Flashlight + camera = ???

Gadget mashups aren't limited to sticking a camera in a phone or GPS in an MP3 player. Swann Security has officially achieved the bizarre by combining an LED flashlight with a digital camera.

Why on earth would you need something like this? Well, chances are you don't, but the product is ostensibly designed for security guards and the like who are on patrol in the dark and on the lookout for trouble. Now, hoodlums trying to break into the warehouse can not only be illuminated with a light, they can be captured on video or in a still picture while they're in the act, all with one convenient device. Those darn kids playing in your yard won't know what hit 'em!

The Swann FlashlightDVR is a big, bulky monster powered by three "C" batteries. (A charger is included, but you have to provide the rechargeable batteries yourself or use alkalines.) The heavy-duty design is reminiscent of your typical cop flashlight, though the LED-powered bulb didn't strike me as nearly as bright. A button cycles through three levels of brightness.

Underneath the bulb you'll see a tiny camera lens. Camera features are controlled by a couple of buttons alongside the controls for the light. Although you only use two buttons for recording images, the controls are surprisingly complex, requiring you to hold down each button for extended periods of time and waiting for the feature to activate, then pushing the button again to snap a shot or start/stop a video recording.

This poses a real problem: If you're really using this for security and a crook's about to get away, the camera feature needs to be at the ready, instantly. You can't afford to wait 10 seconds for the camera to "boot up." The perp will be long gone by then, laughing at you from the comfort of his evil lair.

Picture quality is another concern. The biggest issue is resolution: The camera is a pathetic 0.3-megapixel model, worse than most modern cameraphones and, at a distance, producing unusably small images. In my tests, still photos were washed out and grainy (getting progressively worse the brighter the light was turned up), and while no one is going to be using this thing to take pictures on prom night, it would be nice to at least be able to tell whether the shirt on our subject was red or orange. (Check out the sample shot at right for an idea of what to expect.) Videos looked a little better. All footage is captured to a miniSD card (which you provide) or, in a pinch, on the flashlight's 100MB of internal memory.

Of final concern is the price. I was expecting the Swann to come in at novelty levels, maybe 100 bucks. But it retails for a whopping $499, meaning you're going to have to expect to get a lot of use out of this if you want it to be worth the investment. But look on the bright side: If you're using the flashlight to take perp shots in the dark, at least you'll never have to worry about a flash.

LINK: Swann FlashlightDVR