Fake shake light: mental stimulation

**Chicago Dan** · 04-24-2008, 02:26 PM

Mods: I did a search on Shake lights, Faraday etc. and did not find this.
Please move or delete as appropriate.

Do you or someone you know have a Shake flashlight?
Is it a Fraud?

Now if you don't mind spending $3-$20 on a 30 cent fake that has difficult or impossible to replace batteries then this post is probably not for you.
The units are sometimes incomplete with no magnet, no connections, empty circuit board, etc… so that shaking the unit till the cows come home will not add one minuscule bit of power…
Then again maybe you have a great affinity to quickly moving your hand back and forth…

If you were like me you thought it was as advertised and relied on only the Faraday principle and muscle to activate. Not batteries.
I have one that is a genuine Faraday and one that is a Fake light.
How do you tell?

Here are a couple sites I found regarding:

http://home.eznet.net/~d12345/scam/
http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/press_r....jsp?prid=1865
http://reviews.ebay.com/Forever-flas...00000001565388
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/features/fff.htm
http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php...r&item_id=1510
http://www.flashlightcenter.com/
http://www.shake-flashlights.com/faq.html

My personal favorite review because of what the person advocates you do with the product:

http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/fifth/shakefl1.htm

The fake light is not a total loss at least in my case because I only paid $3 and am now using the parts for another project.
Good luck with yours.

I hope there are not a lot of people relaying on these if an emergency hits.
Sadly I see a vision of someone sitting in the dark quickly shaking the unit with about the same impact as if they had themselves in their hand.

Well I guess at some point a light will come on.

**Rick** · 04-24-2008, 02:38 PM

I have one. It works. Not very well but it works. Like you, I think I paid $3 or something like that. You get about 60 seconds of light for 2 hours of shaking. If that's all you had and you really needed light you could make do I suppose but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

**crashdive123** · 04-24-2008, 05:45 PM

I've got about half a dozen. Bought them at local flea market. Paid $5 for all six - tried each one before purchase to make sure they worked. Not a super bright light, but works well enough.

**Tahyo** · 04-24-2008, 10:11 PM

I don't have any of those but I have about 3 or 4 of those "wind up lights" and they work pretty good in a pinch. I tried one that was sitting in my wife's car emergency box when it was down around zero degrees and it worked pretty good.

**Sam** · 04-24-2008, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by Tahyo

I don't have any of those but I have about 3 or 4 of those "wind up lights" and they work pretty good in a pinch. I tried one that was sitting in my wife's car emergency box when it was down around zero degrees and it worked pretty good.

I have a few wind-up lights, I found one that is 'water proof' to 100 ft. I don't swim with it but I like the weather resistance. I put it in the shower and it did just fine. It also is about the size of a pack of smokes.

**Ridge Wolf** · 04-24-2008, 11:20 PM

Hmmm, an affinity to moving my hand back and forth used to produce more pleasant results than the same motion on a shake flashlight for 2 hours.... and a lot quicker too..

They aren't very good... I got mine for free with a credit card reward offer. I don't recommend them. They take too long to come to activation... er.. you know what I mean..

**BraggSurvivor** · 04-24-2008, 11:24 PM

Flashlight?

I thought you said Fleshlight!

**dilligaf2u2** · 04-25-2008, 02:56 PM

I have had a few. No longer have them. The Solar charger for AA & AA batteries and several wind & go now.

Walgreens had the squeeze to wind ones and when I went out with TGF camping and her too dang many grand kids! I passed them out. 24 passed out and only 2 came back in pieces. I let the kids have them.

Don

**ATough** · 04-25-2008, 03:02 PM

I was going to buy one but for having to shake it for what seemed like forever to produce very dim light and maybe 30 seconds worth, I bought a crank light, and it is amazing works very well and is really bright, it has three LED's so I don't really have to worry about the bulbs either.

**Chicago Dan** · 05-06-2008, 01:26 AM

I agree that there are significant disadvantages to a genuine Faraday shake light and I'm not presenting this as a recommendation but there are some nice advantages too and I have found a niche for one.

1. I can leave in my car, garage, just about anywhere I am, in any weather conditions and temp. without fear of batteries going bad or leaking.

2. No batteries to replace, rely on...ever. Put it in the trunk and your done!

3.100% water proof. That is if you took silicone to it like me. Note: I am a silicone junky.

4. Shaking it is really not that much of a hassle and really a nice diversion for the little ones. Also makes them feel like useful participants.

**Rick** · 05-06-2008, 06:33 AM

Dad: Here, shake this.
Kid: I don't wanna.
Dad: Shake it!
Kid: Do I have to?
Dad: You want to be useful don't you? You don't want to grow up with no skills at all. Shake the d**n thing.

**Ole WV Coot** · 05-06-2008, 09:37 AM

They give you something to do in the dark while waiting for the electricity to come back on. Have to strike a match to see if it's on.

**crashdive123** · 05-06-2008, 01:59 PM

This thread coming alive again caused me to wonder how long my cheap little shake and bake lights would last. Shook 4 of them for about 60 seconds - put two in a pan of water and two on the counter next to the pan. All four lasted longer than 30 minutes, with the longest one lasting about 49 minutes. Granted they don't cast a bunch of light, but better than not having it.

**Rick** · 05-06-2008, 03:31 PM

You can shake the light I have for about 20 minutes and it spits out an I.O.U.

**canid** · 05-07-2008, 12:26 AM

i like those lights for applications where 5-10 seconds of light are all you need. quick couple shakes, quick bit of light.

**Rick** · 05-07-2008, 06:53 AM

Me too. Just enough to constrict the pupils and destroy any night vision you might have had.

**grundle** · 05-07-2008, 10:10 AM

Who needs one of them contraptions? My method is to run frantically around the house in the dark tripping over the obstacle course my wife so lovingly created just for me. I have such a good time I just can't help but curse in delight