a light in the darkness: mini Eco-i-Lite

Last night, the power went out for the second time in a month.  The first time was, of course, "snow-mageddon 2011" (which here was ice-mageddon, actually!)  Last night, we're not sure exactly what happened, although it looks like a branch may have fallen on our neighbour's service line, causing AEP to shut off our power whilst they did some trimming (by flashlight, no less!)

Speaking of flashlights, it made me appreciate one of my early "stocking stuffer presents to myself" all that much more.  It's the Eco-i-Light, by Capstone Industries.  I bought it at The Container Store during their stocking stuffer sale in December, and it's really come in handy.

What is it?  It's a combination nightlight, flashlight, emergency light during power failures.  It plugs into an outlet, and if the power should fail, it automatically turns on.  No fumbling in the dark for a flashlight, these puppies stay plugged in (one upstairs in our room, one in the basement), so we know just where to go when all goes dark.  You can turn the nightlight function off if you don't need it.  The bottom is flat, so when you're using it as a light, you can rest it on a surface and have the light shine upwards (like last night, when I was brushing my teeth.)

Looks like it comes in three sizes (we got the MINI), and is available at Amazon, too.  Customer service at Capstone was impressive--one of the lights we bought was defective (the nightlight worked, but the flashlight did not), and they sent me a new one right away, no questions asked.  I find that kind of customer service rare these days!

(FYI, I chose to write about this product because I really like it, not because I was asked to or paid to do so :)