Eton American Red Cross Crank-Powered Clipray Clip-On Flashlight & Smartphone Charger, Hand Crank, Cherry Red, Commitment to Preparedness

I use this light all the time as my primary flashlight around the house and outside. I've had it for a year and a half now. I've gotten it wet (it stopped working until it dried out and then was normal again), dropped it and cranked it a lot over this time. I can say that the build quality is solid, with nice-feeling materials. It's great not to have to worry about batteries. I bought another as a gift for a travelling friend. The light output from the 3 LEDs is surprisingly good, with a wide spot. Pushing the button once keeps the light on, you don't need to continually press anything. The clip is a nice feature, I put it on my belt loop for illuminating the area when I need to use both hands. I can verify that the USB charger does work, but for modern cell phone batteries it really is a worst-case emergency backup. I tested it on my Samsung Galaxy SIII: You always get the best charging results when the phone is using the least battery, so turn on airplane mode and keep the screen off. The problem is that the charging only works while you are spinning the handle, and most phones will turn on the screen when you start charging. That means you can't turn off the screen while you're charging, and the output of the charger is so little that the drain from the screen almost negates the charge you're adding. In airplane mode with the screen on, it took about 9 minutes of quick spinning to go from 65% to 66%. As long as you keep in mind it's not going to work as a regular charger but would work in an emergency situation to get enough for a call, or to keep a call someone else is making going, then you won't be disappointed.

I agree with people who have said that this is a great light. I also agree that it charges some, though not all, USB devices. It seems to charge devices that do not use a lot of power, and not those that do. So, you're OK with MP3 players, but forget charging a current smart phone. As a light, though, it's really good. A minute of cranking produces a good, strong, broad light beam. The crank handle tucks nicely into the case when not in use, and the clip is handy for keeping the thing handy. Those lights that you shake to charge don't work worth a damn. A full minute of shaking one I tested recently produced a decent beam for a couple of minutes, but I was worn out from all the shaking. Maybe if you billed it as a light and an exercise device, you'd be all set. This crank light, though, is not hard to crank and it produces a bright beam for over 20 minutes with one minute of cranking in my testing so far. I don't know about the complaint one person had of the pin falling out of the crank handle, but I note that the pin is actually a screw, so it should not be hard to put it back in if it does fall out. Mine seems good and solid so far. In all, I really like this light and I am putting one in each emergency kit I have. It's great to forget about batteries in a back-up light like this.

Flashlight. It's a good emergency flashlight. The beam is good for anything within a 30 foot range (and probably adequet for 40-50 feet as long as you don't need a spotlight). From my experience, the battery lasts up to 10 minutes after cranking for a few seconds, and up to 5 minutes in cold weather (~30-40 farenheit). It will still produce light after these limit, but will be significantly dimmer. The light fades as the battery gets weaker, so I typically recharge the device while I am using it to keep it bright. I've had this thing hold battery for several months (of nonuse) without being cranked. Overall I am very impressed with the flashlight portion of this product. 5 out of 5 Clip. It is made of plastic and functional. I doubt it would hold much weight, but since it's only intended use is to hold the flashlight, that's okay. Phone Charging. It provides a charge. You need to crank to be able to charge anything, and it doesn't charge fast. Because of the size of the crank, it is a little difficult to charge without holing the flashlight with both hands. It doesn't come with a cable (I didn't expect it to). Overall, if you were in an emergency situation and had the time, this would be a good way to get your phone up by a few percent, but it isn't a way to seriously charge your device. I'm talking 5-10 minutes of work for 2-3% charge. Is it better than nothing? Yes. Can I see anyone taking 8 hours and 20 minutes to use this crank to charge their phone up to 100%? No. And, since it only charges while you are cranking, you can't store any energy for later (You can for the flashlight, but not for the phone charger. But, given how fast the flashlight charges and how long it lasts, it's not really worth doing it for the flashlight either.). It's enough to save your bacon, but you can't take it hiking and expect it to charge your devices. I am happy with my purchase, and have considered getting this as a gift for multiple family members.

At this price point, this is just perfect. We've had one for a year and 4 months, there have been several power outages and it's worked well every time. It's easy to crank and it charges my husband's cell phone well enough. My husband and daughter have used it as a handy flashlight to look under furniture, and to provide light for tasks when making repairs. It lives on a hook in the kitchen ready to grab if the lights go out. We liked it so much that when my husband and kids commented on how handy it is . . .I ordered 3 more. Not perfect, but does everything described with predictability.

I've had this device for about three months, and I can say that it's the ultimate flashlight. The three white LEDs are brighter than you'd expect, easily lighting up an entire room when reflecting off a white surface. That being said, here are some vital stats about it: Handcranking: 60 seconds of cranking produces 60 minutes of light. (75 joules produced / 0.02 joule/sec use) USB Charging: The capacitors inside of the flashlight are not connected to the USB out. The flashlight will not charge your phone when you aren't cranking it. Measured in real-time via multimeter: Wall/Outlet Charger: 5V 650mA (Constant) = 3.25W Fastest/Exhausting Cranking: 5V 500 mA (avg) = 2.5W Normal Cranking: 5V 250mA (avg) = 1.25W For a standard Android phone with a 4.2V/1.8A/7.56Wh battery, you need to charge it from the wall for about 2 hours and 20 minutes. For a standard iPhone, a 4.2V/1.5A/6.3Wh battery, you would roughly two hours to reach full charge. To reach 0->100% on an iPhone while hand cranking at the normal speed you would need to crank non-stop for *five hours*. At the fastest cranking speed, this is reduced to 2.5 hours, but who is going do that? Once again, not as practical as you'd imagine for charging cell phones, but a lifesaver in emergency situations. Cranking for a few minutes *will* give you time to make emergency phone calls -- or have a friend generate power while you make the outgoing calls. For anything more serious/long-term than an emergency phone call, consider solar panels (20-100W) or a bicycle generator with a dynamo (100-400W).

This is a real neat device, and one of the only crank flashlight/phone charger combos that incorporate a usb port instead of a DC port that I could find. Though the led lights don't provide very focused light, they serve well as an emergency backup light source. If it's light enough that you can't see any noticeable illumination from the flashlight, then you obviously already see perfectly fine. With 3 LEDs, I wasn't really expecting a flood light anyway. My main use of this device is actually the usb charger. I have with me some power-hungry portable electronics, such as my PSP and my Droid phone, and some of their portability is negated by their limited battery power. Don't get me wrong, they'll last a good while on a full charge, but sometimes I'm not always in range of a power socket or car charger. This helps me out a great deal in this regard, and although not every device has a usb-friendly charge adapter, my Powermonkey-explorer kit ( Powermonkey eXplorer - Portable Charger with Solar Slave (Grey) ) expands that versatility greatly. The included battery has a female USB adapter which I can use to hook into my Clipray and charge up when the sun is down or on overcast days, and when a power socket is out of reach. These two products make a great team and have increased my satisfaction with both. If you don't feel like dishing out $100 however, there are much cheaper standalone usb adapter kits out there as well. Pros: - Power crank gives you a constant light source and USB power source for your portable electronics. - Sleek, solid design ensures it will not fall apart easily. - Featured clip makes it easy to attach to a belt strap, readily available when you're on the go. - Cheap and affordable. Cons: - 3 leds isn't much to work with, but they could have focused the light a bit better. - External accessories (adapters/usb cords) required to unlock the full potential of this item, which may be to the dismay of some. Overall: Great device, I'm extremely happy I could find a decent hand-crank USB charger, and the flashlight and clip are welcome additions. If you've got lots of power-hungry portable electronics, give this a look.

I would give it 4 stars as it can produce 1A (nice) if you’re REALLY CRANKING, it’s a great mini gym haha, but unfortunately, I have had to return the first one and get another as the HANDLE SNAPED CLEAN OFF THE UNIT! Be careful with it, I spent $30 total $14 on the unit and $15 on the SuperLube I had to buy to keep it from falling apart. It’s a great bright flashlight, decent size, 3 LED, unit is easy to carry around, it has a built in clip but it feels like that would snap too, and I mean it works as a phone charger! I can charge my Xbox controller batteries, my iPhone, even initiated charging on my iPad, my speakers, earbuds, it can charge anything that charges via USB! Just don’t expect it to charge a handheld vacuum, thats not very practical and I bet the handle would snap off. Anyways it’s cool for learning how things work, but just be extremely careful if you don’t use lubricant. I have attached some photos of the unit taken apart to show what components it has/protection. As long as it functions as a phone charger, but I couldn’t get my phone to go up that much after cranking for 5 minutes, so I’d try cranking a power bank or a USB fan. (to cool off if power is out)

The flashlight was well charged when it arrived. It has a hand crank, three LED lights, a USB charge for a cell phone and a carabiner clip. There is a green light on the top that comes on when the unit is charging. Sending it back is a hassle, so I'll keep it. However, here are a few things that I wish I would have known before purchasing. Be ready to crank it a lot. The first charge lasted for a few hours. Since then, the LED batteries have only stayed bright for few minutes before dimming. The brightest light is when the unit is cranked. Stop cranking and the light begins dimming in under a minute. Interestingly, there is a green light that comes on when the flashlight is being charged. In my opinion, this light is completely unnecessary since the unit will only charge when you are cranking it. There is no battery indicator. A battery indicator would be very, very helpful. Without it there is no way to know if the flashlight is fully or partially charged. USB Port The flashlight has not charged my cell phone since day one. I have tried three phones. Not only has the phone not charged, but the charging indicator on the phone never indicated a charge was flowing at all. Charging The only way to charge the flashlight is by hand crank. I have seen others that could be charged by hand or by USB. Not this one. Cranking is loud. There is always noise with a hand crank flashlight because of the way it charges. This is louder than one that I used to own, but it's not a deal breaker. Carabiner This is sturdy and is strong enough that I don't worry about it falling off. The carabiner might actually be the best feature of the flashlight. The light. LEDs on this unit give a bright light with a blue-ish tint. It was bright enough to illuminate underneath the car seats well at night when I was looking for a dropped set of keys. It is also bright enough to illuminate a trail at night for a few minutes. Final thoughts I wanted to have something for power outages that would provide a light and charge a cell phone. Although the light stays bright for a few minutes, it fails at cell phone charging. The failure to charge is pretty disappointing when you're looking for that particular combination. I'm also disappointed that the light won't last more than a few minutes even when the light has been cranked for 10-15 minutes. However, it's durable and even though it doesn't stay lighted long, the flashlight works. I am keeping it, but am still looking for a flashlight that will also charge (or top off) a cell phone.

very good doesn't hold the charge for long

I really like it

A bit dated as it uses USB A instead of USB C

Great light easy to charge for hiking campjng or emergencies.

Holds a charge (from winding) well. Seems sturdy. Clip part is really handy.