Best wind-up torches for power cuts (2026): crank time and brightness compared
A wind up torch is the one light that can't be caught flat: no batteries to go stale, no socket needed, a minute of winding for anything from 15 minutes to over an hour of light on the makers' figures. It is also dim. The torches here are listed at 8 to 32 lumens where a figure is given, against the several hundred lumens of the rechargeable torches on our torches page, so a wind-up earns its place as the backup in the drawer, the car and the grab bag, not as the main light. The best we have reviewed is the Duronic Hurricane, a torch, a lantern and a red light in one that charges by USB day to day, but it was sold out at Amazon and on Duronic's own shop when we checked on 3 Nov 2026. Of the torches you could buy that day, our pick is the POWERplus Barracuda, with a solar panel, a waterproof case and up to an hour of light per minute of winding on the maker's figure; the Sealey AK3305 adds a USB charging port; and the Silverline 839905 is the few-pounds option for one per car. The government's Be Ready checklist asks for a torch and spare batteries and says torches are safer than candles. Here is how the UK's wind-up torches compare.
By Tom Calder · Updated 3 November 2026 · 6 products, 3 of 6 price-tracked
Our picks
POWERplus Barracuda
A waterproof, solar-topped wind-up for the car, the boat or a grab bag that lives outdoors.
Sealey AK3305
A cheap wind-up from a tool brand with a UK stockist network, for the car boot or the kitchen drawer.
Silverline 839905
The cheapest way to have a torch that can never be flat, one per car and one per drawer.
All 6 compared
A waterproof, solar-topped wind-up for the car, the boat or a grab bag that lives outdoors.
Our verdict
One of the longest crank-to-light figures here, on the maker's numbers: a minute of winding for up to an hour on full beam or 80 minutes on the single LED, with a solar panel to top it up in daylight and a case rated waterproof to 5 m. POWERplus gives no lumen figure, and three small LEDs mean this is a find-the-fuse-box light, not a room light. As the torch that is always ready in the glovebox or the shed, it is a sound choice.
Worth knowing: No lumen figure from the maker; three small LEDs are dim beside a battery torch
Who shouldn't buy it: Don't buy it if you want to charge it from a cable between power cuts. The Duronic Hurricane and the Sealey AK3305 both take a USB charge as well as the crank.
A cheap wind-up from a tool brand with a UK stockist network, for the car boot or the kitchen drawer.
Our verdict
A plain three-LED wind-up with one thing the cheapest torches lack: a charging port, so it can sit on a micro-USB cable between power cuts and only needs the crank when the power is off. Sealey rates a minute of cranking at up to 30 minutes of light, and gives operating times of 30 minutes on one LED or 15 on all three from a small 40mAh battery, so it is a top-up-as-you-go light rather than one you charge once. No lumen figure from Sealey; expect enough to find the fuse box, not to light a room.
Worth knowing: Tiny 40mAh battery: it holds a quarter of an hour on full and has to be wound often
Who shouldn't buy it: Don't buy it if you need a torch for wet weather or the boat. Sealey gives it no water rating; the POWERplus Barracuda and igadgitz Xtra are rated waterproof.
The cheapest way to have a torch that can never be flat, one per car and one per drawer.
Our verdict
A few pounds buys a torch that needs no batteries and no socket: fold out the handle, wind for a minute and Silverline says you have about 30 minutes of light at 15 lumens, with a one-LED mode to stretch it. That is enough to find the fuse box, the stairs or the dog, and nothing more. It has no charging port and no solar panel, so winding is the only way to charge it, which is the point of it and also its limit.
Worth knowing: 15 lumens is a path-and-fuse-box light, well short of the 100 to 300 that lights a room
Who shouldn't buy it: Don't buy it if you want the torch you will actually use in a long power cut. Keep this as the backup and spend on a rechargeable or AA torch for the main light.
Sold out right now (3)
The shop says these are sold out today. We check stock every hour, and each one moves back up the list when it returns.
A blackout-drawer light that works as a torch or a lantern and can be wound back up with the power off.
Our verdict
A sensible all-rounder for a power cut: one unit is a handheld torch, a lantern for the table and a red warning light, charged from a USB cable day to day, with a crank for when the power is off. Duronic rates a full charge at up to 5.5 hours as a torch and 2.25 as a lantern. It isn't bright, at 32 lumens on the listing, and the crank is a top-up rather than a charger: the listing's own figure is about 15 minutes of torch light per minute of winding.
Worth knowing: Dim as a room light: the listing gives 32 lumens
Who shouldn't buy it: Don't buy it if you want one bright light for a whole room — a rechargeable lantern such as the Ledlenser ML6 is far brighter, though it has no crank.
Read the full review →
A torch that never needs batteries or a socket, for the car, the shed or the back of a drawer.
Our verdict
The simplest no-power-needed torch here: a solar panel and a crank charge a small built-in battery, and igadgitz says a minute of winding gives 60 to 110 minutes of light and that it is waterproof to 5 m. The catch is brightness. Its top output is 8 lumens, enough to find a fuse box or a path but not to light a room, so treat it as the torch that is always ready rather than the main one.
Worth knowing: Very dim: 8 lumens at most, against the 100 to 300 that lights a room
Who shouldn't buy it: Don't buy it if you want a torch bright enough to work by — a battery or rechargeable torch is many times brighter, so keep this one as the backup.
Read the full review →
A cheap, simple wind-up torch for the car or a grab bag.
Our verdict
A long-running basic wind-up torch: POWERplus says a minute of winding gives 20 minutes from the 1W LED or 60 minutes from the smaller 5mm LEDs, and the listing rates the 1W LED at 20 lumens; and the built-in battery can also be topped up from a USB cable between power cuts. The phone-charging output is billed as an emergency charger, with a female USB tip to take your own phone cable. Fine as the backup that can't be caught flat; a battery torch is brighter as the main light.
Worth knowing: 20 lumens on the listing: fine for finding your way, too dim to light a room
Who shouldn't buy it: Don't buy it if you need real phone charging in a long power cut — a power bank does that far better, so buy this as a torch that can't be caught flat.
Read the full review →ⓘ As an Amazon Associate, PreparedBritain earns from qualifying purchases. We may earn a commission when you buy, or a fee when you request a quote, through our links. When two products are close, commission can decide which one we pick. A clearly better product always wins. Amazon prices come from Amazon's own product data and show the date and time they were retrieved. Prices at other retailers are checked by us, less often. Prices and stock can change at any time, so always check the retailer's price before you buy.
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Before you buy
Crank time is the spec that matters, and the makers state it.
A minute of winding is rated at about 15 minutes of torch light on the Duronic Hurricane, 20 minutes on the POWERplus Shark's main LED, up to 30 minutes on the Sealey AK3305 and the Silverline, 60 to 80 minutes on the POWERplus Barracuda and 60 to 110 minutes on the igadgitz Xtra. The long figures come from small, dim LEDs: the torches that last longest per wind are the dimmest. All of these are makers' or listings' figures, not our measurements.
Brightness is low across the board, and some makers do not state it.
Where a figure is given, the torches here run from 8 lumens (igadgitz) to 32 (Duronic Hurricane), with the Silverline at 15 and the Shark at 20; the Shark's and the Duronic's figures are from their Amazon listings, as neither maker's own page gives one, and POWERplus gives none for the Barracuda and Sealey none for the AK3305, so those columns stay blank. For scale, the rechargeable torches on our torches page are rated in the hundreds of lumens, which is why the honest advice above is to pair a wind-up with one of them.
USB or solar top-up changes how you use it.
A wind-up with a USB port (Duronic Hurricane, POWERplus Shark, Sealey AK3305) can live on a cable and arrive at a power cut full, with the crank kept for the hours after. A solar panel (igadgitz Xtra, POWERplus Barracuda) suits a torch that lives in a car or a shed. A crank-only torch (Silverline) is the simplest and cheapest and is fine as the drawer backup. Check the water rating too: the Barracuda and the igadgitz are rated waterproof to 5 m and the Shark to 10 m on their makers' pages, while Duronic says the Hurricane is not water resistant and Sealey gives no rating.
For longer power cuts
A radio, torches and a power bank cover a short cut. If you want the fridge, the router or medical kit to keep going for longer, these are the three ways to do it.
A silent battery you can use indoors. Enough for lights, the router and phones through an evening, or a fridge-freezer on a bigger one.
For cuts that run into days. Petrol or dual fuel, outdoors only, never in a garage or shed: the exhaust carries carbon monoxide.
2 to 4 kWh that stays in the house, often with solar panels to top it up, for a long cut or a home that relies on power for medical kit.
Not sure how big? What size power station do you need → · Power station or generator →
We verify every product's specifications against at least two independent sources, re-check its UK price and stock on a schedule where we can track it automatically, and cross-check safety-relevant claims against official guidance. Every review is labelled Researched or Used and reviewed by us: where we've bought a product, or been sent it free, and used it ourselves, its review says which; where we haven't, our verdict is a considered spec-and-evidence comparison, not a hands-on test. When two products are close, commission can decide which one we pick. A clearly better product always wins. Read our full methodology →
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Common questions
What is the best wind up torch in the UK?
The best we have reviewed is the Duronic Hurricane: a handheld torch, a table lantern and a red light in one, charged by USB day to day with a crank for when the power is off, and the brightest here at 32 lumens on its listing. It was sold out at Amazon and on Duronic's own shop when we checked on 3 Nov 2026. Of the torches on sale that day, the POWERplus Barracuda is our pick, with a solar panel, a case rated waterproof to 5 m and up to an hour of light per minute of winding on the maker's figure; for a few pounds, the Silverline 839905 is a plain crank torch rated at 15 lumens.
How long does a wind-up torch stay on after a minute of winding?
It depends on the torch and which LEDs are on. The makers' figures here range from about 15 minutes (Duronic Hurricane in torch mode) and 20 minutes (POWERplus Shark's 1W LED) to up to 30 minutes (Sealey AK3305, Silverline 839905) and 60 minutes or more (POWERplus Barracuda, igadgitz Xtra). The longest figures belong to the dimmest LEDs, so a long crank time is not the same as a lot of light.
Are wind-up torches bright enough for a power cut?
For finding the fuse box, the stairs or the dog, yes. For lighting a room, no: the torches here are listed at 8 to 32 lumens where the maker gives a figure, while the rechargeable torches on our torches page are rated in the hundreds. Keep a wind-up as the light that is never flat and a rechargeable or battery torch as the main light.
Is a wind-up torch better than a rechargeable torch?
Usually not. A good rechargeable LED torch and the power bank you keep for your phone give far more light for far longer, and the power bank refills the torch several times. The wind-up's advantage is that it can never be caught flat, which makes it the right backup, not the right main torch.
Can a wind-up torch charge my phone?
Some have a phone-charging output (the POWERplus Shark and the Duronic Hurricane list one), but a minute of cranking puts very little into a phone. A power bank does that job properly; treat a wind-up's phone output as an emergency trickle, not a charger.
Do wind-up torches wear out?
The small built-in rechargeable cell is the part that ages, as in any rechargeable device, and the crank gearing takes a lot of winding over the years. A torch with a USB port can be kept topped up from a cable, which spares both. Give any stored wind-up a minute's crank every few months so it is working when you need it.
Does the government's checklist say wind-up torch?
The Be Ready checklist (beready.campaign.gov.uk) lists a torch and spare batteries and says torches are safer than candles; it names wind-up only for the radio (an FM radio, battery or wind-up). A wind-up torch meets the torch line without needing the spare batteries, which is its appeal as a backup.
Sources (10)
- GOV.UK Be Ready: 'Get prepared for emergencies' checklist (read 3 Nov 2026): 'Torch (and spare batteries)', 'Torches are safer than candles.', 'FM radio (battery / wind up)'
- Tango Group (POWERplus UK): Barracuda product page, winding, solar and waterproof figures
- Tango Group (POWERplus UK): Shark product page, winding and waterproof figures
- Sealey: Rechargeable Wind-Up Torch 3 LED AK3305 product page, winding, operating time, battery and charging port
- Silverline Tools: LED Wind-Up Torch 839905 listing, 15 lumens and winding figure
- Always First 4 Fixings: Silverline 839905 LED Wind-Up Torch listing (15 lumens, 1 minute for up to 30 minutes, £5.99), read 3 Nov 2026
- Duronic: Hurricane wind-up torch and lantern product page (charge times) and its Amazon UK listing (32 lumens, winding figure)
- igadgitz: Xtra solar and hand-crank torch U4456 product page and listing8 lumens, winding and solar figures, waterproof to 5 m
- Duronic: Hurricane product page on duronic.comfull-charge run times; sold out when read 3 Nov 2026
- igadgitz: Xtra U4456 product page on igadgitz.com8 lm, winding and solar figures; sold out when read 3 Nov 2026
