300 Lumens Mini CREE LED Flashlight. $6.62 FS

[jor8888]

its $6 if u sub their new letter u get extra off. Its better than my 9led flashlight.

 

[superHARD]

Dealextreme.com has it for $9.20 shipped (SKU 39585). Meritline has it on sale fairly often in either the black or silver model for as low as $8 shipped. Both ship from China so it takes awhile.

This is a great little light with a AA but not as bright as with a 14500 battery. If the merchant can be trusted it's a steal at $6.62.

Note: If you're not going to spring for the battery upgrade, you may want to consider something similar that uses 3 AAAs instead of a single AA for the additional brightness.

Got any suggestions?

 

[PliotronX]

Dealextreme.com has it for $9.20 shipped (SKU 39585). Meritline has it on sale fairly often in either the black or silver model for as low as $8 shipped. Both ship from China so it takes awhile

Thanks for the SKU!

It has a reverse clicky.

F***ing sold About time to get some 14500's too.

 

[cytoSiN]

Dealextreme.com has it for $9.20 shipped (SKU 39585).

That looks like a different model? Cree Q3 at 120LM instead of the Q5 at 300LM linked in the OP? If nothing else, shows just how great a deal this is at TomTop, if you're willing to wait for the shipping.

I think I found the Q5 (same as OP) on ebay for $8.88 shipped from the U.S., so I'm considering that.

 

[jhansman]

I think I found the Q5 (same as OP) on ebay for $8.88 shipped from the U.S., so I'm considering that.

Looks to be the same, so I went with the 'bay. Thanks to the OP for the heads up.

 

[LurkingInNC]

That looks like a different model? Cree Q3 at 120LM instead of the Q5 at 300LM linked in the OP? If nothing else, shows just how great a deal this is at TomTop, if you're willing to wait for the shipping. . . .

.
I missed that. But from what I've read, a Q5 isn't necessarily 'better' than a Q3. A Q5 is slightly brighter, but the Q3 apparently has a more neutral tone, which some experts seem to prefer. A quote from someone on a candlepowerforums.com thread discussing the issue:
.
"I've been hooked on neutral lights. Much better for outside use; they give more depth perception and better color rendition than cool whites. The Q3/4 5A/B tint bins are my favorite tint. I'll even buy an older version of a light over a newer, brighter one, just to get that tint. A good LED light is going to be bright enough for just about any personal need you might have unless your an LEO looking for a duty light, in the military on active duty etc., so for me it's about the tint and the beam profile and not the pure output."


Couple of thoughts:

First and foremost, unless there was reason to seriously doubt the retailer (which there doesn't seem to be), for ~$6 this seems like a great deal and well worth any risk.

If you want more info on LED flashlights, check out candlepower.com. Way more info than I'll ever want to know (and much of it over my head lol).

I'm always skeptical w.r.t. lumens claims for these chinese lights. Pretty sure they're not consistent or regulated as to how that's determined. From what I read the Q5 is approximately 14% brighter than the Q3. I'd be willing to bet there's nowhere near an actual 180 lumen difference between the two lights we're talking about.

The one I've got (& referenced above) is branded as 'Sipik'; I'm sure it's a chinese knockoff of something else. Since this one doesn't seem to be branded at all, is it a knockoff of a knockoff lol? (no value judgement intended, just an observation).

TomTop's site notes that China(?) is starting it's Spring Festival and that they won't send out current orders until Jan 30th. So on top of the long shipping time, you're gonna need to be patient (again, well worth it imo).

 

[LurkingInNC]

The more I think about it the more confused I become regarding possible differences in light output between the two. Same voltage (let's say 3.7 with the more powerful 14500 battery), slight difference in output for the Q3 vs. Q5 emitter, but the TT one is 7 watts vs. I calculate 3 watts for the DE one. Maybe difference in the internal driver for the two? Given that the emitters aren't that different, and that the cases appear identical, I'd suspect that if there is that big a difference in power, then it must come with a 'cost'. Is the 7W one going to get a lot hotter after a short time? Will that additional power have an impact on the life of the unit due to the additional heat? I can almost guarantee you that this isn't built with a decent heatsink at that price (actually, I kind of doubt it even has a heatsink).

Any electrical engineers out there who'd like to clarify things for us?

Still, regardless of the answers, for $6 this still seems like a great buy.

 

[LurkingInNC]

Got any suggestions?

Just to clarify, my point is that I'm pretty sure that the 3AAA batteries are connected in series, so you're driving one of those flashlights at ~3.7 volts (with 1.2V rechargeable AAAs), same as if you used a 14500 battery in a similar single A model light.

But the power (watts) question above seems like it might have a much bigger impact than the voltage one I was talking about.

For the record, I've got model SKU 188-876-001 from Meritline. it's on sale for $9.99 today, I got mine on sale for $8 a bit ago. Meritline and especially DealExtreme have great user review threads with feedback from some pretty knowledgeable buyers if you're interested in browsing some AAA options. And TomTop also has AAA Crees where it looks like the discount code works if you want to explore that option.

 

[Melectricus]

I got one from them and love it. I'm tossing all those crappy free Harbor Freight and Menards flashlights and buying a few more of these. I bought it about a month ago on a daily deal and it came in about 3 weeks with no problems. I did a little searching and it appears to put out 100lm with an AA, 200lm with 3+V and 300lm at 5-6V. I'd say the 100lm with AA is accurate. I let it lay on my desk at work and everyone who picked it up was shocked it was less than $7; my next order is now up to over 25 with all of us together.

 

[jhansman]

Just got the $8.88 one from eBay in the mail, two days after ordering. Works great, very bright. Whether it holds up is another thing.

 

[cytoSiN]

Just got the $8.88 one from eBay in the mail, two days after ordering. Works great, very bright. Whether it holds up is another thing.

Ditto. I ordered the same one ($8.88 on Ebay), received it 5 minutes ago, works like a charm, brighter than expected with one AA, so I doubt I'll bother with the fancier battery for now.

 

[gwynethgh]

Just got mine from China. BRIGHT. Worth it I think.

 

[jhansman]

These things throw some serious light. Add to that the package arrived two days after my eBay order. Sturdy little sucker, too. Best value I've scored in some time.

 

[cytoSiN]

Been loving mine since it came a couple weeks ago. Only complaints are the crappy belt clip (bends too easily) and the fact that's painted black, and the paint rubs off way too easily - keep this in mind if you hold the thing in your teeth like I did...oops?

 

[jor8888]

is 3AAA brighter than 1AA model?

 

[NeonFlak]

Ordered mine on the 13th, it supposedly shipped the 13th. Still haven't received it.

 

[LurkingInNC]

is 3AAA brighter than 1AA model?

Likely, if all other things are relatively equal (see #31 above). But AAAs are gonna be much more expensive over the long haul unless you've got rechargeables. My experience is that the AA model is great and plenty bright enough - unless you see it next to a similar AAA model, after which you're gonna want the brighter one. That's what happened to me. I loved my AA light (similar to the OP), now I hardly ever use it since I got a AAA version (I have rechargable AAA batteries).

Best setup if you can afford it: the AA light with a 14500 battery (higher voltage than a AA) or a AAA one with 18650 battery (longer battery life than 3 AAAs).

 

[BadThad]

Ordered mine on the 13th, it supposedly shipped the 13th. Still haven't received it.

Same slow boat here.....SUPER slow shipping!

 

[gwynethgh]

Slow boat from China, right?

 

[wedi42]

I ordered on the 13th
shipped on 14th.
Flashlight arrived on the 4th.

I love how bight it is!

 

[MrTeal]

I got mine last night, and I was pretty impressed with it. Testing with a AA, the tone was nice and warm, not nearly as blue as the crappy 9 led / 3AAA lights I have. It was also much, much brighter. Even across the back yard at night it was enough to light up an entire area, it's better than Maglight performance for $6 and 1/10 the size.

I don't have a 14500, but I did some testing this morning with a bench supply and at 1.5V (typical alkaline AA voltage) it drew 0.9A or 1.35W. At 1.2V (typical NiMH) it drew 1.7A, or 2W. There was no perceptible change of brightness between those two levels, so I would guess the extra power draw is caused by driver inefficiencies at low voltage levels.
Brightness stays pretty constant until you hit about 3.0V, when it increases dramatically. My guess it once you get to 3V the driver assumes you're running a lithium cell and cranks up the power. At 3.3V it drew 0.78A (2.6W), while at 3.7V it drew 1.25A (4.6W). At 3.7V I'd guess it's about three times brighter than it is at 1.5V, so it seems to scale well with voltage. I might bring my DSLR and grab a couple pictures of the spot on the wall to get an actual photometric number of how much brighter it is tomorrow.

I have a bigger one coming sometime in the future that runs on 18650s, but I think I might order a couple more of these along with some 14500s just to toss in the glovebox and drawers. Great value IMO.

 

[MrTeal]

Also, just a note for those discussing 3xAAAs vs 1xAA. The main limit on those battery sizes is the amount of current you can draw from them. If you had 3xAAA in series you would get 4.5V open loop, but it still wouldn't as bright as an 18650.
http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/E92.pdf
Looking at the PDF, there's no way you would be able to pull 500mA without killing the battery in minutes, let along 1A. NiMH AAAs are a little better there.
http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/nh12-850.pdf
with 3 NiMH AAAs you would get 3.6V open loop and actually be able to drive 1A, though you'd probably only get 30 minutes on a full charge. The rated capacity just tanks when you're pulling that much current. Compare that to a 18650 that will put out 1A no problem.

 

[LurkingInNC]

Thanks MrTeal. Looks like we've finally got someone who knows what they're talking about as compared to, say, me, who's working off of assumptions and impressions : ).

So what about a relative comparison of brightness for a similar flashlight using a single AA battery vs. 3 AAAs? I'd wager that's the setup most people here are likely to use rather than investing in the more 'exotic' batteries.

For the record, my experience matches your speculation about run time for the 3 AAA setup. 30 minutes or a bit less before it dims noticeably (NiMH rechargables), but that's ok for me since I've got extras I keep charged and don't use it for more than 20-25 minutes at a time.

 

[MrTeal]

Thanks MrTeal. Looks like we've finally got someone who knows what they're talking about as compared to, say, me, who's working off of assumptions and impressions : ).

So what about a relative comparison of brightness for a similar flashlight using a single AA battery vs. 3 AAAs? I'd wager that's the setup most people here are likely to use rather than investing in the more 'exotic' batteries.

For the record, my experience matches your speculation about run time for the 3 AAA setup. 30 minutes or a bit less before it dims noticeably (NiMH rechargables), but that's ok for me since I've got extras I keep charged and don't use it for more than 20-25 minutes at a time.

For one AA vs three AAA, I'd wager that the 3 AAAs would be brighter, and would die faster as a result. At least with the flashlight in the OP, it seems to really up the brightness at over 3V, which a AA is unable to deliver. Now, there's no reason you couldn't use a driver that delivers constant power regardless of voltage level (assuming the battery is able to deliver that power), but this flashlight isn't one. As a broad rule of thumb, within the same type of batter chemistry capacity and power capability scale with the volume of the battery. Three AAAs have 40% more volume than a single AA, but I'd imagine if you took away the casings it would actually be pretty close. For example, a typical HiCap NiMH AAA is 1000mAh and a AA is 2600mAh, so you should be able to draw close to the same amount of power out of either system. The differences in brightness are more likely due to the LED driver than the inherent capabilities of the batteries.

 

[jor8888]

still waiting for mine