$15 DX single stage AA - a winner

[Mags]

How close to bein true is that 3700 lux at 1m estimate?

 

[paulr]

Matthew, I may take you up on that. Sorry I lost track of this thread for a while.

 

[Bertrik]

I just received my MTE today and made some photos to compare it to my other LED lights (I'm not claiming this to be a fair comparison). Distance is about 1 meter from the wall. All lights are running on freshly charged NiMH of the same brand (except the SL PP 4AA lux, running on slightly used NiMHs). From left to right:

Civictor (Lux I), Streamlight Propoly 4AA Lux (Lux I), Elly (modded with Cree P4 and optic), MTE 1xAA SSC-P4 42180-U

Camera on "auto" mode:

The MTE looks way more blue than my other LED lights (also to the eye), especially compared to the Civictor which has a more creamy tint.
The MTE has a lot of spill and the spot blends smoothly into the spill with no dark ring.
Like other people, I found it gets warm (but not hot) fairly quickly.

I also took a shot with reduced shutter time in manual mode to determine the intensity of the spot:

With respect to absolute intensity at the spot, the SL PP Lux still wins, followed by the modded Elly, MTE and civictor.
I'm a bit surprised to find that the modded Elly outthrows the MTE.

In a ceiling bounce test (= shine light at ceiling and make a subjective estimate at how well the room is lit), I found that the MTE looks brightest of all, while SL4AA PP and modded Elly appear about equally bright and the Civictor the least bright.

 

[snipinglight]

Is this light regulated? Thanks

The subject of this brief review is to be found here
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1995

This may be the best $15 light out there right now. If you disagree, post into this thread what you think might be better.

Fit and finish is very clean. The light seems to be slightly brighter than a JetBeam MK.IIX on normal hi, not quite as bright as the JB on advanced hi. Spot is smaller than the JB and so smoothly transitions into the corona that it is a wonderful walking light. Much better walking light than the JB. Throw on the spot is midway between the two high's on the JetBeam. This light provides decent illumination on a target at 50 yards. Corona on the JetBeam is brighter but smaller. Tint is beautiful, very similar to the JB which is my AA standard. Will also tailstand. A perfect light for non flashaholics. Gets fairly warm after 10 minutes (with very little handling) but by no means hot. Smooth reflector, a hair longer than the JB and 2 grams lighter.

 

[pedalinbob]

I just received one of these lights a few days ago...and I am impressed!

This is my first of the new "super" led's, and this little bugger is amazing for only $15.
First, the gripe: the tail clicky is kinda hard to activate, due to it being well-recessed within the tail.
Also, I noticed last night that the beam intermittently grew slightly brighter, then dimmer--but it was only slight, and stopped after only a few seconds. I have read there is a fix for this, so I will search for it ASAP.

The positives: the beam is Surefire P60-smooth--I love it! The color is a touch blue, but not disgustingly so. The darn thing outguns my stock Tec-40's, which is impressive, to say the least. I would guess, as Paul did above, that it is putting out 40+ lumens. Despite the tough-ish clicky, it feels sturdy with a positive click.
It isn't tiny, but small enough for pocket-carry.

I would prefer a twisty to both make it shorter, and eliminate the tricky-clicky.

It really is bright!!! My back fence is around 70 feet from the back door, and it lights up wht fence nicely...not like daylight, but well enough to see everything clearly. The spill is nice and bright.

I find this light to be bittersweet: it is awesome to be able to have such a light for a low price. Affordable lumens.
But...now, super-sweet LED lights aren't so rare...they are becoming "common."
I kinda liked the idea of having something unique to share with (and give as gifts to) my friends.

 

[Bertrik]

Is this light regulated? Thanks

It is a boost circuit, but not strictly regulated as far as I can tell. The brightness drops off as the battery voltage gets lower. I think the brightness will stay relatively constant if you use a NiMH battery, because that type of battery has a fairly stable voltage under discharge intrinsically.

 

[bguy]

I find this light to be bittersweet: it is awesome to be able to have such a light for a low price. Affordable lumens.
But...now, super-sweet LED lights aren't so rare...they are becoming "common."
I kinda liked the idea of having something unique to share with (and give as gifts to) my friends.

They are only common to us. Most people buy lights at Costco, Target, Wally world, etc. And they don't know anything other than they say "LED" on them. And most of the LEDs out in the brick and mortars are not newest LEDs.

I got an MTE, and it was about the same brightness as the Rexlight at medium. The MTE was decent brightness for the money, and simple on/off. So far the Rex is still cool, but I hate the strobe and the mode switching.

So buy the MTEs for gifts, they are still better than what most people have or are willing to pay for. I'm eager to see what the "Simple Cree" from DX is like, I have one coming, but it's been delayed. I also ordered one of the Camo Crees.

Bradley

 

[ltiu]

Just got mine today. Took 10 biz days to get here.

It is definitely a winner. Artifact free white light. Center throw blends smoothly into the wide flood. Brighter than my RR 1watt 1AA. Switch is kinda tough to push in. The lanyard is uselessly too small. Otherwise, a great buy for $14.50.

 

[paulr]

Bah, showed someone mine today and it didn't turn on, a little jiggling and it flickered and came on. Switch or threads are flaky. I guess i'll try that copper wire trick.

 

[Gary123]

Paul

Where do you put that copper wire? On another light I put in a copper wire ring around the base of the threads on the head and screwed the head in. It helped, but I ended up frying the emitter.

 

[GrnXnham]

After all the raving here about this light, ordered one from DX.

I was very disappointed. Sick green color, dimmer than my L1T, and tail cap extremely uncomfortable to press.

Must have gotten a dud.

 

[selfbuilt]

Must be a dud ... mine is considerably brighter than my old L2T, much less the L1T. In fact, it's just a touch brighter than my 1st generation L1DCE on Hi (although with only a little over half the runtime of the L1DCE).

My comparison review is posted here: DX/KAI Single-Stage 1AA Cree/SSC shootout: BEAMSHOTS + RUNTIMES

 

[ltiu]

sad to hear you got a dud. I got my first one a few weeks ago, was so happy with it I got a second one, still in the mail right now. I hope it is as good as my first one.

 

[LGCubana]

:thinking:
X2 post

 

[LGCubana]

I ordered & received 3 of them. The ones that I got, only open in the rear.

All 3 are exhibiting contact issues. They either start dim, no light or start bright; then they made fade. Usually turning the tailcap a little will fix the problem for that session.

I believe the problem is too much coating on the threads. I took a dremel with the wire brush accessory to one of them. After 3 minutes, you could barely tell that I had done anything. But that one light is not having issues with dimming, so far.

Also one of the tailcaps lost it's clicky ability & the retaining ring will not unscrew. I believe that one was cross thread.

Output wise, none of them are as good as my MTE, C2 - 70602. That's the 5 - mode, version. The 5-mode version also has a better finish & is far more graspable.

 

[nanotech17]

FYi only.
beamshots contender from left :-
Jetbeam CLE V.1 / Kai AA 5 modes / DX cree.
all on hi mode.

 

[LukeA]

I ordered & received 3 of them. The ones that I got, only open in the rear.

All 3 are exhibiting contact issues. They either start dim, no light or start bright; then they made fade. Usually turning the tailcap a little will fix the problem for that session.

I believe the problem is too much coating on the threads. I took a dremel with the wire brush accessory to one of them. After 3 minutes, you could barely tell that I had done anything. But that one light is not having issues with dimming, so far.

Also one of the tailcaps lost it's clicky ability & the retaining ring will not unscrew. I believe that one was cross thread.

Output wise, none of them are as good as my MTE, C2 - 70602. That's the 5 - mode, version. The 5-mode version also has a better finish & is far more graspable.

I got 3 of them today. One was fine, one flickered, one didn't light. I cleaned the contacts in all the heads with some rubbing alcohol on a qtip and all are fine now. The threads aren't a contact, just the unanodized end. I also cleaned that.

 

[LGCubana]

I got 3 of them today. One was fine, one flickered, one didn't light. I cleaned the contacts in all the heads with some rubbing alcohol on a qtip and all are fine now. The threads aren't a contact, just the unanodized end. I also cleaned that.

I had thought that cleaning the threads had helped, but the issues returned a few days later.

I'll give your fix, a try.

 

[elricfate]

Noone has asked the important question, though... What's the thread pitch for the clicky?

Is it the same as Surefire 6P? (25.5mm)

 

[DM51]

This thread is 1 year old, and under current policy it would not qualify to be in this forum. There is no point in resurrecting it now.

I'm closing it.