Few things are more frustrating than grabbing your flashlight in an emergency, and getting little more than a dim glow because the batteries are dead. Even modern rechargeable LED flashlights need hours to take a full charge, and lose a little running time with each battery cycle.
All of this fumbling with batteries could be history if the Light For Life UC3.400 flashlight from 5.11 Tactical live up to its promise. Instead of batteries, it uses something called an ultracapacitor to hold its charge, providing about 90 minutes of light per charge. But what's most amazing, is that the ultracapacitor will go from dead flat to fully charged in only 90 seconds, and can do this at least 50,000 times. Even if you go through a full charge every day, that works out to about 135 years.
5.11 Tactical is marketing the Light For Life to professional users such as Police and Military forces, not surprising considering the hefty $170 price tag. Deliveries are scheduled to start early next year.
5.11 Tactical, via Flashlight News
editor@dvice.com
By ReeyferMadness at 12:28 PM ON 11/09/08
I'm assuming by ultracapacitors they mean supercapacitors since the terms are interchanged so often. And if this thing's running off of supercapacitors instead of normal batteries, it's worth the price tag. And, while we're at it, where can I buy me a friggin box full of the supercaps? Seriously, I thought that this kinda stuff was a ways off from widescale commercial use still. I want these for my car :D
By BlueThen at 12:33 PM ON 11/09/08
I wonder if you can hook this up to work with your Ipod.
By tsport100 at 4:39 PM ON 11/09/08
Supercaps are commercially sold but are super expensive, last I checked the price for a Maxwell 3000F was $135.00 EACH. They make Li-ion batteries look like giveaways.
There is one real problem with caps as an energy storage device, they have 'leakage' which even the supercap manufacturers acknowledge. For long to medium term power storage they're not good, but for short term they work better than a battery, bar the price.
By pflarry123 at 10:25 PM ON 11/09/08
I think it's an awesome design but i wish the light lasts longer than it does
By CoolProducts at 4:49 PM ON 11/12/08
An interesting product. I'm curious to see what innovations will come about with more advanced supercap tech involved.
By Jacob at 1:16 AM ON 12/15/08
Awesome to see a real world consumer level application of ultracapacitors. Count me in for one when the price comes down.