Friday, September 5, 2014

Second Thoughts on the Torch Crank Light

Second Thoughts on the Torch Crank Light : See important note below -- above Links

San Angelo, TX, Library

    In a 30 June post earlier this year I labeled the Torch Crank Light the Most Useful Christmas Present I've ever received. [See the 1st link below.] Now I'm having second thoughts -- especially about its durability.

 

    Initially I charged the light's internal battery using the hand crank; however, it broke off in Mar 2013. Two different members of Goal Zero's support told me that was rare. I told them that when I was next in the Salt Lake Area I'd drop by to get another Crank Light.

 

    On 9 April I located Goal Zero's plant/showroom in Bluffdale, UT, just south of Riverton and the saleswoman gave a new Crank Light.

 

 

 

    She also gave me a new box containing both the d.c. & a.c. adapters. On 17 Aug the d.c. adapter did not seem to charge the light's battery very well; since it was dark I decided to wait til the next day to determine the problem. The next day I had my F250 serviced at the Cape Girardeau, MO, Ford dealer & immediately headed north to avoid an oncoming hailstorm. When I attempted to plug in the d.c. adapter I found parts I thought the dealer's serviceman had left in the +12v socket. (Since there are devices to test the truck's battery using that socket, I thought the parts I found in the socket had been left by the serviceman.) Later that evening I learned that the parts were from the d.c. adapter. Unfortunately, I didn't gather all of the parts together and eventually lost some of them.

    Conclusions: 1)GoalZero apparently has a quality control problem with the assembly of its Torch Lights in China and 2)The Torch Light is designed for intermittent or emergency use and not everyday use.


    In an e-mail dated 7 Oct 2014 Andy Earl of Goal Zero stated that the Torch Crank Light has been discontinued. He suggested I check out the Torch 250.
[Return to the top of the page]
Links:
Routes:

F 26 Sep Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Lib - Sam's Club - Sherwood Wy W/M

Sa 27 Sep Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Lib - Sam's Club - Sherwood Wy W/M

Su 28 Sep Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Lib - Sam's Club - Sherwood Wy W/M

M 29 Sep Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Jim Bass Ford -Lib - Sam's Club - Sherwood Wy W/M

T 30 Sep Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Lib - Sherwood Wy W/M

W 1 Oct Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Lib - Visitor Ctr - Sherwood Wy W/M

Th 2 Oct Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Lib - Sherwood Wy W/M

F 3 Oct Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Lib - Sherwood Wy W/M

Sa 4 Oct Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Lib - Sam's Club - Sherwood Wy W/M

Su 5 Oct Actual Route: Sherwood Wy W/M - Visitor Ctr - Sam's Club - Sherwood Wy W/M


Finding Campgrounds:

N.B. I receive nothing from Trailer Life, Woodalls, or FreeCampsites.net for including links to their free campground lookups.

No comments:

Post a Comment