I found this on the website of my favourite cheap battery supplier 7dayshop. It is sold under the name 'Ring Cyba-Stretch' in the UK, although I have found out from candlepowerforums that the manufacturer is Nuwai in Taiwan. This light is probably rebadged and sold under many different names around the world. In a first for me I think I have actually found something for sale in the UK that is cheaper in price than the same item in the USA! Plus the postage was only 95p.

Features

The light is supplied complete with 3off AAA Panasonic Batteries that just need installing into the light. Installing the batteries involves removing the tail cap on the base of the light. This is clearly marked with two arrows for open and close and just requires a small rotation to release the bayonet fixing. The battery carrier will then slide out. The batteries are installed in the carrier according to the markings on the inside of it. Basically you put the springs on the - end of the battery as in most torches. This then gives 4.5 Volts to the single LED. The carrier is then reinserted into the light noting that it needs to be aligned correctly with a guide rail. The tail cap is the replaced and the light is ready for use

The light is operated by turning the notched ring on the head of the light in the direction indicated by the arrow.

The light source is a single 5mm Nicha white LED. So don't expect a huge amount of light!

The lens on the light produces a very concentrated beam that projects a decent spot on my wall. Close up this beam has lots of rings round it. It looks to be pretty useful and is certainly brighter than my other single LED lights but this may be due to the focusing optic. I will have to try this at night to get a better feel for it.

Right now comes the really neat feature of this light. Grab the end of the light an stretch it out and you now have an LED lantern. The light still comes out of the front of the torch but is much fainter. The lantern mode appears to give a reasonable amount of light. Enough to stop you bumping into things in a room. But not enough to read by unless you are very close to it.

The power from the batteries is not regulated in any way so I would expect the LED to be initially overdriven then as the voltage drops then so will the light output. Battery life is give as 80 Hours from the Nuwai web site and 100 Hours on the box the light came in. I have not tried this myself and wonder how useful the light output would actually be after 100 hours! Probably not very much.

I think this light would make an excellent replacement for candles in the event of a power outage. It is far safer than a candle and will provide many hours of light from just 3 cheap AAA batteries. It is compact and would also make a good tent light for camping.

At the price I paid for it I think it represents excellent value for money. There are better lights than this but they cost more.

The light is reasonably constructed from Injection moulded plastic parts and an anodised aluminium body that is probably manufactured from a tube. All the parts fit together very well and I think it would stand up to some drops on to the carpet or tent floor without any damage. I would not want to drop it onto a hard surface though. The lens is only Injection moulded plastic and would be easily scratched so care with this would be advised.

OK, now hopefully your interested where can you get one?

UK Dealers & Cheap AAA Batteries

www.7dayshop.com

More info on this and other lights here

www.candlepowerforums.com