Burro Light - AA-Powered, Versatile, LED Utility Lamp - Building Better Lives in Africa

I think this little Burro Light is adorable. I like that it comes with a stand but that you can easily free the light from the stand and use it with the hand held strap.However, I bought it to be additional lighting when shooting video on my phone. I video tape Q &A's after film screenings and even when the house lights are up, the theaters are too dark to really see the person(s) speaking, so I thought this little light would illuminate the area. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough light to make a difference, even on it's highest setting.I think that if I were to be standing up close to the person I was shooting and used the Burro light as a hand held device to shed light on their face, it would work. Haven't tried it this way yet.I do think Burro Light would be great for a tent, or a small desk lamp or a grow light, it gives off a decent amount of light, just not for my main purpose.One other thing, it is difficult to remove the battery compartment lid. The hand held strap gets in the way and the instruction arrows point in two different directions. I haven't yet figured out a good way to open the lid other than fooling around til it finally comes off. I will say, the batteries seem to last a long time once you get them in there.

First, I want to make something clear. I do not work for Burro. I don't know anyone who works there. I'm not affiliated with them in any way. I am moving my family out of the states for a job to an area with less than reliable power. I just wanted some good back-up lights that ran on AA batteries (preferably three or four), lasted a long time before depleting the batteries, was durable and versatile. Based on what I saw and read online, I choose this unit and bought three of them. Plus, they are very competitively priced.I write reviews when I feel strongly enough about a product to take the effort to provide some useful information, good or bad. I'm all about informing fellow consumers of the truth. That being said, the Burro Light is one of the most well implemented ideas I've ever seen.It's not complicated. Just a $15 light, but I believe in giving credit where credit is due. Out of the Amazon box the unit is simply packed. It has only a thick plastic sleeve with the bottom of the metal stand sticking out. Upon removing the unit from the plastic, the quality of build was apparent.The light is built with thick plastic. It seems dense and durable. Most plastic things you buy today just seem cheap. Like if you drop them or if a child gets a hold of it, it will crack or break. I don't get that feeling here. And I'm so used to seeing slight manufacturing defects these days. Sometimes I see seams or lines from the molding process. Sometimes week spots or plastic burrs. The Burro Light has none of that. It really feels secure. The battery cover is also impressive. The cover is circular and can be removed without tools. Two little thumb grips allow you to rotate counterclockwise about 1/4 inch to unlock it. There are no threads to strip. It uses locking tabs. And they aren't excessively small tabs that break after a few uses. It also has an integrated black rubber-like seal to keep water out. This gasket is part of the base unit, so you don't have to worry about it falling out or breaking. I'm confident that it actually keeps water out too. The lateral clearance or space between the cover and unit is very tight, yet doesn't impede rotational movement. It's a perfect fit.The white translucent dome diffuses the light quite well. The entire dome glows with light, so you don't just see a single LED light source behind a cheap diffuser. The dome also seems like it is relatively strong, thick plastic.Each side of the unit has a small, circular socket where you can slide in the metal stand's tabs. The sockets are lined with a black, rubber-like material. This not only seals the inside from water, but also provides some grip to the stand, so you can rotate the angle of the light and it should stay put fairly well. It also decreases the chance you will scratch the unit while inserting the metal stand tabs.The nylon hand strap is simple and non-adjustable. It's permanently attached to the inside of the unit through the seam between the white dome and green base sections. These two sections seem to be secured together quite well. I'm actually glad they made it non-adjustable. It is nearly perfect for most people as it is and there is no need to "fix what isn't broke". It most certainly just would have hurt the quality of the unit trying to throw in some kind of modification to adjust strap length.The switch is a black, rubber-like round button. It is sealed from water. When you remove the battery cover you can see the micro switch on the base unit. The button on the cover simply transfers your finger press to the micro switch. There are 4 brightness settings. You click once for lowest, click again for a bit brighter, a third click for more, four clicks for max brightness, and a fifth click for off. One thing I personally love is the low level. It is really dim, but still useful, especially after your eyes adjust. I actually love the light so much I've been using it as a nightstand light for a few nights. My wife hates when I have any light on and try to do some work in bed while she goes to sleep. This light's dim setting (first click) is the first light I've had that is dim enough to not bother her.The stand puts this light over the top and is simply an elegant solution to the problem of having a versatile, functional and secure stand/mounting solution. It doesn't look like much, but it is perfect. Any more or less of a stand would be compromising the usability somehow. As a stand sitting on a table, it is quite stable and I've never knocked it over. The metal part that touches the table has a very small footprint and still allows you to place things UNDER the light, like a cell phone, cup of coffee, etc. The bent-angle design allows it to hang from a piece of rope. There is also a notch in the stand so you can actually hang it from a nail jutting out of a wall. Genius.The only thing I can't report on is how long the batteries last - because the first set hasn't died yet! I'm not using Burro brand batteries, so I can't comment on those either. I am using another brand of rechargeable NiMH with low self-discharge technology.Some parting thoughts: If Burro continues making these products I will never buy another brand of battery-operated lantern again. This product really makes me wonder how I ever felt satisfied in any way with any other camping or back-up light or lantern. Lanterns by Coleman, Rayovac, Eveready, Energizer, Eton, etc. simply cannot hold a candle to the Burro Light (no pun intended!). I'm not saying every light these companies put out is bad (one of the now-unavailable Rayovac Sportsman Xtreme flashlights is one of my all-time-favorite flashlights), but for the purpose of the Burro Light's design, at this price, there is no competition and you should absolutely look no further for a quality, affordable camping/lantern/utility/back-up light solution.*Update Jan 20, 2013*Today I noticed the light only cycled through 2 brightness settings before turning off. I thought maybe this was what the unit did when the batteries were getting low, but it didn't make sense to me. I removed and tested the levels of the batteries. After several days of use they still test almost full. Well, it's hard to tell with my tester, but I could estimate around 65-85% left. Hmm. I put them back in, closed the cover and I got all four settings again. Not sure what happened, but I thought maybe when I was going to removing the batteries initially the cover may have not been tightly closed. My kids were playing with the light today and may have loosened it. I'm not sure what was the issue, but it seems to back to working normal again.*Update Jan 21, 2013*After another day of no issues, the light began only allowing 2 brightness selections again. The light also seemed more dim. I took out the batteries and tested again. Seemed good on the meter. I then put them in my La Crosse charger. They displayed 1.19 volts to 1.21 volts. Okay, good. Hmm. I put a fresh set of batteries in and no problems. I guess my new batteries aren't testing how I would expect when their charge is diminished. So, I am concluding there is no problem with the light at this point. If anything, this is good behavior. You can easily tell if the batteries need to be replaced if it doesn't allow all 4 brightness settings. My 2 loves to carry it around and it is holding up well. I'd recommend removing it from the stand with young kids due to the metal prongs of the base stand that stick out if the light is removed.

Does not have a long life. Has 4 intensity settings and after 2 uses, now only 2 settings work. It doesn't get bright enough to illuminate my tent as I want it to. These lights are supposed to be for poor individuals in countries with little access to electricity. They can't possibly do very well as you have to replace the batteries very often and like i mentioned, the higher settings burn out or no longer work after only a few uses. I have bought two of these and they both do that.

I liked it a lot until the little on/off rubber button fell off and got lost - now I need something long and thin and strong to insert into a hole in order to turn the light on or off, which makes it nearly useless. A pencil will not fit in the narrow opening. Maybe I'll try attaching an allen head wrench with a string so it will be avail able when I need to turn the light on (or turn it off in the dark)..

During our last power outage, while I was fumbling around in the dark for aflashlight, I decided that I should go shopping for a small lamp that ran onbatteries, and I found this one on Amazon. While looking at the reviews, Inoticed that one of them was from Max Alexander, who apparently runs the companywho makes these lamps. Another review was from a lady who left a 5-star reviewfor a book that he wrote, and a third reviewer gave their battery charger 5 stars.So already, all 3 reviews left for this item were suspect. And wheneverthere's evidence that a company is leaving fake reviews, the item inquestion normally turns out to be junk. But, I decided to take a chance on it anyway.Fortunately for me, this little lamp is great. It has four different brightnesssettings and puts out a generous amount of light for its size. Not only that,but since it comes with a stand, I found it works well as a light source whenI'm working inside my computer. It sure beats the oldmethod of holding a flashlight in my mouth :)The only question I don't have an answer to is exactly how long batteries aresupposed to last with this thing. I suppose only time will tell. Perhaps Max orone of his friends can leave a comment and let us know ...

This is one of the most annoying lamps in the universe. The batteries are difficult to put in, and it runs out of batteries really fast. The switch on top doesn't work right unless the two plastic pieces are twisted together in a very exact, precise manner. I've wasted a lot of time getting this lamp to work right. Once you get it up and running, it is nice and bright until the batteries start to go. That will happen pretty quickly.