I’m really not very good at remembering to power up my media player, or, for that matter, my phone. As a result, I will often find myself driving off and suddenly realizing I’ve got about 15 minutes of use left — and have to spend the rest of the trip trying to figure out how many calls I can make, or songs I can listen to, before the gadget goes dead. I could carry a portable charger such as the Powerstick around with me or I could just stick the Flashlight-er ($29.95) into my car’s 12-volt charger and stop worrying.
What is it? A small 3-in.-long gadget that plugs into your automobile’s cigarette lighter (excuse me — that’s called the 12-volt charger now, isn’t it?) and lets you power up your gadgets via a USB port on the other end. Oh, and it’s also a flashlight.
What does it do? The Flashlight-er’s USB port lets you plug any USB-powered gadget into it; it comes with a USB-to-mini-USB adapter, or you can just use your gadget’s adapter. Pull the Flashlight-er out of the car’s charger, and the other end lights up via three LEDs.
What’s cool about it? This is one of those handy gadgets that just makes life easier. The USB port at the end of the Flashlight-er glows green so you can find it easily in the dark (it stops glowing when you shut off the car so it won’t run down your battery). The flashlight end is bright and really useful for things like checking to see what your kids just lost under the driver’s seat.
If you sometimes use your car’s charger for other gadgets, you can buy the Dual Function Flashlight-er (also $29.95), which lets you exchange the USB plug for a 12-volt charger end (so you don’t have to pull the Flashlight-er out).
What needs to be fixed? Once you’ve pulled the Flashlight-er out of the car’s charger, you can’t actually turn the light off. The on/off switches on either side push in (to stop the light) when the Flashlight-er is inserted into the car’s port, and pop out when you remove it. This can be an irritant if you want to carry it somewhere; I’ve had to kludge it by wrapping a rubber band around the gadget to keep the switches depressed.
And it doesn’t store power, so you can’t use it away from the car.
Final verdict: It’s not a bad idea to have an instantly accessible flashlight within easy reach when you’re in a car; add a USB port that will power up a wide variety of mobile gadgets, and you’ve got a useful item.
