light around a campsite.


Tony

Tony,

I didn't mean to suggest they wouldn't be good enough as a sole light source for some people - they obviously would. I can imagine taking one of these as my only light on a solo trip. (I might take two for an extended solo trip as they are so lightweight.) I just meant that I imagine most people would find them more useful as an emergency or backup light.

Some sort of clip arrangement to attach them to a cap or shirt or headband would be great. They are so light that something as simple as gluing one to a paper clip or a plastic peg might be sufficient. I might have to buy a couple more and do some experimenting.

Cheers,
Alliecat

Self adhesive backed velcro could be a winner for attachment. Buy by the meter in various widths at most army surplus stores or Spotlight maybe? I love the stuff, so versatile and handy and weighs nothing. Stick a bit on the torch and sew a little patch of non adhesive velcro onto the peak of a cap/beanie. Just a suggestion and a chance to spread my velcro fetish

The torch itself looks great, anyone know of stores in Tassie that stock them or online shop???

How big Tony? Looks about the size of a box of matches???

Tony,
What happens if you Need to walk in the dark?

How many LED's?
We use the petzl e-lite. Not cheap but Very reliable, just enough to walk by (on track) and the coin cell lasts 40+ hrs.
These are of the light source and quality I would consider (even more-so Recommend) as the Minimum as a single torch carried.
Elemental is a 'cheap' brand, good luck but I think your asking for some dark nights, especially dynamo driven. Hope (for your sake) you prove me wrong..

Hi Adventurescape,

adventurescape wrote:Self adhesive backed velcro could be a winner for attachment. Buy by the meter in various widths at most army surplus stores or Spotlight maybe? I love the stuff, so versatile and handy and weighs nothing. Stick a bit on the torch and sew a little patch of non adhesive velcro onto the peak of a cap/beanie. Just a suggestion and a chance to spread my velcro fetish

The torch itself looks great, anyone know of stores in Tassie that stock them or online shop???

How big Tony? Looks about the size of a box of matches???

Thanks for the Velcro idea, I had not thought of it before, I will give it a try, I do have some but some Velcro but plastics are very hard for glue to stick too.

The dimensions are 40mm long, 32 mm wide and 15.5mm thick, it has 2 small LED’s.

Tony

Hi Nuts,

Nuts wrote:Tony,
What happens if you Need to walk in the dark?

How many LED's?
We use the petzl e-lite. Not cheap but Very reliable, just enough to walk by (on track) and the coin cell lasts 40+ hrs.
These are of the light source and quality I would consider (even more-so Recommend) as the Minimum as a single torch carried.
Elemental is a 'cheap' brand, good luck but I think your asking for some dark nights, especially dynamo driven. Hope (for your sake) you prove me wrong..

I do have a petzl e-lite and love it, I have done some track walking with it at night and found it more than adequate, I used it all of last summer and have not replaced the original batteries yet. I also have a petzl tikka plus which I use if I need to a lot of walking at night.

The dynamo torch has two small LED's and probably would not be best for night walking, I will try it out for night walking sometime soon and report my views.

I agree with you that the dynamo torch reliability has to be ascertained, until I get confidence it the dynamo torch I probably will take the e-lite as a backup.

Elemental might be a cheap brand but their gear is just re-branded other products like my Elemental Kovea Supalite titanium stove, I also have elemantal walking sticks which have been OK so far.

Tony

Hey Tony,

I have used velcro brand self adhesive velcro. It sticks like the proverbial excrement to the blanket to any plastic I have tried thus far. Other tricks are to rough up the area you want it to stick to with sandpaper then wipe it with some metho on a tissue (removes all dust and grease/oils). Before applying the velcro, warm both the item and the velcro strip with a hairdryer. Finally, remove the backing strip from the velcro and firmly press it onto the item whilst they are still warm.

Good luck with it!
Sam

Tony, you obviously have the experience to be careful selecting gear so I guess its not such a drama for you in testing the U/L options. Also I guess the experience to have a good idea of the area's your going into.

Just wondering about the e-lite. If you have one then why go lighter? Surely you arent at the point where the weight of 1 LED is an issue? I guess the dynamo has obvious merit (If it lasts) but the e-lite (as you have found) runs forever on the coin cells.

I have found in some cases (ill defined tracks, heavy rain, blown snow) that the e-lite is not good enough for night walking.

A good find Tony!
I do like the way your scales measure things to the point something of a gram - maybe you could angle grind that steel loop off the end too?

Thanks for the review.

On a 'lighter' note... Picked up this today, 17.97grams (with keyring) $9.95

That appears to be one of those mythical "Irish" inventions. i.e. The Solar Powered Torch

Hi Nuts,

Nuts wrote:On a 'lighter' note... Picked up this today, 17.97grams (with keyring) $9.95

great find, I would be interested how long a full charge lasts and how quickly it can charge up again especially on a cloudy day.

You could save a gram or two by cutting the key ring off.

Tony

Hi Nuts,

Sorry that I missed this post earlier.

Tony, you obviously have the experience to be careful selecting gear so I guess its not such a drama for you in testing the U/L options. Also I guess the experience to have a good idea of the area's your going into.

Going U/L has made my walking much more enjoyable and I am also enjoying getting back to basics by leaving some items that I used to consider essentials but now call luxuries behind.

Just wondering about the e-lite. If you have one then why go lighter? Surely you aren't at the point where the weight of 1 LED is an issue? I guess the dynamo has obvious merit (If it lasts) but the e-lite (as you have found) runs forever on the coin cells.

You have a good point here the e-light is a very good light but reason that I am interested in the dynamo light is the not the less LED's but the no spare batteries needed and that I like to push the boundaries.

Nuts wrote: I have found in some cases (ill defined tracks, heavy rain, blown snow) that the e-lite is not good enough for night walking.

Good advice, I have used the e-light at night in heavy rain but that was on good track and I thought it was more than adequate for this purpose.

Tony

Any idea on how the torch(es) goes with exposure to rain and moisture?

Cough:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12932

sorry GMA

Was given one today by the GMA rep, Disregard the above post...these are actually really nice little torch. Its a lot more solid than I would have given it credit for....

Nuts wrote:On a 'lighter' note... Picked up this today, 17.97grams (with keyring) $9.95

Just got one of these of *Bay for $0.99 plus $5.00 postage from Hong Kong, and very impressed with the brightness of the thre LED's. Now to test the charging time and useful lighting times - will report back when I have more information to share. Weight only 16 grams without the chain. Now if these inventive Chinese manufacturers combine the solar panel light with the mini-dynamo, we have a versatile bushwalking light source

tas-man wrote:

Nuts wrote:On a 'lighter' note... Picked up this today, 17.97grams (with keyring) $9.95

Just got one of these of *Bay for $0.99 plus $5.00 postage from Hong Kong, and very impressed with the brightness of the thre LED's. Now to test the charging time and useful lighting times - will report back when I have more information to share. Weight only 16 grams without the chain. Now if these inventive Chinese manufacturers combine the solar panel light with the mini-dynamo, we have a versatile bushwalking light source

You fellows have too much money,I just bought one for $3.97 total
corvus

Ahhh, but you didnt have the pleasure of donating the other $5.98 to the good folk at the Forth general store.....
I had a dick smith dynamo torch/radio... lasted a couple of windings... same with its replacement.
(oh well, paid for a few dozen nails i guess.......)

See Corv.. all the drama this topic caused, and you ended up buying one anyhow.. (I bet that Scav and Brett secretly did too)

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I bought one of these Elemental lights before out SW Cape cct trip and used it for tent light. It was great, and it meant that our head torches had ample battery power in reserve because we weren't wasting it.
Hung from a cord in the ceiling of the tent with a slip knot so I can adjust the angle, point straight down to write with, point to the back of the tent for ambient light...
I removed the chain as well, not needed. We got the orange one, makes it easier to find in our bag of miscellaneous stuff.

Tony wrote:I picked up some of these elementaL Dynamo Keychain Lights from my local camping shop the other day, they are powered by a dynamo and are surprisingly good and what is most attractive is that you will never need batteries.

I have not used the Dynamo Keychain Light in field testing yet and probably won't until warmer months but in testing at home on less than a minute of winding the light stays very bright for about five minutes and then stays bright for about an hour, this is enough to cook by or get changed in a tent, and probably enough to walk a long a reasonably good track, after two and a half hours there is still some glow in the LED's but not enough to do much by.

This torch a wonderful idea and very light but is probably not suitable for mood lighting. I normally use a head torch as I like to have hands free when cooking at night, I will work on a head band system to attach to this torch too.

I discovered these before Christmas and was so impressed that I bought three of them as presents (ahem, including one to myself ). They're incredibly bright, particularly considering the small size and 2 LEDs. I agree that these would be very useful configured as a head torch. I got the yellow number for myself to reduce the chances of losing it.

Nuts wrote:On a 'lighter' note... Picked up this today, 17.97grams (with keyring) $9.95

After a few months of testing and use my summary of this item is that it takes a good half day of sun to fully charge, and the three LED's are excellent for only about 10 minutes of light. So really only serviceable as an emergency light, not a general camp/tent light. What sort of time do you get from the dynamo lights for a minutes winding? - should have read first post again

Tony wrote: <SNIP> . . . in testing at home on less than a minute of winding the light stays very bright for about five minutes and then stays bright for about an hour, this is enough to cook by or get changed in a tent, and probably enough to walk a long a reasonably good track, after two and a half hours there is still some glow in the LED's but not enough to do much by.
Tony

We had useable light coming out of our Elemental for almost an hour after "fully would". Somewhere between 300 to 500 rapid turns, just filling in time waiting for the billy to boil and you twirl away at it. As said, very bright for 5 to 10 mins, quite bright for at least half hour, and still enough light to sort some stuff out in a dark tent for some time after that.
I was a bit sus on those solar ones, thanks tas-man for letting us know the trial outcome. As an emergency light the dynamo wins!