Sounds really good but could be a problem as I'm only a few feet away from the runway at Heathrow (don't want jumbo's thinking it's a landing strip and landing on my plot lol)
LOL. Seriously though, they, like most lanterns, have a 'hat' on top. They don't shine 'up', unless knocked over.
But I was looking on Ebay and there are some wind up ones on there with 12 LED but they're going for alot less than you paid Mushroom. I wonder if your is just really good quality and so worth the £30 as opposed to the cheaper versions?
Dunno, but when comparing prices it is of course important to compare like with like. I'll try to explain my reasoning for buying it below. I'd say the light intensity is something like the equivalent of 40W incandescent. The colour of the light though is very hard, cold, a bluish white. I find it difficult to look at directly at arms length. This is very subjective though - you might see it differently. I think you'd agree that it is rather bright though.
BTW I stand corrected, it has 15 LEDs. The low setting makes it run on 10 or 8, i think.
The one I have is made by a company that makes other wind-up lights, and a load of other power products. The company is called "Ring" and the product is called "cyba lite lantern". The light also collapses into a small space, by pressing a couple of buttons. It's chargeable via car cig. lighter as well as the rotor on top. It also has a siren thingy, you press and an alarm sounds; it's not that loud though. There is a terminal near to the charge input that has a phone symbol on. No reference is made to this in the instructions, so I'm unsure of its function. Maybe it's to charge a mobile phone, which would make sense given its function as a portable device to provide light, if necessary in an emergency.
The outside of it seems to be in fairly rugged green plastic. The rechargable battery can be replaced if it wears out - this is a plus point, in almost daily use the rechargeable pack (in fact any rechargable pack) can wear out. Clearly they expect the light to outlast the lifetime of the pack. The light isn't waterproof, but I reckon it could be used in the rain.
Have a look at
http://www.speeding.co.uk/acatalog/Car_Accessories_Torches_35.html and scroll to the bit that says Ring Wind Up LED Lantern - there's a write-up of the technical spec there.