Brock's LED Flashlight reviews
Back to my main LED page.
On this page I have the following lights.
Millitary 3
Mini Trek
Turbospyder 10
Quantum 2000
Stealth
Microlight II
Pocketbright
Stylus 3
Pulsar
PLW-3
Infinity white
EternaLight model 3
Krill extreme 180 green
Turbospyder
Emissive Energy Lithium MicroLight
PAL gold
CCrane expedition or Trek 7
Lightwave 2000
GN
GX4
HTS A1 & A2
Photons
1-22-00 Millitary 3 from Millennum . This is a bright light! It rates right up there with the eternal 3 and the Trek 7. The beam of light isn't as smooth as the other two lights in its class either. The thing I don't like about this light is the style and size. It is a 3 D cell flashlight and made from plastic. The switch is also a little touchy coming on and off. This light is also 1/2 the price of the other two lights mentioned. I would recommend this 3 LED lamp module in a 3 C or 3 D MAG light. It is a standard PR base lamp with 3 LED's mounted in it. This light should last days if not weeks. It would also make a great room light by shining it up at the ceiling.
10-14-00 Mini Trek from Tektite . This is a nice light, bigger than I would have guessed. The three batteries are all side by side, forming a triangle, with the 2 LED's at one end. The head of the light is off set, not centered on the batteries making it a little larger than I would have thought for the 2 LED's. The light is brighter than I had thought it would be also. It is a bit brighter than the Streamlight Stylus and ever popular Photon. I was surprised to find the led's pulling 70ma each, but I suspect this would fall off quite quickly as the batteries weaken. I think this light will replace my infinity task light for small normal battery lights. After looking at this light it reminded me of the PLW-3, so I took the PLW-3 apart and sure enough the 2 lens and LED bases fit in each others light. Very interesting... The PLW-3 has a much wider light output however. Here are some shots of the Mini Trek.
10-04-00 Turbospyder 10 from Advanced lighting . This light is using 10 4000 mcd led's. I am impressed with the output of this light. It is only using 13ma per led and the output is very bright. In turbo mode it is the brightest LED light I have seen to date. In turbo mode it was pulling 600ma, or 60ma on each LED, not to hard on the LED's. The light has been improved since I received my first 4 led unit. It is still hand made but it is a nice light. Thanks Ted.
02-10-00 Quantum 2000 from Energy Outfitters . I got this light again on E-Bay from Energy Outfitters. The light uses 4 AA cells however after some testing I would not use 4 alkaline cell in this flashlight. I was getting 160ma on 4 AA alkaline that's 80ma on each LED. In my experience at 100 ma LEDs usually last only a couple of hours. Now if you replace the alkalines with 4 Ni-MH or Ni-Cad it was running 100ma or 50ma on each LED. This is great for me I use Ni-MH in almost everything I own. This is the first light that is able to really use them. The light is just a bit dimmer than the lightwave 2000. It has a nicer light output though. It is a fat short light about the size of a D cell at the battery compartment and the reflector is about 1 1/2 time larger than the battery compartment. It is similar in size to the popular Eveready yellow lights that can switch to a area light. It is splash proof, but not water proof. 08-14-00 I have just got this info from the maker "Due to user confusion, circuitry was added so the light requires 4 AA's in all production runs except the first". Apparently unless you have a dummy battery in your light it is made to handle 4 AA cells. My unit came with 4 batteries so it should work fine with them. My light is pulling 160ma on alkaline batteries or 80ma on each led, above what Nichia recommends, but the makers claim they will replace it if it fails. Maybe some of the extra power is used up in the circuitry (resistor?) in the lamp itself? Using 4 AA cells it is definitely brighter than the lightwave 2000. I have now run the lamp using 4 D cells for 60 hours whithout any problems. The fact that the company believes in their product enough to give it a life time warrantee says a LOT to me. I would recommend this light.
07-10-00 Stealth by Photon . I really like this new case on the popular Photon white. This light is using the same 2 2016's and same 5600 mcd Nichia LED. I regularly use the red and white Photons in a dark theatre and found the light spilling out to the sides bothered my eyes and also made any work I was doing noticeable by anyone around me. Photon has fixed this issue by adding a "turtle neck" to the LED. It is now incased in the same black material as the rest of the case. The only problem is it lost it's switch and gained the water resistance. This shouldn't be a problem since I only use these light intermittently. The Photons are probably my favorite lights, and they continue to improve them. They are also no easier to change the batteries. Now you just pry the backing off the light. It fits in to a little ring sort and snaps back in place, no more tiny screws to loose. The LED leads are also made to be more out of the way and the LED doesn't fall out when you open it.
07-10-00 Microlight II by Nighthawk. Ok, this is definitely the dimmest LED light I have seen yet. I can light up an object better with the Krill area light. Now this light does have it's place. It is small and is made to be clipped to a hat or attached to your finger. Once your eyes are totally adjusted to the dark you can use this light to see your way around. However since it is so dim I wouldn't recommend this light. It doesn't even show up on the images when I took a picture, I took a second one thinking something was wrong, nope just that dim.
06-14-00 Pocketbright by Lightwave . It is much thicker than I had anticipated. It is about two times as thick as the common Photon, and larger in diameter also. This light is said to be waterproof to one foot, but I am not going to try this, however it does look like it would hold up in rain without a problem. It is dimmer than the Photon, but has 5 times the battery life also. The light has a bluer look to it, very similar light output to the infinity, with a slightly more narrow beam and slightly brighter. It is about 3/4 the brightness of a Photon. I really like the press on / press off feature. I also like that the LED is not protruding from the light. This limits the amount of light that is shinning back at your eyes while using this light. I will have to see how I use this light, but right now I would recommend either an Infinity or a Photon in place of this light. 06-22-00 Well my light lasted about 24 hours on the original batteries. Now it is exhibiting all the switch issues I have been hearing about, starting dim, switch not working correctly, shutting off by itself. I am wondering if either these batteries were already used or the claim of 100-hour battery life is WAY off. I have more brand new batteries on the way to test this, but 24 hours isn't what was advertised. 06-26-00 Same results with a new batteries. I did 2 tests with new batteries and after 6 hours the light output dropped to about 75% of origional and after about 24 hours was about 50% and the switch problem started again. I also noticed after I changed the batteries the switch wasn't working. I took the batteries in and out and tried it again, then it seemed to work ok. After all this, the Pocket bright is at the bottom of my recommend list. 11-28-00 Pocketbright has update their run time on the light to 50 hours, this is more realistic but still a bit high. 11-25-01I just got a newer light and I have to say it is much nicer. It is still large for a pocket light, but the switch is much smoother and not as picky. It has a more solid feel to it. It is a nice improvement
05-20-00 Stylus 3Streamlight has made a good little LED penlight. It is slightly brighter than the popular Photon, making it the brightest single LED light I now own. It is probably brighter than the other lights because they are driving the LED a little harder than most, it is using almost 60ma when all the other single LED lights are using about 35ma to 40ma. Since the light has a full lifetime warranty I am not worried about burning out the LED, but I would imagine if it were left on for a long time it might shorten the life of the LED. Streamlight is known for bright, durable, professional use lights so I was glad to see they continue to do so with this little light, they have even stamped individual serial numbers on each light. The only drawbacks to this light are the oddity of the AAAA cells and the overall length of the light. It can replace any penlight I have ever seen.
05-20-00 Pulsar This light has a very similar output to the popular Photon, and it should using the same LED and battery configuration. The drawback to this light is the lack of an "on" switch. It is a squeeze momentary-on, so you need to hold it as long as you want to use the light. Also when it does come time to change the batteries you have to pry the unit open, and I would guess after a few battery changes it might damage the little case. However being cheaper than the other lights of this size it is a good little light for a keychain, or a purse for momentary lighting.
05-02-00 PLW-3 by PLW . This light has recently been refitted with the Nichia 5600 mcd LEDs. It is waterproof to 300 feet, so rain won't bother this light at all. This light is a good standard flashlight replacement. It is very similar to the Lightwave 2000, except the light output is MUCH wider and smoother. This light is best used for viewing objects closer than 15 to 20 feet. If you are 10 feet from an object it will light an area about 7 1/2 feet wide. I would say along with the Trek 7 this is the most durable lights. You could take these anywhere without worrying about damaging them. 05-29-02I have been informed that these lights are NOT made by TekTite. They are a Chinese knockoff. So please don't confuse them with the higher quality of the true TekTite products.
02-24-00 Infinity white, by CMG . I have to admit I was initially disappointed with this light. It is one of the dimmest lights I now own. However it uses a single AA cell and has a run time of over 24 hours on a single cell. It uses a step up circuit to get the higher voltage needed by the LED. I wish they made this light in an AAA version and used a Nichia 5600mcd LED. The body of this light is good, just larger than a AA cell, and the electronics are just below the LED. The LED is inset in the body of the light preventing light from shinning back in your eyes while using the light. The light is not waterproof, but should hold up fine in rain. I would suggest a brighter Photon in most cases over this size light, the ability to use a single AA that can be found at almost any store and easily changeable battery is a very notable. 03-24-00 This light is growing on me; I have been using it more and more. I like how sturdy this light is built, and it is easily handled and used. Another item of note is the light is pulling 55ma but after checking the LED itself it was pulling just over 20ma. I imagine this is due to the "step up" circuitry. 06-14-00 I have been told by CMG that this light actually is using the Nichia 5600 LED, I am guessing it is just a bluer version of the LED. I have also found using a lithium AA a.k.a. Energizer L91, will make the light about 10% brighter. It has run for 48 hours to 75% and 60 hours to 50% on an alkaline. The lithium ran the same 48 hours, however it remained brighter longer than the alakline did. So with lithium you get a slightly brighter and lighter light and with the alkaline you get the cheapest light to run.
01-17-00 EternaLight model 3 from Technology Assoc. This is a nice light. It is pricey at $79 but it is worth it. I haven't checked battery life yet, but it is suppose to last up to 700 hours in dim mode and 20 at full. I am guessing it is using 4 Nichia 4800 LEDs since Nichia has a link to their site and the LEDs look identical to the Photon narrow when lit. It is just a bit dimmer than the Trek 7. It is about the size of a large pager, with 3 buttons. On-off, mode, and rate. You can set it to 7 modes of operation. Timer: After 2.5 min it turns 1 LED off and keeps doing this until they are all off. On/dim: You have 12 steps between on full to l LED burning very dim. Flasher: A slower strobe that is adjustable from about 8/sec to about 2/sec. Strobe: Adjustable from what looks like solid on to about 15/sec. Dazzle: Just a flash back-and-forth attention-getter. SOS: Sends SOS in Morse code. And finally Pulse that allows you use it as a momentary on light while you hold the button down. It is suppose to be water resistant to 100 feet, so it is probably fine in rain or a shower, but after opening it up and looking at the seal I would be leery of actually taking it under water more than 5 feet. I really like this one. If you want the brightest small light, this is the one so far. Update...I took my light to 20 feet for about 30 minutes and later opened it up, it is dry!
01-15-00 Krill extreme 180 green from Kriana . I know this isn't a LED light but I have a lot of those little flat blue-green plug-in nightlights around my house, and this is made of the same electro-luminescent "stuff". It is brighter than a candle and lights up a room enough to walk through at night. It is a little brighter than its nightlight cousin, it uses 2 AA cells and last over 24 hours of constant on time. A handy little light and it is waterproof to 150 feet. This light is pulling about 40mA.
12-24-99 Turbospyder from Advanced lighting . The light is about the size of a pager, using 3 AA batteries. It has an on/off button and a momentary turbo on button. In the normal "on" mode it is about 1 and 1/4 times brighter than the narrow white Photon, and with the turbo button pressed the light output is almost identical to the lightwave 2000, although it is slightly more blue. So far so good. 02-15-00 I am finding the switch sometimes "sticks" and I have to push it one and off a couple of times. This light is obviously hand made.
12-11-99 Emissive Energy Lithium MicroLight. It is just ever so slightly dimmer than the new Photon narrow white. The lighting pattern is almost identical. It doesn't have an on/off switch, so you have to hold it to make light. The LED is inset in the light, not like a Photon where 1/2 of the LED is sticking out of the case. It is more protected being inset and doesn't have as much light spilling way off to the side. It was about 1/2 the price of a Photon so it is a great starter light, but without the switch it could get irritating.
12-01-99 PAL gold from Light Technology . At first I thought it looked funny, it is basically a 9v battery in a sturdy black rubber case. Then I started to shine it around. I then compared it to my Trek 7. Amazingly, I could see the light from the PAL right in the center of the light from the Trek 7. The PAL was about two times as bright. Admittedly, the PAL has a very narrow beam, about 2 feet at 20 feet, while the Trek 7 was about 5 feet. The PAL has 4 modes of operation that are achieved by pressing the button in succession four times. The first is off, or very very dim, using .02ma, and should last over 2 1/2 years. Second is dim, a useable working light, about average for most LED lights, lasting 200 hours. Third is bright, very bright, lasting 20 hours. Finally it has a blinking mode, it blinks in bright, about once every other second. As usual, I took the light apart and found if you take out the reflector it looses its "rings" and if you flip the plastic lens it turns in to a nice wide area light. My concern with this light is it has a VERY tight beam of light, this makes it difficult to use for walking in the dark, but great for lighting things at a distance.
11-19-99 CCrane expedition aka CC7 aka Trek 7 from Tektite, is so far the daddy of them all. It outshines any of the other lights I own, with the exception on the PAL gold that has a very narrow beam. The 3 C cells are end to end, and it is quite heavy. It should run about 30 hours at full brightness, and another 30 or so until 50% of full. It compares in brightness to a 2 D cell MAG light, except the light is much more even and better in color. It is also waterproof to 1000 feet! I haven't been able to run it down noticeably in over 24 hours of on time.
11-7-99 Lightwave 2000 from Lightwave I got this one again on E-Bay for $29. It uses the 3 AA cells end to end. I like it because it uses standard AA cells and can replace a standard flashlight in size and intensity. It ran for over 12 hours before dimming noticeably, and was useable for over 36 hours. This is a great general purpose LED light. 11-25-01I just got a new light, it is definetly brighter then the origional one I use. It is not as blue as my first light, but still brighter. I would have to say this is still my favorite 3 AA light.
11-01-99 GN from Home Tech Solutions. It is very bright for its size and it's small enough that I can carry it anywhere. It is using a Mag-Light Solitaire single AAA body, so you know it's a sturdy light. After modification it uses a readily available A23 12v battery. It will run about 4 hours before a noticeable drop in intensity, and over 8 hours of useable light.
11-01-99 GX4 also from Home Tech Solutions. It is using the mag-light solitaire body again, with the same A23 12v battery. It is using a 10mm 7000mcd LED. The LED is as big as the top of the flashlight. It is brighter than the custom, but it also has a sharper, more narrow focus than most other LEDs. It is great for lighting up things at a distance, again it has about 4 hours of useable light.
11-01-99 HTS models A1 and A2 from Home Tech Solutions are Mini-Mag AA flashlights that have been modified to use either a 1000mcd or a newer 2800mcd LED. The A2 is probably the most durable of all the LED lights I own, and it still retains the ability to focus wide or narrow, unlike most of the other LED lights. It is using standard AA cells, and doesn't dim noticeably for over 36 hours! A great emergency flashlight you can really depend on and keep in the car or just about anywhere.
11-01-99 Photonsfrom Photon were my first purchased LED lights. They are great, very bright for such a small package (about the size of 3 quarters). The run time depends on the color LED you purchase, but it varies from 12 hours to over 200 hours. I don't like that the batteries are difficult to change, and not as readily available. I had trouble getting all the parts back in the light while changing the batteries the first time. Both my wife and I carry one on our key rings. They are using different LEDs on the different models, but in my opinion the new narrow white using a 5600 mcd Nichia LED is the brightest. If you don't have any LED lights I would strongly suggest the Photon White. These are some of the best small lights made. 05-24-00 I have to after almost a year with these little lights they are most used of all the lights I own. If you don't have the narrow white one yet, order it.
comments and suggestions welcome : nevermab at uwgb.edu