Travel things I like: Cuby clip-on light

There’s travel gadgets for almost every eventuality – some incredibly useful, others which don’t quite live up to their promise. And then there’s those which are almost so simple that you never quite thought about them before, including a dinky portable light which has turned out to be hugely useful before I’ve even left home.

The Cuby LED light from Osram is charged by USB and slides on to the edge of a piece of furniture or just can just rest the little 5cm cube on a shelf – I’ve clipped the one I was sent to review on the edge of the changing table in Minnie’s nursery. As I pad sleepily in there several times a night, it gives enough light to see what I’m dealing with, without being so bright that it wakes her up too much.

It takes three hours to charge completely, and gives three hours of light (with 50 days standby time if you’re not using it on a regular basis like I am) – one of the few drawbacks is that there’s no indication of when it’s about to run out though, so I have had it die on me in the middle of the night.

Assuming it’s fully charged or you’re travelling with a laptop or netbook (or something with a USB port), it’s also easy to chuck into your suitcase and weighs a mere 74g so even lighter than something like an LED headtorch.

Available in black, white, pink and blue from amazon.co.uk for £19.99. A small price to pay to avoid stubbed toes and falling over unfamiliar furniture.