When I received Heininger 1020 CommuteMate "Flameless Flare", I had high hopes... real flares can be dangerous, messy, and difficult to use. I thought this might be the perfect thing to place in my old truck in the event I had a break-down. I also thought it might be good to take on my ATV trips in the event I break down on the trail and need to leave some kind of visible marker on my ATV along the trail.Sad to say, I was rather disappointed. The flare is powered by two AAA batteries and a single red LED. In the daylight, the light output from the flare is barely noticeable. At night-time it is slightly more noticeable and might serve as a marker light on your car to someone who is paying attention. Or, if you were using it on a dark trail, it might be visible from a short distance. But it really is no brighter than the keyfob LEDs that are intended to assist in unlocking a door. The light is also uni-directional (only coming from one side of the flare), so careful positioning would be a must. I think it would be tricky to use as a map light, too, since maps often contain red text which would be difficult to see with a red light.That said, I will not go as far as to claim that the product mis-represents itself. It is re-usable, and it could function as a secondary warning marker. It is not flammable, and it came with batteries which seems rare these days. The idea for the magnetic end that sticks to the sides of vehicles would be good, if most vehicles were made of steel. But many these days are made of fiberglass or aluminum and thus the magnet serves a limited purpose.If this product were marketed as a sort of a secondary marker light, it might be acceptable. One could place it on top of their car or on the trunk as a "failsafe". After all, the more lights the better. However, the idea that it would serve as a "flare" is just not correct. If I were changing a tire along the side of a busy road, for example, I would have NO faith that anyone would see or notice this light in their headlights. I would expect something MUCH brighter for an application such as that, and given that expectation this product unfortunately fell short of both its name and purpose.