The Generation Gear Shake Lights are magnet powered emergency lights. The light employs a coil, traveling magnet, and capacitor as a power source, thereby removing the need for batteries. They use an LED for light so they never need bulb replacement either. They are basically designed to be ignored until needed, with no maintenance whatsoever. Shaking the light charges the capacitor which powers the LED. The two different models have different electrical storage capacities and characteristics. The 20 model charges quicker, but dims quicker (30 second charge, 20 minute runtime advertised), while the 60 model charges slower but runs longer (1 minute charge, 60 minute runtime). Both of these lights are smaller than most full-size shakelights, appear to be very high quality, and perform quite well.

NOTE As a result of the strong magnetic field generated by these lights, the lights MUST be stored and used away from anything sensitive to a strong magnetic field. DO NOT place near a TV, monitor, floppy disks, hard drives, credit cards (don't stuff it in your back pocket with your wallet!), video tapes, or sensitive electronics.

Body description: The body of the Generation Gear lights appears to be either clear polycarbonate or acrylic and carry a 1.5 meter shock resistant drop rating from the maker. The body is entirely sealed, carries a 125 meter (400 ft.) water submersion rating, and floats. A lanyard attachment point is molded into the flat tail end.

Bezel/Head: Inside the head you will find a convex lens recessed behind a blue bezel ring. A small conical reflector surrounds the single 5mm white LED. On one side you can see the magnetic reed switch which looks like a little glass capsule, next to the external switch.

Output: The white light produced by the two LEDs is a little different between these two samples. One is slightly more bluish, the other a bit more reddish. Either way the light is generally a high color temperature and produces good color rendition weighted toward the blue end of the spectrum. The slight tint is not noticeable during normal use. The beam is a medium spot surrounded by a coronal prismatic ring (a thin rainbow), followed by a wide dim spillbeam

   
Beam at one meter at target center and at target edge to show spillbeam.

Runtime Plot: 20 minute runtime plot for ShakeLight:20.

Reality check: All shakelights perform about the same as you see here... Bright at first but within about 1 minute you are working with a very dim light. The good news is, as your eyes adapt to the dark, you don't notice the drop in output quite as much as is depicted on these graphs. Also, you can always give them a few shakes to increase the output again.

More information on runtime plots is available HERE.

Runtime Plot: 60 minute runtime plot for ShakeLight:60

More information on runtime plots is available HERE.

Switch: The switch contains a magnet that activates a reed switch inside the head, thereby operating the light without compromising the sealed case.The switch is made of a green glow in the dark plastic to make it easier to locate in the dark. It protrudes only slightly, effectively eliminating any chance that it would be broken off.

Seals / Water Resistance: The entire light is completely sealed. Too dim for diving use, it does float and is water depth rated to 150 meters.

Ergonomics: Not much to say about ergonomics. It is a comfortable size to use but doesn't really have much texture to improve grip.

Size compared to a common 2AA aluminum light

Batteries: As mentioned, no batteries are required for this light. Simply shake the light and the large magnet in the center travels back and forth, repelling off of opposite-pole magnets at either end of the travel tube. As the magnet travels through the central coil, a capacitor is charged. The Shakelight:20 requires 30 seconds of shaking for about 20 minutes of light. The ShakeLight:60 requires 60 seconds of shaking for about 60 minutes of light.

An important thing to note for ALL shakelights... I have seen web commercial videos for some shakelights and they show a person taking the light out of a drawer/trunk/whatever, give it three shakes and it lights up like a flare. These types of lights just plain don't work this way. Those lights were already very well charged before you saw those 3 shakes happen. If the capacitor is completely drained, which happens over time, you will be sitting in the dark for 2-3 FULL minutes shaking the light before it has a full charge. Even after the first 30 seconds to 1 minute you'll turn the light on and get nothing or just a dim glow. That's just the way they work. They're nearly 100% reliable, but they take a little time to charge up.

Accessories: No additional accessories were included with the light.

What I Liked: Waterproof, Tough/impact resistant, Decent output, No batteries, Lightweight

What I Didn't Like: Fairly strong magnetic field.

Picky Little Things: Not all that bright/short runtime. (common for all shakelights)

Conclusions: The ShakeLight:20 and :60 appear to be well made and durable lights. Not designed to be a lighthouse spotlight, they provide light for power outages and emergencies. Anticipate taking some time to charge them up initially, especially if they have been sitting around a while, but once you have them charged, they'll provide adequate light for a while. Although the :60 takes longer to charge up it provides more light over a longer period of time.

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