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Over the years I've got through many torches, some ended up in the bilges, never to be seen again. Others seemed to eat batteries, like smarties, and some I ditched when the bulbs blew. The bulbs, for some unknown reason being more expensive to buy than the torch. Somewhere on my boat I have a torch, but at this moment in time, I couldn’t tell you exactly where! (which could mean it’s eroding quietly in the bilges). With this in mind, I was glad to have the opportunity to try out some of the torches available from H3. Krill LampFirst up is an electronic glow stick, OK, not really a torch in the traditional sense, but it lets you see things in the dark, so that’s close enough. The problem with chemical glowsticks is that they only work for so long, and then you end up throwing them away, but this one is powered by 2 AA batteries. This is ideal to use for checking your charts or going down below when night sailing, as gives out a soft green glow, so your night vision isn’t impaired. The lamp is available either with a 180 degree or 360 degree light area and in two models, Original and Extreme. These lamps are waterproof to 150ft, and as the US Navy SEALs tried and failed to break them in tests, they're pretty tough too! The lamp is activated by twisting the bottom of the stick, so there are no switches to break or leak. Battery life is over 120 hours for the Longlife model and over 50 hours for the Extreme. I tested the Extreme 360, and that gave more than enough light to read by in total darkness, and hanging it in the main cabin I had enough to light to safely move around in. If you do any night sailing, I would recommend one of these, next time I’m sailing at night, I’ll certainly have this with me. The Krill Lamps are priced at £19.99 for the Original and £22.99 for the Extreme.  TeknoliteJust as I started reviewing these torches, our esteemed Managing Editor, rolled up with a 2 D cell Maglite, and insisted that It should used as a benchmark to evaluate this torch. The first test was range, the Maglite was able to project a beam of light about a third further than the Teknolite. But that was about the only test that the Maglite seemed to ace. The Teknolite is lighter, has a longer battery life, is even waterproof to 500ft, and easier to find in the dark. The torch is powered by 3AA batteries, and as it has 4 LEDs instead of bulb, it will give you over 150 hours of continuous use on a single set of batteries. The casing and lens are shatter proof and will standup to shock and vibration. As I said, the torch is waterproof to an amazing 500ft, so ideal for diving. One of it’s most useful features, are the glow in the dark locators, which use the same technology as used by the military for watch dials and compasses. This means that when it’s pitch dark you should be able to easily find your torch (unless like me, things on your boat have a tendency to get buried! The Teknolite is priced at £39.95.  PAL e-LiteI heartily recommend as an essential piece of emergency kit, and a very useful torch. The e-lite is a palm sized torch, that either has 6 or 4 lighting modes. I tested the 6 mode one, that gives you the following options, soft beam, high beam, flashing strobe and an automatic SOS beacon, and an ’always on’ glow. The unit is powered by a D cell battery and is encased in rubber, so will stand up to getting wet and dropped. Again, this torch relies on an LED, so the battery life is very impressive, 200 hours with soft beam, 40 hours on high, and 100 hours for the flashing strobe and SOS setting. If you never switch it on, the ’always on’ glow will last for 2 years! Included with the torch is red beacon cap that fits over the lens, and with this in place and either the strobe or SOS setting, the light can be seen more than a mile away! Like I said, you need one of these on your boat, ’just in case’. This is the torch I’ve used the most, because it is so easy to carry around in your pocket, and it’s range was almost equal to the Maglite! The PALight Survival 4 Mode is priced at £19.99 and the PALight E-lite 6 Mode, £21.99. All these items are available from http://www.h3products.com, along with many other similar products. Eddy Mack As our resident reviewer Eddy gets all the good toys to play with, if you’ve got something you would like him to look at then email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Related Items: |
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