The $250 torch that will last for 20 years

Even charges your mobile phone

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11 November 2009 15:05 GMT / By Stuart Miles

What do you buy the man that you think has everything? Why a $250 torch of course.

The mpower emergency illuminator (torch and flashlight are so last year darling) is an LED torch created by mpower technologies and designed by the Porsche Design Studio.

Things worth boasting about here over and above your regular $1.99 offering at Rite Aid are the 4 hours of constant power via its replaceable battery, USB charging dock so you can add extra juice to your mobile phone (as long as you've got the cable) and a second emergency battery that can sit in the torches casing for 20 years before it needs to be replaced.

While most batteries lose power just by sitting there, the secret here, according to a spokesman for the company that we talked to at the CES unveiled event in New York is that the chemicals aren't mixed until you actually need to use it, at which point you activate the battery and release a further 2 hours of light.

The emergency illuminator is expected to go on sale in March 2010.