Price Drop Alert (7-22-22) – This item is currently on sale for 52 dollars (57%) off the list price.  Based on the life cycle of the rechargeable batteries this item pays for the upgrade over the original version quickly, and far more so at this reduced price.

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Streamlight Stylus Pro USB Rechargeable Light.  Any long term follower of my podcast and blog will know I am a huge fan of the original Streamlight Stylus Pro.  I have been recommending that model for more than 5 years.

Well during a workshop a few years ago, a guy walks up to me and shows me this one.  It is basically everything that is wonderful about the original but it is rechargeable with any USB port.  It does cost more, coming in at about 48 dollars vs. the original at about 21 dollars.  So the question is, is the convenience of rechargeable and savings on batteries worth the difference in cost?

The lithium ion battery will give you 3.5 hours of light on one charge where as the original will give you 6.5 hours on one set of alkaline batteries.  Call that half as good, but, the lithium battery will have a life span of about 300 recharges, or 150 sets of AAA alkaline batteries.  That would be about 75 dollars in AAA based on bulk pricing of Duracell AAAs.

That gives us a cost of 96 dollars on the original compared to 48 on the rechargeable.  A 48 dollar savings.  Then if you do wear it out you have a few options.

The best is to buy the replacement lithium ion battery that Streamlight offers for this, it runs 15 bucks.  The battery pack though is essentially two lithium ion AAAs in a solid pack, this means yes you could just drop some rechargeable AAAs in it and rock on.  Or you can drop in any AAAs as a stop gap.  Yes while you can’t recharge it with regular old alkaline batteries, they will run it just fine.  This means you have multiple options and I love that.

So which one do I recommend now?  Frankly the one you prefer, they are both outstanding lights and represent outstanding value.  So check out the Streamlight Stylus Pro USB Rechargeable Light or the original Streamlight Stylus Pro today.

Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com