I happen to think that having a mix of standard battery operated flashlights and crank-charge flashlights is a good idea. So, I have a small collection of crank-charge flashlights scattered around the home “just in case”. I bought a 2-pack of this Duracell Crank Light 3 in 1, 3 LED Flashlight, Radio, Charger from Costco for around $25 (if I recall correctly). The phone includes a flashlight, flasher, AM/FM radio. The feature that intrigued me the most, however, was its purported ability to charge other devices from its USB port (see photo below).
When the switch is set to USB out, it is supposed to crank out (literally) 5 to 6 VDC at 450 mA (not much but potentially useful to provide a minute or two of voice in an emergency). In practice, however, I was unable to find any of my phones that showed as being in charge mode when connected to the flashlight and cranking the handle for a couple a minute or two.
While the flashlight has a pretty big rechargeable battery, it does not seem to retain a charge as long as other crank flashlights I’ve tried. And, unlike other lights, it does not immediately produce light when being cranked when the battery is completely drained. Its odd shape and weight distribution also makes it more difficult to crank than other crank charged lights I have. Finally, note that it has a Type A USB port on its side. This seems ok until you look at your collection of USB cables. How many Type A to Type A USB cables do you have? I have zero in my collection. I have a bunch of Type A to Type B and Type A to mini-USB or micro-USB. I have have a Type A to Type A-extender cable. But, I have zero Type A to Type A USB cables to charge the flashlight from my PC. And, yep, the flashlight does NOT include a cable in its package.
So, good idea, poor implementation. Even worse, the Duracell web site has NO information at all about this or any other multi-function flashlight products.