Gadgets: A flashlight -- and a phone charger

Goal Zero is branching out into the flashlight and lantern business. The Torch 250 is a great utility light to have around the house. It's a good LED flashlight, putting out 180 lumens of 4000K warm white light from Cree LEDs. The Torch 250 also has a 70-lumen floodlight, which makes it great for lighting up a small area, perhaps under the hood of your car or your attic.

The Torch 250 can power the flashlight for seven hours at full power and 15 hours in reduced-power mode.

The Torch 250's battery can also charge your cellphone or tablet or anything that can use USB to charge. The USB output is 1.5A (7.5W max), and can charge the average smartphone two times.

You can plug it in to charge the phone, or you can use the sun to power the charge (that can take 24 to 48 hours, though).

There's also a hand crank, which Goal Zero says will provide 10 minutes of light for every five minutes of cranking.

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