Kit Report: Halfords LED Torch

I have a M*****e 3D, which until now I reckoned to be the best torch I have ever used. It's robust and good-looking, and it has a powerful beam. But while it is a reassuring thing to have beside the bed (it's my jury-friendly version of a baseball bat), it's quite hefty for everyday use. I needed a good torch for my new job, something a little easier to carry about, so I dropped into Halfords to see what they had got. What they had was one of these:

It goes by the name of Halfords Advanced Cree 2C (corrected) Torch, and it's the best torch I have ever used. It is made of aluminium, of a rather pleasant gunmetal-grey colour, and the grip is slightly rubberised. At 8" long, it fits in a pocket quite easily, and yet it manages to avoid the toy-like feel of the small Maglites. It's advertised as water-resistant, and I will believe that, as it screws together with precision threads which are backed up with O-rings.

The best thing about it, though, is the quality and amount of light it delivers. The beam is very powerful, easily as good as the much bigger Maglite, although as it is an LED bulb the light is cool and slightly blue, rather than the warmer light of an incandescent bulb. But the M*****e, good as it is, has one big fault - a poor reflector design. The beam, however you focus it, has rings and holes and other artifacts which are distracting. The Halfords torch beam is absolutely clear, just a clean circle of white. I think this is the first torch I have ever seen that didn't have any dark spots in the beam pattern. You can't focus the beam, but it's perfect as it is. To be honest, I only use the beam focus on the M******e to try to get rid of the dark spots anyway.

Over the years, I have come to associate Halfords with cheap bikes and chavmobile accessories (it used to be a decent shop, way back), but this is a genuine quality item. Price on the website is £29.99, but in-store* I paid £19.99. Well worth it. I can't report on battery life just yet, but with an efficient LED it should be good.

* I hate that phrase.

Update: the link to the Halfords item is to a 2D torch, whereas this is a 2C, taking smaller batteries and therefore smaller altogether. That would explain Halfords' curious generosity when I reached the till.

Good Grief!

Courtesy of Al Jahom, an article by Simon Jenkins (Not every adult is a paedophile, a terrorist or a mass murderer) in The Guardian that I agree with, every word. That has to be a first.

There is now a widespread belief that the bonds of private responsibility that should tie together neighbourhoods and nations alike have eroded. This is put down to everything from the nanny state to benefit dependency, risk aversion, disrespectful youth, too much money and obsessive security. When the bossy Labour minister Ed Balls banned pictures of children in schools and vetted parents for sex crimes, the bounds of public sanity were strained. Yet no one stopped him. People muttered, "Well, you can't be too safe."

...

The public should be invited to reject the politics of fear, that sees life as a perpetual terror of what might happen and a perpetual investigation of what has. It should not be asked to regard every child as a victim and every adult a paedophile, a terrorist or a mass murderer. The government should stop spending stupid amounts of money on a security lobby now running amok through the public sector.

There is no such thing as safe. There is only safer, and safer can require the greater watchfulness that comes with taking risks, witness new theories of road safety. Removing risk lowers the protective instinct of individuals and communities, and paradoxically leaves them in greater danger. But there is no government agency charged with averting that danger. There is no money in it.

Go and read it. It should be required reading for our new coalition government, too. Light is dawning in all sorts of unexpected places. Perhaps it's the good weather.