Life+Gear LifeLight Mega-Function Lantern

The Life+Gear LifeLight is a dynamo powered device that gets its energy from hand cranking. A handy device for emergencies and disaster situations, as well as outdoor use. Includes a bright 15 LED lantern, emergency flasher, compass, cell phone charger, AM/FM radio, audio input, 12V AC/DC input, night light and siren. Cost: $69.95.

Pros

Cons

This LED lantern from Life+Gear is similar to other hand crank devices I've tested in the past. It uses 15 bright LEDs. One click of the switch turns on 3 LEDs, another click turns on 9 LEDs, and a third click turns on the emergency flasher using 9 white LEDs and 6 red LEDs. The light output seemed adequate for general use around a campsite. Although the product documentation says that 1 minute of cranking will power the lantern for 45 minutes, I found it to be more like 30 minutes. The same amount of cranking powered the radio for 8 minutes or the siren for 8 minutes. I don't own a cell phone, so I didn't test the cell phone charging capabilities. The device came with a Nokia adapter, or you can get a free adapter of your choice from their site. The FM radio worked OK, and it was tunable. A nice feature is the night light, which makes it easy to find the lantern in the dark. There is an audio input, so you can listen to your MP3 player through the speaker of the LifeLight (stereo connector included). However, your MP3 will sound better through headphones. For those who don't want to crank, there is an AC/DC input, but no adapter. Surprisingly, there is a battery bay on the base for 3 AA batteries. Apparently, the lantern can be powered this way too, but there is no mention of this feature in the documentation. The Web site says the LifeLight has a high frequency mosquito repelling audio transmitter, however the package documentation makes no mention of this fact. It's probably not true. The LifeLight uses a 300MA rechargeable lithium battery. This seems low, especially compared to commercial AAA batteries, which typically have a rating from 1500MA to 2650MA. There is a metal ring in the top for suspending the lantern. The Life+Gear LifeLight has many uses, but expect to do a lot of cranking.