“Multiple Million Candle Power Flashlights - User Review”

by Ron Stultz

12 September 2005

Summary: A toy. Battery does not last long enough to do any sort of meaningful work. Not recommended.

In the last several years there has appeared in the commercial market, multiple million-candle power flashlights or lamps.  I think the first one I saw at a hardware store was a 1 million-candle power unit but I recently saw a 10 million-candle power unit.  Why anyone would actually need some much candlepower is beyond me other than perhaps sending Morse code between ships like I sometimes see in old movies.  To me they are toys and not much more.

But several years ago, my son-in-law asked for one for Christmas and I bought him a 2 million candle power unit and then my other son-in-law bought himself one which was 3 million candle power and so began the game of one ups man ship between these two.  I am not sure who has the brighter unit now and I dare not tell them that I saw a 10 million-candle power lamp recently.

Although I would never buy one myself, a year ago, a neighbor happened to be in a store and saw 5 million candle power unit on sale and not being one to pass up a bargain, he bought 4 or 5 of them and gave me one, as he was sure I absolutely needed one.  Well, truth be told, I have used the lamp several times to look underneath a car and it is bright, as advertised but I have also found out the following which you should consider if you are thinking about buying one of these megawatt lamps:

-         Rechargeable sounds good but the charge does not last very long.  Perhaps it is just the one I have but I can get no more than 5 minutes out of a battery charge before the lamp fades out completely.

-         My unit will operate with the charger plugged in but apparently not all units will do this.  Although not mandatory and if you are going camping with the lamp, I doubt it makes much difference but being able to attach the charger unit to an extension cord and then have the lamp last for more than 5 minutes is helpful when you really need all that light for more than one battery charge worth of time.  As I have not used my unit for an extended period of time with the charger connected to the lamp, I do not know how long the lamp will operate before the lighting element burns out but I know the lamp does get very hot.

As I said, I would never buy one of these multiple million candle power units but did buy myself one of those last forever flashlights several years ago and true to it’s advertising, I have dropped it from 20 feet, totally mistreated it and it is still un dented and works like a champ.