Five years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about Microsoft's decision to merge laptop and tablet computers into one device. Cook said that he thought it was better to keep the iPad and the MacBook different devices, explaining: "Anything can be forced to converge. But the problem is that the products are about tradeoffs. You begin to make tradeoffs to the point that what you have left at the end of the day doesn't please anyone. You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but you know those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user." Sometimes convergence is great, like peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes not so much, like Cook's theoretical toaster fridge. One cannot help thinking about convergence when viewing the E.LUMEN, a multi-function flashlight made by Renogy.
Renogy was founded a few years ago by Yi Li while she was getting a Ph.D. in physics at Louisiana State University. The company was created to sell solar products, first as a part of LSU's Technology Center, then it was based in Southern California, and now the company operates out of Ontario, Canada. Renogy makes many different types of solar products, but one of its smallest products is the E.LUMEN. The company sent me a free review unit, and I have been using it for the past week (as have my kids).
Solar power
The primary function of the E.LUMEN is to serve as a solar-powered flashlight. Expose the solar panel on the side of the E.LUMEN to sunlight during the day, and you can use the flashlight at night, without having to worry about batteries. The E.LUMEN rests on a side (it isn't completely round like most other flashlights) so the solar panel will stay pointing up towards the sun.
Renogy says that if the E.LUMEN is at 0%, it takes about 29 hours of sunlight to get back to 100%. Renogy also says that the main flashlight mode of the flashlight can last 3-4 hours, but it lasted much longer than that in my tests. I turned on the flashlight at 9pm one night, and it was still going at 7am in the morning, although it was much dimmer. It took a few more hours for the E.LUMEN to be completely dead. I then left it outside for two days, and it charged up again. Unfortunately, there is no indication on the E.LUMEN of how much charge the device has, so I don't know how close I got to a full charge after two days outside.
Three Lighting Modes
The main flashlight has three modes, and each of those modes has multiple settings.
The headlight mode functions like a normal flashlight. There are four settings within that mode, and you switch between them by pressing the main button on the flashlight. The bright setting uses 3W of LED light to emits 200 lumens of light for 200 meters. Press the button again to switch to a dimmer setting, press the button a third time to switch to a strobe mode (perfect for attracting attention, blinding an intruder, or hosting a disco party), and press the button a fourth time to turn off the headlight.
I'm not in the business of reviewing flashlights, but the E.LUMEN headlight mode seems very bright to me, and based on some research I did on the Internet, this output seems similar to other flashlights in its class. The light beam is brighter in the center (and unlike some other nice flashlights, you cannot twist to adjust the size of the bright center of the beam). It is bright enough that you will hurt your eyes if you look directly at it. Unless you are leading a search party or exploring a cave, I suspect that you will find this to be a sufficiently bright flashlight. It's certainly brighter than the others that I have in my house.
If you hold down the button for three seconds, you switch to the second mode, the white floodlight mode. This mode illuminates 10 small lights on the side of the flashlight (around the solar panels) at 2W, 150 lumens. This mode is nice because it gives you a wide range of light, which could be useful if you want to shine light over a wide area to get some work done, or if you want to light up the inside of a tent. Press the button a second time to switch to a dim setting, and a third time to switch it off.
The final mode is the red strobe light mode, which I'm sure is useful for attracting attention in an emergency. Presh the button a second time for a dim red strobe light, and a third time to turn if off.
iPhone charger
A solar-powered flashlight contains a rechargeable battery, and people use rechargeable batteries to charge an iPhone, so why not combine those two functions? If you twist off the bottom of the E.LUMEN, two ports are revealed. One is a standard USB port. Plug in your USB-to-Lightning cable and you can charge your iPhone.
The battery is a 2,000 mAh Lithium ion battery with a 1 Amp output. That should be enough power to almost fully charge an iPhone 7 once, or enough to charge an iPhone 7 Plus around 50%.
Charging an iPhone from a flashlight might seem a little goofy at first, but if you are camping or if there is an extended power outage, being able to use solar power to charge the battery and then charge an iPhone could be incredibly useful.
Next to the USB port is a Micro USB port, which is used only for input. If you need to charge the E.LUMEN and either don't have access to solar power or want to charge it more quickly, just use any standard Micro USB cable (one is included with the E.LUMEN). Unlike the 29 hours of solar power required to fully recharge an E.LUMEN, you can recharge via Micro USB in only 6 hours.
But wait, there's more!
Just in case a solar-powered battery/flashlight/strobe light/iPhone charger isn't enough convergence for you, the E.LUMEN has many more tricks up its sleeve. One side of the top of the flashlight has a seatbelt cutter. The other side has a high-strength, alloy glass-shattering hammer. With those two tools, the E.LUMEN seems like a useful device to keep in your car's glove compartment.
Also, the side of the E.LUMEN has a small magnet. If you have something metallic and flat, like the side of a filing cabinet, the magnet is strong enough to hold up the flashlight. So the magnet makes it easier to store the E.LUMEN.
Finally, the very bottom of the E.LUMEN has a compass. It is on the part that you remove to expose the USB ports, so you could hold and use the compass without having to hold the entire flashlight. I haven't had a need for a compass since I was a Boy Scout, and of course the iPhone itself has a compass app, but if you have a need for a small compass, the E.LUMEN has you covered.
Putting it all together
If you get trapped in your car in the middle of nowhere, you can use the E.LUMEN to cut your seatbelt off and shatter the glass window to escape from the car. Then you can use the compass to get your bearings, use the red strobe light to draw attention to yourself and seek help, and if nightfall comes you have two types of flashlights to look around. And if you haven't drained the battery by using the flashlight, you can recharge your iPhone to call for help. Although perhaps using the phone to call someone for help should have been the first thing that you did.
Sure, that scenario is farfetched, but I have to admit that it does seem nice to have a flashlight with so many other functions — even if you never to use all of those functions at one time. Best of all, the E.LUMEN feels like a nice flashlight in your hand. It weighs 0.68 lbs, which is not too heavy but sturdy. It is made of strong aluminum (remember, this thing is strong enough to work as a glass-shattering hammer) and looks like it can stand up to a lot of abuse. The feel is somewhat similar to the feel of a Maglite flashlight if you have used one of those. It has an IP54 rating, which means that it has reasonably good protection against dust, and it is OK for water to splash on it (e.g. rain), but you shouldn't direct a jet of water at it and you shouldn't let it go underwater.
If you are looking to get a flashlight for camping or for your car, or even a flashlight that could be used during emergency situations in your house, the E.LUMEN seems like a great option to me. You get all of the features that you expect from a traditional flashlight, plus lots of extra features such as an iPhone charger that could turn out to be quite useful in certain situations. Using solar power on a flashlight can be good or bad depending upon the circumstances; you cannot quickly swap out batteries like you can with a standard flashlight, but you also don't need to worry about keeping (and carrying around) those extra batteries because you can use the sun to recharge. In short, I was worried that the E.LUMEN would be a toaster fridge, but after using it and thinking about it for a week, I like the product and it seems more like a yummy PB&J.
Click here to get the Renogy E.LUMEN Solar Flashlight from Amazon ($24.99).
