Hi again,
Since I've been using them all morning, I thought I'd recommend the Ryobi Tools system. We've had them for a few years, both the old and newer style batteries. They snap off and on with little push buttons on the sides, and can go from power the flashlight, to a radio, and to pretty much any tool you buy for them. The batteries are 18V (some are 12V), and you can get tools for just about anything you want or need. I think the batteries are about 50-60$ a piece, but our have so far seemed pretty durable. We buy one every now and then and we have 6 or 7 around (more because we misplace them than because we need more!), also you can buy kits that have a battery or two included. The charger we have costs around 40 bucks. We had an older charger that is broken (we know because it says all the batteries are broken, while the new one says they're just fine). That's the only thing we've ever managed to break.
Of course, a good hand-cranker is essential, but these are great too. The flashlights have a swivel head, so at 6am when the barn power went out today, we just swivel the light up at the roof, and it provides a decent amount of light. Home Depot has them, I'm sure local hardware stores do too.
Ryobi has a great name for tools...what is the recharge time on the batteries?
In case of long term power outage, I would want something I can recharge in about 2 hours while I fire up the generator.
Nice thing about the 18v+ is that they easily charge off of a simple inverter and marine battery (solar charger if wanted). I need the light for my DeWalt.
We charged four 18v DeWalt batteries at a time with the marine battery and a 750w inverter. I think the draw if I remember correctly was about 80w per charger for about 40 min or so on the 18v XRP and 30 min on the 18v blacks.
You are right Gravlore DeWalt batteries are amazing. All my cordless tools are DeWalt 18V. My son is a contractors and that is all he will use. They cost a little more but it is an investment that will not disappoint.
My light came with one of the DeWalt sets. I went to purchase another but I was told that they do not sell them separately, maybe that was just the store. IF anyone finds a source please let me know as I would like to pick up a couple more.
For those who have dead NiCad batteries apparently this works. There are different variations but it seems legit. I may try it on my crappy B&D set first before going to the better brands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0dazPr12VM