About two years ago (or was it 3?) my partner and I and a few friends decided to go camping on the seaside... I was already fully packed when my father came to me and as he knows how surprised me with a last minute gadget from the pocket (well not exactly from the pocket since this thingy is quite big) - it was a dynamo torch. I already had a regular torch packed but I know I would break his hart if I would not want to pack this one too.

Now the torch is a bit big, I am used to having "camping stuff" as small as possible but OK, at least it is easy to find in the dark - when you naturally need it the most. It is quite light though and it is shaped well, you easily have a firm and secure grip on. The handle can be folded so that it becomes a "part" of the torch, not disturbing your grip when you use the torch. Winding the torch does not need a lot of strength, it goes smoothly.

When the tents were set and night began to fall this torch had its introduction. I showed it to my friends and they were really interested in it - especially the male part of the team which led to them winding the dynamo almost all the time - to which I normally had no complaints. Now although it was amusing to watch "the boys" how they play with "the toy" it was soon I noticed that even though they were winding it like crazy the light was not exactly strong and the light angle is a bit small but it is enough to clearly see what you want to see, it's a healthy not disturbing light - and if you have neighbours camping they won't mind it. You need quite a lot of winding to get a decent amount of light time - at times it seemed that at with a normal amount of winding (not doing it like a crazy person) will produce about three or four times of "battery life". If you go a bit winding crazy you get better results though. Thankfully the boys just kept on winding and charged the thing - when it was charged it truly did last for hours.

I do like this torch all in all, mostly because it does not need batteries and by that there is no fear that you will run out of light when you most need it - you will just have to sweat a bit to make it work, if coincidently when you will need it it won't be charged. Certainly a good thing to have at home in case of a power failure or to pack with you if you go camping.